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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONSNovember 5, 2014Anirban LahiriSHANGHAI, CHINA CALVIN KOH: Thanks for coming in, Anirban. You're making your first appearance here in the WGC ‑ HSBC Champions, and you must be excited to be among the world's best players. ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I'm extremely excited to be here. It is my first time and so far it's been really good. I've been here 2 1/2 days and played the golf course twice over. Really like the golf course, lovely weather, so I'm really looking forward to a good week. CALVIN KOH: Playing here for the first time, but coming here in great form, two wins in Asia and a couple of Top‑10s, good sign of things to come. ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, I think I've been playing pretty well now for the last couple of years. Didn't have my best week last week at CIMB but I came up with a win before that. So I definitely would say that my confidence is high, and just looking forward to getting off to a good start tomorrow and trying to kick on from there. CALVIN KOH: You are second on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and I think there's lots to play for. ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, one of the goals would be to win the Order of Merit. There's lots of incentive. It's obviously one of my targets this year. I've got another three or four events on the Asian Tour that count. So yeah, I'm really hoping to have a good, strong finish and try and threaten David for that No. 1 spot. Q. You obviously had a very good year but how comfortable do you feel in the company of the very top golfers? Would you go and stand next to Adam Scott on the range or Rory? I know Rory's not here, but would you go next to the top players or would you go somewhere quiet? ANIRBAN LAHIRI: No, obviously it doesn't matter to me now whether it's on the range or whether it's on the golf course. I think over the last six or seven especially years that I've played professionally, I've matured. In the first two or three years that I was playing, whenever I got a marquis grouping, I would be a little bit overwhelmed sometimes. Obviously I've looked up to a lot of these guys but I think over the last two or three years, I played more and more with some of the world's best players and I've beaten a lot of them in many of the events, so I definitely have the confidence and the game to compete with them. So I'm here and I would really love to compete, and whether it's on the range or whether it's on the golf course, nothing would give me more pleasure than to beat most of them. Q. What is the most encouraging thing that a top player has said to you? ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I played with Ernie last year in Chiang Mai and we've met a few times, and he's always said a lot of good things. Played with a bunch of PGA TOUR guys and everybody looks to me and says, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you playing with us in America? You've got the game. You've got the ability."  So it's not one but a number of players who have said a lot of good things, who have encouraged me and given me a lot of confidence. It comes down to executing in events like this and I'm really eager to do that. Q. You played in the Pro‑Am; how is the course looking? How did you feel out there? What are your expectations for this week? ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Let me start with your first question. I played nine holes on Monday and nine holes yesterday, and I played the Pro‑Am quite early this morning. The golf course is in fantastic shape. The premium is definitely going to be on accuracy because it's not a short golf course. But it's the kind of golf course where if you don't hit the fairways, on a number of these holes, you're not going to be able to get to the green from the rough. So it's going to be really important to keep it on the fairways. In terms of the conditions, I think everything's perfect: The greens, the fairways, everything is at it should be. My expectations this week would probably be to play to my potential. I know that I can compete in events like this but I haven't done so yet. So you know, if I can get myself in the mix on the weekend, that would be very pleasing. Q. When do you expect India to become the centre of global golf, rather like China's becoming? Do you think it will be like China the same time or do you think its development will come later? ANIRBAN LAHIRI: It's difficult for me to answer that question but if I was to compare it to China, I definitely think it will happen a little later. In terms of the kind of development of golf that's going on out here, it's not the same in India. We don't have as many golf courses as China does, for instance. And quite honestly, anything that's not crooked does not grow in India; it's really, really difficult. That's a fact, as much as I would like that not to be the case. But having said that, it is growing. It is growing slowly. But it's moving in the right direction. There are more players coming out and playing professionally and competitively. There's a lot of depth in the junior squads that are coming up now. So you will continue to see a flow of players but you might not see an explosion like you might from China in a few years. Q. And are they looking after the caddies now? Have they got as good a chance as anybody as making it into the professional game? ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, absolutely. I don't think that there's any bias anymore, at least. Everybody's got an equal opportunity I think. The Indian Tour, the Professional Golf Tour of India, the PGTI, are going a good job of growing the sport domestically. And it's allowing a lot of players to not just make a living but make enough money to support themselves to come out and play in Asia and on other tours and I think that is something that has changed over the last decade. Maybe ten years back, if you were a Top‑5 or a Top‑10 player in India, you could not afford to come out. But today players can do that, even if they don't have sponsors. So in that sense, I think there's going to be more opportunity, regardless of what Strata you come from. CALVIN KOH:  Many thanks and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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