"It’s life-changing"- Anirban Lahiri embraces 'phenomenal' $300,000,000 worth Asian Tour
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri had words of praise for the International Series of the Asian Tour, which recently received a $300,000,000 investment from LIV Golf. According to Lahiri, the series is not only the most lucrative one on the circuit but also has innumerable benefits for the players.
Anirban highlighted the possibility of playing for better prizes, the presence of top-ranked players, and playing in European courses as some of the Asian Tour's advantages. The Indian joined the Asian Tour in 2008 and, in his opinion, the International Series is "phenomenal."
This is part of what Anirban Lahiri said on Golf Monthly:
"It’s phenomenal, I think just as a pathway to LIV, to the qualification event, to winning the International Series points list and getting a spot on LIV. It’s life changing. Every year someone’s going to change their lives pretty much."
He added:
"It makes a very big difference when you go out and play with some of these guys ['some of the best players in the world,' he said] or watch them play like when I did 15 years ago, when I was just starting out. It made a huge difference, it impacts at so many different levels, I think it’s brilliant."
Anirban Lahiri will be playing in the upcoming International Series tournament in Newcastle, England. He will be accompanied by a group of LIV Golf players, who will join the Asian Tour members for this event.
Lahiri commented:
"We’re bringing a lot of the Asian golfers who don’t have much experience playing in the UK and Europe and I think that’s another huge positive."
He added:
"Every way you look at it, it’s phenomenal for Asian golf, It’s phenomenal for global golf because it’s not just Asians playing on this tour. We’ve got a whole bunch of Americans, Aussies, Europeans as well, so it’s brilliant, I think the more we have of it, the better."
After 15 seasons on the Asian Tour, Anirban Lahiri has seven victories on the circuit. The most recent of them was achieved at the Hero Indian Open in 2015.
Anirban Lahiri: "International Series is brilliant"
The International Series is a set of tournaments played in various parts of the world as part of the Asian Tour. It was founded in 2022 and is supported in various ways by LIV Golf.
The project is for the series to consist of 10 events but only nine have been set for the 2023 calendar. These are Oman, Qatar, Thailand, Vietnam, England, the St. Andrews Bay Championship, Singapore, the Hong Kong Open, and the Indonesian Masters.
The total purse of the International Series is estimated at $300 million. Each tournament has a purse of between 1.5 and 2 million. In addition, the winner of the International Series earns a place on the LIV Golf circuit the following season.
Scott Vincent won in 2022, which landed him on the LIV Golf circuit's Iron Heads GC for the 2023 season. He is currently ranked 31st in the overall individual standings after playing in 11 tournaments to date.