Lahiri finishes T-42nd at Masters, betters own best

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri was pulled back by a disastrous front-nine but still managed to better his previous best by signing off tied 42nd with a three-over 75 in the final round of the 80th Masters Tournament here.

Lahiri ended with a total of 11-over 299 to finish tied 42nd and better his previous best of T-49 last year.

Lahiri, starting the day at five-over and in tied-38th place, courted disaster on the third with a triple bogey and had further bogeys on fourth and seventh.

But he played his last 11 holes superbly with two birdies and rest of them pars to finish with 75.

“The two triples (one each on first and last days) and not being able to score off the Par-fives cost me something like 10 shots and that is the difference being in Top-10 or somewhere in the 40s. That should explain it all. I played well in patches and that was not enough,” Lahiri said.

Lahiri is planning to take two weeks off and practice with his coach, Vijay Divecha, who arrived over the weekend.

“I want to a few chores around the house, as we settle into a new place in Florida, which will be my base for next few months,” said Lahiri.

“Also I need to work on my game and will get back to tournaments in two weeks time at New Orleans.”

Asian Tour’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat added a two-under 70 in the final round of the Masters to finish Tied 15th, his best ever result in a Major event.

Thongchai Jaidee, playing his fifth Masters, had another frustrating with a six-over 78 that saw him finish the week at 19-over and in Tied-57th place.

Kiradech had rounds of 72-72-77-70. His previous best at any Major was T25 on debut at the 2013 PGA Championship.  Overall, Kiradech scored heavily on Par-fives, where he was nine-under with one eagle and nine birdies and two bogeys.

Ahead on the top of the leaderboard, Danny Willett, playing in fourth from last group shot one of the three scores of 67 on Sunday to catapult from Tied-8th to the very top.

He finished more than half an hour earlier than defending champion Jordan Spieth to finish and won by three over fellow Englishman Lee Westwood (69) and Spieth (73).

For Willett it meant a first major and it was only his second appearance, having finished Tied-38th last year.  Willett, who also won the Dubai Classic this year, is 28 and a former World No.1 amateur.