Lahiri’s humour adds to his skills and wins him more friends

Price, the 58-year-old Zimbabwean legend, winner of three Majors, and who was the World No. 1 in <g data-gr-id="52">mid-1990s</g>, was full of praise for the 28-year-old-Indian. He felt it was a huge plus for his team for international golf to have an Indian in his team.

Lahiri’s sense of humour with his colleagues is also making him extremely popular. “He brings a great sense of humor to the team. A lot of guys didn’t realize how funny he <g data-gr-id="41">is</g> but he has a really good sense of humor and he’s just so keen to get out there and play. We’re very happy he’s on the team.” Price also hopes that one day The President’s Cup will come to India, too. The event is being played in Asia for the first time in its history going back to the first edition in 1994.

He said, “I think it’s a huge bonus <g data-gr-id="45">or however</g> you want to put it for us to have an Indian for the first time on our team. We know how big golf has become in India, and all of us hope that maybe one day. The Presidents Cup will go to India. I mean, you guys have produced some really good golfers over the last ten or 12 years, and I think that it’s just great that Anirban (Lahiri) is on there.”

Lahiri himself has given Price a lot of credit for motivating him to work to get into the team. He recently said, “Nick Price ... you know, he’s just an amazing guy. I met him last year and I didn’t even know there’s a list to get on the Presidents Cup. I didn’t know what the format was, I didn’t know what the criteria was ... nothing. “And then I went to play a tournament in Fiji and he was there and he came up to me. He didn’t need to introduce himself <g data-gr-id="47">obviously</g> but he said that he was looking at how I’ve been playing and he likes what he sees and he would love to have me continue to make progress.

“My wife (Ipsa) was there in Fiji and I said to her, ‘you know, you’ve got to do this and I’ve got to find a way to get on that team.’” Till then Lahiri had won just once outside India in CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters. Then he added the Venetian Macau Open and things started moving at a faster pace early this year, as he won the Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open at the start of the year and moved into Top-50 of the world, from where things moved even faster. On Sunday, he officially got his PGA Tour card and now the President’s Cup.

On Tuesday, Price said, “We met in Fiji last year, and I went up to <g data-gr-id="55">him,</g> because he had been progressing up on the rankings in our team. He expressed to me he really wanted to play on The Presidents Cup, and that made me feel very proud. You want guys out here who are going to play. You want guys –and so he’s really looked forward to that.”