“This is going to be special for me”: After Talor Gooch, another LIV Golfer receives invite to the PGA Championship

Talor Gooch, who headlined a lot after his two consecutive victories in the league, has been invited to the second major tournament of the year i.e., the PGA Championship.

Soon after him, another LIV golfer received an invite to the competition. He is an Indian-origin golfer signed with the league named Anirban Lahiri. The news of Lahiri securing a spot in the upcoming major tournament was first reported by Joy Chakravarty of Hindustan Times.

During the most recent LIV Golf Singapore event, Lahiri shared his feelings about making it to the PGA Championship. He said:

"Regarding the PGA Championship, I am delighted they decided to give me a spot. This validates my very tough decision to go to the International Series Vietnam when all that was going on back home."

Anirban Lahiri went on to thank the PGA of America and felt that there couldn't be any bigger reward than playing in major tournaments. He said:

"I am thankful to the PGA of America that their decision was not swayed by other things going on in the world of golf. This is going to be special for me. My last Major was the PGA Championship last year. There can’t be a bigger reward in golf than playing in Majors."

However, Talor Gooch managed to secure his spot in the PGA Championship because of his rankings in the OWGR. He is currently ranked no. 60 and has received an invite.

But how did Anirban Lahiri get invited to the upcoming major tournament? Lahiri recently participated in an International Series event in Vietnam, where he put on an exceptional golf display to finish as runner-up. This performance gave a major boost to his OWGR and eventually jumped to the 95th rank.

Since the PGA Championships invites the top 100 players to the OWGR, he certainly qualified through that criteria.

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"It's a huge leap" - Anirban Lahiri lauds LIV Golf efforts to grow golf in Asia

After playing LIV Golf Chicago in March 2023, the Indian-origin golfer was seen lauding efforts by LIV Golf and the International Series to grow the sport of golf in Asia.

He even claimed that the majority of golfers in Asia want to play for the league. He said:

"If you ask the majority of golfers in Asia, or on this side of the world, they're going to say, 'I want to play on LIV', and now there's a pathway to get there."

"Even outside of that, you've got 10 tournaments [The International Series], which you're playing for pretty much US$ 2 million every time, which is a really good prize for that many events in Asia. It's a huge leap."

Speaking about golf in Asia, Anirban Lahiri was quite optimistic about the sport helping several industries, including tourism:

"I think golf has always been a very big sport in Asia - it's huge for professional golf. It is probably even bigger for tourism in terms of industry. Because of that there is infrastructure and a lot of golfers being produced."

Anirban Lahiri has been a constant feature in the LIV golf league. Despite failing to gain OWGR points by playing in the league, he has maintained his ranking by playing on other tours. He has been a regular on the International Series and Asian Tour.