Anirban Lahiri Daily Diary: Great to be at LIV Golf Invitational in Jeddah

It is great to be here in the Middle East for this week’s LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

My game was not quite on form last week, but congratulations to my team, the Crushers GC, who finished in second place, with the team of Bryson DeChambeau (Capt), Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and myself on 38 under par, seven shots back of the Fireballs GC.

I travelled to Jeddah on Monday, had a rest day yesterday (Tuesday) and we played as a team fourball today for nine holes, the front nine.

It is my first visit to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, but our first impressions are very good.

It was unseasonably hot and humid today, so I am told, so let’s hope for kinder weather for the tournament days. Both Bryson and Paul have played the golf course many times, mostly in February at the Saudi International on the Asian Tour, when the golf course has been firmer and drier.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am playing in the Pro-Am as are all 48 pros. It is a two-tee start from 10 am onwards and I am off Tee 10 at 1 pm, with a Team format of two amateurs per team and I will only play 9 holes. This is innovation and I hope our amateurs will enjoy the variety of meeting two pros, they will meet me for holes 10 – 18, and Sergio Garcia on the front nine.

The Team element of the LIV Golf Invitational is attracting genuine interest, both as players and caddies as well as the public and international golf spectator.

The 4 Aces GC are leading by a distance after six events on 140 points led by Captain Dustin Johnson and team members: Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Talor Gooch.

They have finished 5th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st and 6th so far in the six events.

The good news is us Crushers GC are in second place on 80 points with finishes of 2nd, 9th, 6th, 2nd, 6th and 2nd.

Third place in the team placing overall on 72 points are the Stingers GC followed by the Fireballs on 69 points.

We have a real team spirit amongst us Crushers and we are determined to hold our place to gain one of those precious four seeded teams for the final Team Championship at the iconic Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami on October 28th – 30th. The seeded three day, knock-out tournament features both match play and stroke play, delivering the excitement of head-to-head competition as 12 teams compete for a historic $50 million purse, the biggest prize in golf.

But that is for the end of this month.

Now for this week, and tomorrow I am looking forward to seeing the back nine and then I will be ready for round one of the tournament proper on Friday with the 12.15 pm shotgun start.

Wish me luck!

- Anirban is a 35 year-old Indian golfer who has recently received his Dubai Golden VISA Award. He has played on the PGTI Tour, Asian Tour, DP World Tour and now plays on the LIV Golf Tour. Anirban has 18 professional victories: 12 on the PGTI, seven on the Asian Tour and two on the DP World Tour.