Lahiri wins Malaysian Open, Augusta Masters berth

An early birdie blitz followed by a perfect control on his nerves saw Anirban Lahiri grab his first co-sanctioned title by snatching the Maybank Malaysian Open from Bernd Wiesberger in a dramatic finish at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club here today.

Among the numerous benefits that will follow, this win could also earn Lahiri the coveted invite to Augusta Masters in April, as he moved to top-50 of the world.

When the new rankings come out tomorrow, Lahiri could well be inside the top-40 and he needs to be inside top-50 till the week before Masters to make the grade for the year's first Major. His stunning show in 2014 and a great start in 2015 could even earn him an invite before that.

"I don't think it's sunk in just yet," said Lahiri. "But I'm pretty sure when it hits home it's going to be a really happy moment for me.

"I think I've got a bad habit of making it hard for myself, but I'm happy I got over the line, as ugly as it was towards the end," he said.

"The Masters is definitely one of my targets. I don't know how far I'll move up, but I'm pretty confident now with this win I should have a pretty good chance," he added.

Lahiri also takes the early lead for Asian Tour Order of Merit and moves to seventh on Race to Dubai standings and also gets an exemption to European Tour till end of 2017.

Lahiri carded a dramatic 68 that started with four birdies in first five holes and then a steady back nine with two birdies and just one bogey on back nine for his maiden European Tour win and a sixth title on Asian Tour.

In contrast, Wiesberger, who began the day with a five-shot lead over fifth placed Lahiri, opened with two birdies, but a double bogey on par-5 fifth, where Lahiri birdied, and then three bogeys between 13th and 17th saw his lead evaporate and leave the Indian a deserving winner.

Lahiri (68) totalled 16-under to edge out Wiesberger (74) by one shot. Meanwhile, another Indian, SSP Chowrasia, one of the only three Indians to win an European Tour title before Lahiri, carded 68 to finish tied 10th. Rashid Khan (67) was tied 38th and Shiv Kapur (71) was tied 46th.

Only Jeev Milkha Singh (4), Arjun Atwal (3) and Chowrasia (2) have won European Tour titles before Lahiri.

Also with six Asian Tour titles, Lahiri moved to tied third place with Jeev and behind Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal, who have eight Asian Tour titles each.

Talking about his flawless 10-under 62 yesterday, Lahiri added, "In hindsight that was one of the most crucial rounds of my career and it's fantastic when you play well at the right times."

Lahiri's maiden European Tour title comes just three months after coming through Qualifying School, and is all the more remarkable given he was outside the top 20 at the halfway stage.

A sensational 10-under par 62 gave him a chance, but in-form Wiesberger appeared a clear favourite when he started the day two shots clear of Alejandro Canizares and five ahead of the eventual winner.

The Austrian, who climbed into the Official World Golf Ranking's top 50 for the first time by finishing sixth, third and fourth in the three Desert Swing events, even birdied the first two holes today -- both courtesy of eight foot putts.

But, after laying up at the par five, Wiesberger chunked his third into the water at the fifth and ran up a double bogey seven to blow the title race wide open.

After converting from 18 feet at the first and a par the second, Lahiri, who already had five titles on the co-sanctioning Asian Tour, tapped in at the third, holed from ten feet at the fourth and pitched to six feet at the fifth for a hat-trick of gains that left him just one behind.

With the breeze picking up, Wiesberger was happy to head to the turn with a run of pars, and it was enough to restore his two shot advantage as Lahiri did well to escape the ninth with a bogey after almost finding water off the tee.

Lahiri reduced the gap to one again with a birdie from 12 feet at the tenth, and although Wiesberger paid the price for missing the fairway at the 12th, where there was just one birdie all day, up ahead Lahiri dropped a shot from the sand at the 13th – where there were no birdies today and the field were a collective 31 over par.

Wiesberger did well to salvage his four there after driving into the trees, but paid for another errant tee shot at the 14th when he failed to get up-and-down from behind the green.

The Austrian did manage to rescue par from a greenside bunker at the 15th, but Lahiri rolled in a 40 foot putt from off the green at the 17th to snatch the outright lead for the first time and, although Wiesberger birdied the 16th from inside five feet, he made a mess of his approach to the next to hand the shot straight back.

Lahiri found sand at the last but scrambled par and, when Wiesberger left his 20 foot birdie effort agonisingly short, the World Number 73 was confirmed as champion – with a place in the game's top 50 and a potential Masters Tournament invite among his rewards along with 439,796 euros winner's cheque.

A fourth top-10 finish in a row moves Wiesberger into the top five on The Race to Dubai, but the 29-year-old was left to rue the errors in his closing 74.

"It hasn't quite finished the way I intended to," said Wiesberger. "After the hiccup on five, I didn't hit it anywhere near as good as the last 15 rounds. It's tough to say, but it is what it is and unfortunately I beat myself out of it today.

"I hit a bad lay-up, flew a lot on the downhill lie and my mind wasn't there; I hit a bad shot and needed to miss it long and take par and get on with it. It's disappointing."
England's Paul Waring and Spain's Canizares were also over par for the day, but finished tied for third on 13 under, while the anticipated challenge of defending champion Lee Westwood never materialised after the former World Number One double bogeyed the second en route to a round of 75 and share of fifth.