Anirban Lahiri has called on those involved in professional golf to "wake up" as he and his fellow LIV Golf stars continue to fall down the world rankings.
Lahiri is making his return to the DP World Tour this week, competing on home soil at the Indian Open at DLF Golf & Country Club. The sponsor exemption will give the Crushers GC member a chance to earn some much-needed Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points amid his drift down the ranking list.
Since making the move to the breakaway circuit - who continue to host events without ranking points on offer - the Indian star has drifted out of the top-400 of the OWGR, a world away from his former stay in the world's top-40.
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This has seen Lahiri lose his playing rights in golf's four major championships, whilst also hampering his chances of making it to Paris for this summer's Olympic Games. Ahead of his home Open in Gurugram this week, the Indian star became the latest LIV member to vent his frustrations over their ongoing ranking issue.
"There might be a situation where a lot of really good golfers don’t make it to Paris. And maybe that’s what is needed for the world to wake up and say we need to do something," he commented. Having had applications from the OWGR rejected, the Saudi-backed series announced it had given up its hunt for ranking points earlier this month.
Whilst Lahiri is clearly unhappy with the situation, the Indian has revealed plans to make the Olympic team starting at DLF Country Club, before venturing out to the Asian Tour. "I am not going to sit and moan here. I am looking forward to eight or 12 good rounds after the Indian Open.
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"I will find those events on the Asian Tour, but it depends on a lot of variables. What's in my control is putting together four good rounds this week. Olympics remains an unfinished business. Like every athlete, I have a whole list of excuses for not playing well at the two Games, but then let bygones be bygones. I don't regret my decision to join LIV."
The two highest-ranked players in the OWGR from each nation will earn the right to compete for Olympic gold in Paris this August. As things stand, 36-year-old Lahiri is the third-highest ranking Indian in 401st, currently behind Shubhankar Sharma in 188th and Gaganjeet Bhullar who sits 248th.
The LIV star is no stranger to Olympic golf, having competed in Rio de Janeiro back in 2016, before returning to represent India five years later in Tokyo. Qualification for the men's event at Le Golf National in August will come to an end two months earlier on June 17.
