Lahiri set to surpass Jeev with 15th Major
ST LOUIS, USA : Anirban Lahiri will achieve a coveted landmark when he plays in his 15th Majors at the PGA Championship, surpassing Jeev Milkha Singh’s previous Indian record of 14.
Lahiri’s younger colleague, Shubhankar Sharma, who has been the star of 2018, will also be in the field and becomes the youngest Indian and the third overall to have played all four Majors in a single year after Jeev (in 2007) and Lahiri (in 2015 and 2016). Lahiri is also up to 82nd on Fedexcup rankings and he could improve that this week.
It has now put him back in top100 of world rankings, and only four places behind Shubhankar. Shubhankar has played the first three Majors, but made the cut in only one - the Open, where he was tied 51.
He was tied 9th at his first WGC, but has since been languishing lower down at both WGC Matchplay as also Wgcbridgestone. On Thursday, Sharma plays with Scott Piercy and Jordan Smith and will start at 10th tee in the morning wave, while Lahiri plays the first round in the afternoon alongside Brian Smock and Mike Lorenzo Vera.
WOODS DOMINATES TOURNAMENT BUILD-UP
ST LOUIS, USA: It wasn’t so much media day at the 100th PGA Championships on Tuesday as Tiger Woods Day.
If there was any question about whether the golf world still revolves around the 42-year-old surgically repaired American without a major title in a decade, one only needed to peak into the Bellerive Country Club media room as major winners, a Ryder Cup captain and Woods himself were paraded through for a friendly cross-examination to find the answer. Francesco Molinari was given the courtesy of a few questions about the impact of his historic British Open win at Carnoustie last month but the media did not want to know how it felt to hoist the Claret Jug so much as what it was like playing the final round with Woods.
BOURNEMOUTH BREAK BANK TO SIGN LERMA
LONDON: Bournemouth have signed Colombian international midfielder Jefferson Lerma from Spanish side Levante for a clubrecord fee, the Premier League outfit announced on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old has signed a five-year deal, subject to international clearance, for a reported €27.9 million.
MODRIC JOINS TRAINING AMID EXIT RUMOURS
MADRID: Luka Modric returned to training at Real Madrid on Wednesday along with five other World Cup players, against a background of contradictory rumours about his future.
One Spanish sports daily, AS, reported that the midfielder who led Croatia to the World Cup final was subject to a big bid from Inter Milan, while a competing newspaper, Marca claimed he was to accept a pay rise from Real and sign a contract extension.