Anirban Lahiri Wins Maybank Malaysian Open

Jul 16, 2014; Wirral, GBR; Anirban Lahiri plays his tee shot to the 6th hole during a practice round at the 143rd Open Championship at The Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t the four under par 68 that 27 year-old Anirban Lahiri carded on Sunday that netted his first win on the European Tour at the Maybank Malaysian Open, it was a combination of events. It was the 10 under par 62 that the Indian Player scored on Saturday which put him position, and matching two over 74’s put up by Austrian, Bernd Wiesberger, and Spaniard, Alejandro Canizares in the final round.

The Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club yielded some low scores on Saturday, largely due to the “lift, clean, and place” rule that was in effect. What the course, and rules gave away on Saturday, it took back on Sunday with scores hovering around the two under 70 range.

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“I don’t think it’s sunk in just yet,” said Lahiri

Lahiri birdied four of the first five holes on Sunday afternoon, and held on down the stretch for his first European Tour win. He now has six official wins, five coming on the Asian Tour, and because the Malaysian Open is sanctioned on both the Asian Tour, and the European Tour, that win counts for both.

"“I don’t think it’s sunk in just yet,” said Lahiri. “But I’m pretty sure when it hits home it’s going to be a really happy moment for me.“I think I’ve got a bad habit of making it hard for myself, but I’m happy I got over the line, as ugly as it was towards the end.“The Masters is definitely one of my targets. I don’t know how far I’ll move up, but I’m pretty confident now with this win I should have a pretty good chance.”"

After being the hottest golfer on the European Tour for the Desert Swing, and cracking the top 50 in World Rankings, it looked like Bernd Wiesberger was on his way to a win in Malaysia. The young Austrian fired a very respectful nine under par on Saturday, and had only made two bogeys all week.

The 29 year-old, from Vienna got off to a good start in the final round, but disaster struck at the par five fifth hole. After laying up on his second shot, he chunked his third shot into the water, and by the time he was finished, put a double bogey seven on his card.

That left everyone, including Lahiri, back in the tournament. The double bogey shook him up, and bogeys at 12, 14, and 17 left him with yet, another second-place finish.

"“It hasn’t quite finished the way I intended to,” said Wiesberger. “After the hiccup on five, I didn’t hit it anywhere near as well as the last 15 rounds. It’s tough to say, but it is what it is and unfortunately I beat myself out of it today.“I hit a bad lay-up, flew a lot on the downhill lie and my mind wasn’t there. I hit a bad shot and needed to miss it long and take par and get on with it. It’s disappointing.“I just didn’t trust my swing enough which was good the last couple of weeks. It’s still a good week, and congratulations to Anirban who played a lovely round today. I will try again.”"

Spaniard, Alejandro Canizares was in the mix, and also had a bad day in Malaysia. Canizares put six bogeys on his card Sunday, five before he made his first birdie at the 12th hole. He made a birdie run at 14, 15, and 16, but it was too little, too late.

Canizares finished T3 with Brit, Paul Waring who shot a fine seven under score on Saturday, but could manage to only card s 73 on Sunday.

After hanging around the leaderboard all week, defending champ, Lee Westwood suffered the same fate as Wiesberger. The former number one, put a double bogey on the second hole, and with bogeys at 15, and 16, his only birdie of the day at 16 did little to help his three-over 75 finish.

Westwood finished in a tie for fifth place with three other players at eleven under par which included the highest finishing American, Paul Peterson.

Source and Quotes from EuropeanTour.com

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