Anirban Lahiri secured his first top-10 finish since the first week of August after carding a three-under 68 on the final day of the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on Monday.
Lahiri, who once again was off to a brilliant start on the front nine with four birdies against no bogeys he had five on the front stretch on the third day, aggregated 16-under 268 to finish T-10th.
Lahiri’s last top-10 finish was at the WGC-Bridgestone where he signed off at Tied-6th place. In the six starts in between those two Top-10s, Lahiri had four missed cuts and a best finish of T-63 at CIMB Classic. “It was some relief, though it could have been much better,” said Lahiri, who is now due to play for India at the World Cup in Melbourne alongside his teammate Gaganjeet Bhullar.
Meanwhile, Matt Kuchar, who made a last minute decision to come to Mexico for the event, ended up winning the tournament. He survived some nervous moments on the backstretch to snap a four-year title drought. Kuchar finished at 22-under 262, breaking by one the 72-hole record at Mayakoba previously held by Harris English.
Leading by four at the start of the day, Kuchar, who had dropped just two bogeys in his first 67 holes, dropped shots on 14th and 15th and the lead was down to one, as Danny Lee made a charge.
Lee parred last two for a 65, while Kuchar had two three footers for pars on 17th and 18th. He made them but later said, “I didn’t want a 3-footer on the last hole. I was hoping to have a three or four-shot lead for some wiggle room. But man, that felt awfully good.”
Kuchar, 40, last won at the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head in April 2014. This win does make up somewhat for a disappointing year in which Kuchar finished out of the top 70 of the FedExCup standings for the first time since 2007 and did not make the Ryder Cup team for the first time in 10 years. With this win Kuchar qualifies for the Sentry Tournament of Champions to start next year at Kapalua. As Lee was second, JJ Spaun (66) and Richy Werenski (67) tied for third.