Anirban Lahiri eyes Open Championship berth through John Deere Classic

Lahiri, who had turned 35 on Wednesday, has missed the last three cuts. The John Deere Classic will be the second outing for Lahiri in two weeks. He last played at the Travelers.

The Indian will next travel to Scotland for the Scottish Open. This week Lahiri will have the company of fellow senior pro from India Arjun Atwal, who is also in the field. Lahiri has played the Open six times, including the 2015 Open at St Andrews.

His maiden appearance at the Open was in 2012, the year in which he had a magical hole-in-one with his family in attendance. His last appearance was in 2018. "That's (playing the Open) definitely a huge motivation to be here," said Lahiri about the three Open Championship spots available at this week's PGA TOUR stop.

"This (John Deere Classic) is a great event no doubt but that (Open spots) makes it much more rewarding." Lahiri enjoyed a T-31 finish in his Open debut in 2012 at Lytham St Annes and he was T-30 at St Andrews in 2015. "I had a really good chance of finishing in the top-10 at St Andrews. I had a couple of bad holes coming home on Sunday.

I certainly have fond memories of the time I was there. It's St Andrews, it's the home of golf. You dream about playing golf at St Andrews and it'll be special to go back again," he said.

Lahiri, who finished runners-up at THE PLAYERS Championship in March to earn a career high USD 2.18 million, enters the week ranked 62nd on the FedExCup standings and with the Playoffs looming, he will be looking to build momentum towards the business end of the season. Aside from the FedExCup, which is the TOUR's ultimate prize, the Presidents Cup qualifying will also conclude at the BMW Championship, the second event of the Playoffs. Lahiri, who featured in the 2015