Lahiri, Bhullar confident as Asian Tour supremo sings praises

Chiangmai: As the Asian Tour celebrates its 10th anniversary, a new wave of exciting and talented youngsters are taking their place on the centrestage. Anirban Lahiri set the trend with a win at the SAIL-SBI Open and that was immediately followed by Gaganjeet Bhullar coming in second at the Avantha Masters and then Thailand's Kiradech Aphinbarnrat grabbed the Maybank Malaysian open last week.

There is a whole bunch of Indians in the field. Apart from Lahiri and Bhullar, there are other winners like S S P Chowrasia, Himmat Rai, Digvijay Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur, C Muniyappa besides young Rashid Khan and Sujjan Singh.

Lahiri, one of the numerous Indians in the field in Chaingmai this week, said, "It is a great field and it is nice to have some of these top guys playing with us. We had a few strong weeks. We are all up for it and looking forward to rubbing shoulders and beating these guys."

On the course, he added, "It is a fantastic golf course. I didn't know what to expect but this is probably one of the best courses that we play all year. It is hot but it is nice hot here! I'm really enjoying myself here. It is always nice to come back to Thailand."

He went on, "The golf course is in great shape and I've been talking to some of the Thai boys and they said that they haven't even played here before. It is surprising because it is such a good track. I think we should make this an annual stop."

Even though he won the SAIL-SBI Open, he said, "My game has been a little bit on and off. Last week I hit it great but I couldn't score very well. I was disappointed not to play on Sunday but that's golf. Coming into this week, I played a few holes and I'm hitting it good."

Asian Tour supremo Kyi Hla Han believes this will lead to a trend that could even this and the next lot dominating the region's premier Tour and making a mark worldwide.

"We're witnessing some really great golf by the Asian Tour's young generation of golfers," enthused Han, who is the Tour's Executive Chairman and a former Asian number one himself.