Kirk and Lahiri were then faced with birdie putts in the 18. His putter tumbled out of his hand and over his back.
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They were all square standing on the 18th tee.
“I would like to rewind and just change the last 10 seconds of it”.
It wasn’t all on Lahiri, the 28-year-old who made history in these matches as the first player from India.
The biennial team match-play contest, held in Asia for the first time, went down the wire in front of large galleries with Bill Haas notching a thrilling 2-up victory which gave the United States one-point win, which was its ninth in the series and sixth consecutive success. Kirk had won the match.
It looked to be an nearly certain victory for the worldwide Team, until Kirk drained his putt for the birdie, putting pressure on Lahiri.
Kirk’s putt dropped on the final turn. Fine margins indeed. “These things are scripted I guess, and I wasn’t in the script this time”, said a despondent Lahiri. “And I wasn’t in the script”. The team played great. “I’ve played with him a couple times and he’s as nice and as classy of a guy as you’ll see out on the PGA Tour”.
Lahiri finished fifth in the PGA Championship and narrowly missed earning enough money for a PGA Tour card.
Meanwhile, global captain Nick Price expressed his opinion about the same. Price, perhaps aware of his tactical errors as much as his players’ competitive ones, said he would make sure Lahiri, who went 0-3-0, would not shoulder the burden of the loss. Obviously I’m disappointed with my week.
Anirban Lahiri will probably think about his last putt on Sunday for a long time. I’m sure the rest of the team is going to help me out.
The point that Kirk earned proved to be crucial as it was the difference between winning and tying the event. “The full point would’ve been I guess game changing, but the half point would’ve also given us a little more of a chance”, he said. That’s what I did and it didn’t go in.
Lahiri still knew his short putt for a halve would be critical. Leishman and Grace won their matches but Bill Haas beat South Korean Bae Sang-moon on the final hole of the last match to seal a 15.5-14.5 win.
“A moment I’ll never forget”, US captain Jay Haas said, so choked up when it ended that he couldn’t speak.
He said Bubba Watson was among the first to approach him to share how Watson also had missed that putt.
Asked about Anirban’s showing, Price said, “In hindsight, he (Anirban) and Thongchai played so well together in the practice round in Tuesday and then again on Wednesday, I thought they would be a really good fit”.
He went on, “This week is a huge learning experience for us, it really is. We are going to make sure he goes away from here with a wonderful experience and not let him dwell on what happened today”.
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For Lahiri, he has to move on.
