According to a press release by Euro sport + PGA, Anirban Lahiri is all set to tee off at the RBC Heritage this week. The 33 year old was elated to see one of his good friends on the PGA TOUR, Hideki Matsuyama, clinch a historic Masters Tournament last weekend.
The Indian golfer, who is used to having his coach Vijay Divecha with him in the U.S. for every 2 to 3 months, is finally reunited with Divecha for 3 weeks after he arrived at the start of Masters week.
After a brief struggle of some time before ending fifth at the Valero Texas Open, an optimistic Lahiri said, “We'll get to work on the other departments and just try and build. It will be nice to actually have him take over and have me think less and do more. It’s been tough the last three or four weeks just grinding, grinding, and grinding and working hard. So it felt nice to be rewarded by a nice week (in Texas). And now Vijay can add to that. Having him is a big change. It is a big difference.”
Divecha will spend over three weeks with the golfer. Divecha said, “We work in the week of Masters, play the RBC Heritage and have another week off to work. Then let’s see.”
The confidence of being positioned at top-5 in Texas was timely and watching his good friend, Matsuyama triumph in one of the biggest prizes in the game, has been a big boost.
“Hideki is a good friend since we played on the Presidents Cup team. And we knew each other a bit from the TOUR before that also. Seeing him play the highest level and win the Masters was a big boost.”
Soon after Matsuyama’s terrific win, Lahiri tweeted, “What a win! Hideki you did it! Time for all of us to step. So happy and proud of you my friend! #asiarising #gointl #Masters #greenjacket “
While he would rather have been participating at the Masters, a week off at home was a welcome relief. “It was a really good week (in Texas), a solid week. Just generally, I think my game was rock solid tee to green. These last month 45 days, you know, going through that tough stretch on the Florida swing was not easy. I was hitting the ball terribly, lots of back and forth with Vijay and with videos and lots of instructions and application. All that work with videos being sent back and forth was great.”
Divecha’s mantra for Lahiri is to simplify things. He said, “He (Lahiri) would not have reached where he is if he was not good, but you should not try to do too much or too many things. That’s what we are addressing. Simplifying things.”
On his efforts to help from India before he departed to be with Lahiri, Divecha explained, “We realized that there was nothing we could do. Without vaccines I could not travel. Once vaccination was announced, I made sure I got them to travel. From India, I was sitting on his shoulders and watching videos and using technology to guide him. I gave him a set of protocols. He would try and call me even at intervals of 15-20 minutes so we could discuss. It worked in Texas, but being there with him on the range is a different thing. For a player, being alone while working on some areas is not easy. It can be confusing if something is not working. It took time. Getting to where he was in Texas took us some time, now hopefully we can work on various things further,” added Divecha.
The RBC Heritage is all set to return to its traditional post-Masters position on the schedule after being the second event in last year’s Return to Golf.
Dustin Johnson, the World No. 1 who missed the cut in the Masters, will headline the field which will also include the defending Champion Webb Simpson. Collin Morikawa, reigning FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau, Will Zalatoris, who sealed a second spot at the Masters, are all also in the fray. Other notable names consist of Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia, and Daniel Berger.
