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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 24, 2017

Anirban Lahiri

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Q. Going back to yesterday, it was quite an explosive round of golf, particularly with the finish that you had.
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Yeah, it was nice. Got really cool in the evening. The wind died down and I holed quite a few putts coming in. Obviously a big bonus on 18 to make that putt. It was nearly dark. I think that kind of helped because you could see the spike marks. I've been playing good and it was nice to hole a few.

Q. The Bear Trap, birdie, birdie, bogey, so 1-under through those holes which is very good, and level par today. Under par for two days around here; how aware are you of a thing called the Bear Trap, or is it just three holes in a run of 18?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: No, I actually quite enjoy playing the Bear Trap because it sets up nicely for me. I hit a draw and it leaves the two par 3s, that's probably your better all flight, and I can be aggressive on some of those pin positions, like it was back on 15 yesterday and took advantage of that. I think it sets up very well for me.

Q. Played yesterday afternoon and the scoring wasn't as good yesterday afternoon, your 65 was a stand-out. Compare the two rounds, weather-wise, condition-wise.
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I think condition-wise, yesterday was about as good as you would get for afternoon conditions. This morning was really nice. I think they have been good to us with ball-in-hand. There's so much mud on the fairways, you don't want to get penalized for that.

So I think that helps the scoring a little bit. I played solid I think both rounds. Yesterday I made a lot more putts than today. The back nine today, I could have easily made two or three putts for birdies, but I was happy nonetheless.

Q. How much are you enjoying your PGA TOUR adventure?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: It's fun. It's beginning to feel like home. I'm sleeping in my own bed. I'm just down the road here in PGA National.

Q. This is your base?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I live here. I don't play regularly out here but I do live here. So it feels like a home event.

Q. Well played so far this week, 7-under par, what's been the key to your good play?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I think I'm really relaxed this week. It helps that I'm sleeping in my own bed. It's three minutes to get to the venue. I'm loving the weather here. It's really nice. I'm really relaxed.

Q. I know we have the rain on Wednesday, played it up yesterday and again today. How is the condition of the golf course?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I think it's in great shape. For the amount of rain we had on Wednesday; it was a deluge. It's drying out a bit. Some of the fairways are still quite damp, one or two, but the rest of them are in good shape. They have done really well with the golf and it's playing good.

Q. What have you learned in your second year on the PGA TOUR?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I think more than anything it's picking which events to play and figuring out golf courses I enjoy playing. That's something that I had to do last year was play a lot of different courses and this year I'm going to be a little more choosey, a little more picky about which events I tee it up in. Obviously this week being a home week is an easy decision, so it's nice to come back with some knowledge of the golf course.

Q. The difference between at home this week compared to the two rounds last week -- very disappointing?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I mean, last week was a bit of a mess, just in terms of the weather. I had four wake-up calls at 4:00 A.M. I was trying to get over a 16-hour time difference. I was tired; I was jet-lagged.

So I think this week, the body feels a lot better. Definitely more on time. Like I said, eating home food, sleeping in your own bed, makes a big difference, and it's just nice. The weather's great and it feels really nice to back here.

Q. How long have you been in PGA National?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I moved in April last year. The last time I played here was the event last year. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to play a lot of golf in the off-season. I'm more a guy who likes to work on his game on the range on a par 3 golf course or something like that.

Q. When you're back home, how far is home from your home course back home, in comparison?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Well, it's similar because my base back in India is Eagleton and I actually decided to get a little two-bedroom on site so that I could do the same thing. So I enjoy being right there, and who doesn't. It's easy. Makes everything so much more convenient.

Q. How much time do you spend here and how much time do you spend there, and of course you're traveling.
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: It's been 364 days I guess since I played here.

Q. How much time do you actually live here?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: I moved here in April. I've probably spent 3 1/2, four months. Spent a lot of time -- I got injured around August last year, so I was home for about four weeks, simply because I was injured. Then I decided to spend the entire off-season, so I was here all of December, early January, before leaving for Hawai'i. I spent a considerable amount of time here now.

Q. How did you choose to move here and how do you like it so far?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: It was just a matter of weather, really. I don't do well in the cold. This was a no-brainer for me in terms of the golf. In terms of the weather, through December, it was in the mid 60s. A cold day would be mid 50s and a warm day would be high 70s, so it was perfect for golf. And I like to go out and work on my game, so I needed the weather to be supportive of that. That was one of the main reasons why my wife and I decided to pick this spot.

Q. Did you play PGA National?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Not really. I'm based out of The Bear's Club. Mr. Nicklaus was nice enough to allow me membership there, so I spend most of my time there. They have got a great practice facility that nobody disturbs you. You can go out there and do whatever you like. There's a bunch of us there.

But the funny thing is, not a lot of us are there simultaneously. Everybody has their own schedules. When I took time off, a lot of guys were there. When I came back, a lot of guys were taking time off. You always find four or five of us there at some point in time or the other.

There's always guys to play with, but like I said, I'm not someone who plays a lot of golf. I think we play enough rounds of golf through the year. If I'm playing 30 weeks, that's plenty of golf, but not enough time on the range and not enough time to just step away and actually work on the game. So that's what I like to do.

Q. Is there a call for you to go back to India to represent and grow golf?
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Absolutely. I'm flying back next week. I'm going to go play the Indian Open. If you look at the schedule, it doesn't make sense. We are in Florida: I can drive up to Tampa and Bay Hill and take it easy, but I feel responsible. I definitely feel like I owe it to go back and to play the Indian Open.

I saw last year the number of kids that came out. It's definitely growing. I feel like I've kind of moved from being on the other side of the ropes, looking in, to being on this side of the ropes, looking out, what I looked like ten years ago as a kid myself. I try and do as much as I possibly can, like you said, to grow it.

Q. You've had so much success on the Asian Tour, it would be easy to stay there.
ANIRBAN LAHIRI: Well, not really, no, it wouldn't, because that's not what I strive for. I strive to play well at the majors. Obviously you want to win out here on TOUR. You want to be competing with the best players in the world. And even though Asia is a fantastic platform, it doesn't quite allow you to do that week-in, week-out.

We probably have two or three weeks in Asia that have the field that is a world-class field. But out here, every week is world-class. So that's why it was important for me to push to move here and to compete here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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