Stuck at his parents place in Hyderabad without his golf clubs, India's Anirban Lahiri heaved a sigh of relief after getting the good news that his playing status on the elite PGA Tour has been guaranteed for not only the remainder of the year but also for the 2020-21 season.
"Without doubt it is a big relief and the PGA Tour has taken the right decision keeping in mind the current conditions (COVID-19 pandemic)," said Lahiri, who has been on the Tour since 2015.
Lahiri, who made his card for the current season through the top-50 of Korn Ferry Tour in late 2019, has been struggling with his form in the 12 events he had played so far since the Fall when the ongoing season began.
In 12 events, he has made five cuts, withdrew once and missed the cut seven times. His best finish has been T-44 in Puerto Rico and T-45 at Sanderson Farms Championship.
Lying 209th in the FedexCup standings when the Arnold Palmer Invitational was completed, Lahiri needed a strong finish in the second half.
"It makes me feel good that regardless of next couple of months, I will definitely have status on PGA tour. It helps me to plan accordingly. So, all in all, a very good policy and I am excited and happy," he said.
"I think they have done a very good job of creating a system, where everybody who has exemption this year will remain exempt next year. They are also looking at shuffling between all those exempt players who perform well in this shortened season to get advantage next season.
"I think it is a very good policy that they have come up with. Obviously there are not many tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour to play a Korn Ferry Finals, because they will be hardly playing any events. Remember their season starts only in January, while we have had 11 events even before the calendar year started."