Anirban Lahiri heads home after closing 71 at WGC-HSBC Champions

Anirban Lahiri at CIMB ClassicShanghai: India’s Anirban Lahiri will head home for a much-needed break after he signed off with a one-under-par 71 at the US$8.5million WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday.

Lahiri’s four-day total of six-under-par 282 was only enough for him to finish in tied-40th place at Asia’s richest tournament where an elite field featuring close to 40 of the world’s top 50 players had featured at the Sheshan International Golf Club.

“It was a disappointing week and if I were to look back, it was my second round (75) that put a huge dent in my efforts,” said the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader.

Having pushed himself past his physical and mental limits over the last few weeks, Lahiri knows a break is needed to end the year like how he had started where he notched two victories in Malaysia and India in February.

“It has been a long year and I’ve been playing at very low energy levels. I’m heading home next week and going to recharge my batteries for the last couple of event. You can’t really blame anything (for his disappointing performance this week).

“I just can’t say I’m tired or I played badly. I did played well on Saturday so how can you explain that? So it’s a combination of a number of factors and fatigue is one of those. I was not 100% fit both mentally and physically. I’m just going to plan my schedule better so that I can be at my best again,” said Lahiri.

Meanwhile India’s other representative at the WGC-HSBC Champions, S.S.P. Chawrasia will turn his attention to Singapore after closing with a 72 for a share of 46th place.

“Basically it was my putting that let me down this week. I’m going to work on it and hopefully it will be a better week in Singapore (World Classic Championship at Laguna National) next,” said Chowrasia.