Anirban Lahiri climbs to 50th spot in world golf rankings

Crans Montana (Switzerland), July 27 (IANS)

Following his creditable fifth-place finish at the last week's European Masters here, Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri on Monday jumped 11 places to the 50th spot in the world golf rankings.

Lahiri was 61st at the start of the 2.7 million euros tournament at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club. He turned it around with a brilliant six-under 64 in the final round to finish five strokes behind winner Danny Willett of England.

The current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader picked up a cheque of $123,956 to raise his season's tally to $925,484 after the Switzerland showpiece that is the only event on European soil to be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour since 2009.

Lahiri was 34th after his victories in the Malaysian and Indian Open in February, but his ranking dropped owing to some below-par performances since then.

Now with the fifth-place finish at the European Masters, his current rank enhances his hopes of qualifying for the International Team for the Presidents Cup to face the US in South Korea in October where he had slipped out of the automatic top-10 selection list last week.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy continues to be the top-ranked golfer in the world.