India’s Anirban Lahiri says he is going back to the drawing board during his coronavirus isolation in a bid to find lost form (Matt SULLIVAN)

New Delhi (AFP) – The coronavirus shutdown has given former Asian number one Anirban Lahiri the opportunity to go back to the drawing board in a bid to escape a form slump.

Lahiri’s last top-10 was at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November 2018, and he needed to regain his PGA Tour card through the Tour Finals last season after finishing 178th on the points list.

The 32-year-old Indian flew back from the United States last month to work on his game with coach Vijay Divecha in Ahmedabad before the pandemic forced the country to shut down.

“I was already at a stage of re-assessing my goals and processes even before this break,” Lahiri, who is based in Florida, was quoted as saying in a PGA Tour release.

“My golf has been poor to say the least and it was a matter of going back to the drawing board. Spending 10 days with my coach gave me a good sense on what I need to do to get to where I want to be.”

Lahiri, who played for the International team in two Presidents Cups, reached a career-high ranking of 33 in 2015, but has since dropped to 497.

Before the PGA Tour was halted, he had made five cuts from 12 starts with a best finish of joint 44th.

“I do miss playing golf but I don’t miss it that much,” said Lahiri.

“With this break, I’m just keeping myself occupied with a little bit of cooking, yoga and some light weights training.”

Now seeing out the shutdown in Hyderabad with his parents, wife and daughter, Lahiri said: “It’s given me more perspective outside of golf.

“It’s nice to hit the pause button and reflect on things which we wouldn’t normally do.”

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.