Why Anirban Lahiri’s post-round news conference was only second to Cameron Smith’s putting at the Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Anirban Lahiri gave it his all.

After shooting 3-under 69 in the final round of the Players Championship and finishing one shot back of champion Cameron Smith, Lahiri was asked whether he took positives from the week or if his close-but-no-cigar performance filled him only with disappointment.

“Hang on, hang on. Now that you’ve asked me that question I’ve got to show you something. This is something I sent my coach a few weeks ago. Here it is. No, not this one. Give me a minute,” said Lahiri as he found the proper image on his smart phone. “This is from two weeks ago, February 25 screenshot. Honda Classic week. Strokes Gained: Off the tee 29th, Around the green 4th, Putting 15th, 144th Approach to green.”

That last number made him sick to his stomach. He entered the week ranked 212 in Strokes Gained: Approach to the green.

“My only goal coming in was to change that, and I did. It was a very successful week,” said Lahiri, who ranked 13^th in that category for the week, gaining more than four strokes on the field at the Players.

“His turnaround this week is as extraordinary as the week on the greens that Cameron Smith had,” Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said. “I don’t know that I’ve seen a transformation like that.”

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A successful week, indeed, for the 322^nd-ranked player in the world, but Lahiri also knows how close he was to a life-changing victory.

“I want to win. I’ve been here seven years. Haven’t gotten over the line yet. That’s definitely a monkey I want to get off my back,” he said. “Today was as good an opportunity as any.”

Lahiri let us into his heart and shared the hardships of grinding to get better but not seeing the results.

“When you go through such a lean period for such a long time, you start asking yourself, ‘Man, was that a flash in the pan? What are you doing? You haven’t played good in so long.’ Your belief takes a hit, so this for me is – I’m going to re-cement the foundation and work upwards from here.”

And he also gave a window into what he was feeling as he came down the stretch with a chance to win at TPC Sawgrass.

“I guess at one point on 16 I thought it was kind of out of reach, but then again, birdieing 17, Cam kind of opened the door,” he said. “But I gave it a good go. Made some mistakes today that I could have avoided, but that’s golf. I picked up a few shots, too, so I’m happy.

“This is a really positive week for me going forward.”

After several years of battling to keep his card, he was asked if this result would free him up for the rest of the season?

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I’ll answer that in week. It’s too soon.”