Fantasy Insider: THE NORTHERN TRUST

SILVIS, Ill. — In a different year, at a different moment in time, Anirban Lahiri might be laser-focused on his golf, on improving his position in the FedExCup standings, on ensuring he is properly tending to his singular pursuit of a successful career at the highest level of his sport. This is not that year. Now is not that moment in time. “I don’t think COVID is going to wait,” Lahiri explained Wednesday in the midst of a coordinated and urgent plea to golf fans around the world to assist worthy organizations that are helping his native India emerge from a deadly spring surge of the COVID-19 virus. “It has its own schedule. It doesn’t wait for the season to end and the offseason to start.” A 34-year-old native of Pune, India, Lahiri is well-versed on the challenge of emerging from a bout with the coronavirus. He is two months removed from his own frightening episode with the virus, which he, his wife and 2-year-old all contracted in April when his vaccinated coach visited from India, only to discover he’d been exposed to the virus. “I had a pretty serious bout with it,” said Lahiri, a 14th-year professional and veteran of five PGA TOUR seasons. “I was very fortunate that my wife didn’t have a very serious case. I was so bad that she actually had to drive from Palm Beach to Hilton Head seven hours while she had COVID to come and take care of me because she was the only person who could have had access. It was a very difficult time for the family. I think when someone has COVID, it’s probably the family members who feel the most helpless.” Lahiri made two hours-long visits to an emergency room, spiked a fever of 104, and ultimately lost 15 pounds over a span of 10 days. At its worst, the illness raised concerns of pneumonia. Lahiri declined to say if he feared for his life at that point, but indicated he saw that fear in his wife. His personal concerns were severely compounded by the growing crisis in his homeland. Official numbers list in excess of 400,000 deaths and more than 30 million infections in India since the advent of the pandemic, but, in late June, the Wall Street Journal cited modeling by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that suggested the actual death count in the country was three times that official figure. Even with vaccinations available for months, India endured a crippling second surge that saw daily infections increase exponentially, from a low of fewer than 9,000 new infections on Feb. 8 to a peak of 414,000 on May 8, according to the worldometers.info website. While the worst now may be over — on July 5, daily cases were cited at fewer than 35,000 — Lahiri is encouraging donations to organizations such as the Akshaya Patra Foundation for COVID relief, which are working to helping the least fortunate surviving victims in his homeland. Lahiri noted he and his family are not coming forward with a specific fundraising initiative, and he said the foundation cited above is far from the only group doing extremely vital outreach for Indian families who lost means to an income and children who lost parents. In the coming days, he plans to use his social media platforms — @anirbangolf on Twitter and @banstaa on Instagram — to share links to important and trustworthy organizations in need of financial assistance. “The whole idea is to bring that awareness to the golfing audience, especially this part of the world, and encourage them to donate as much as possible to some of the Indian charities,” he said of his decision to share his story on the eve of the John Deere Classic. “The reality is people’s lives have been destroyed. The reality is people don’t have a job. The reality is a lot of futures have been compromised. The way my family, myself and my wife look at it is what can we do to make a better future. It’s about faith in humanity. The pain and the suffering are real. That’s the message I want to send out.” Lahiri’s own immediate future includes two final pre-FedExCup Playoff starts, here at the Deere and at next week’s Barbasol Championship in Nicholasville, Ky., with the hope of continuing his personal post-Covid rebound and improving his FedExCup ranking of 119. Beyond that, he will represent India in a second consecutive Olympiad July 29-Aug. 1 in Tokyo. Given his monthlong absence from the TOUR while recovering from the virus, Lahiri might have opted to bypass the Olympics in favor of playing more TOUR events in advance of the Playoffs, but his sense of duty to country won’t allow that. “In a country where golf is a young game, still maturing and developing, the Olympics is the beacon, it’s the torch of all international sports,” he said. “I’ve seen the impact on badminton a gold medal had in India. I’ve seen the impact on wrestling and shooting, where we’ve had success. If I can somehow do my best and we can see more kids coming out of India on the PGA TOUR, that’s something I would like to leave behind.”

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They are golf’s behind-the-scenes road warriors, spending hours and hours on the road, at tournaments, fixing clubs and easing players’ minds. Oh, and the stories they can tell.

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — PGATOUR.COM’s staff will dive into the big issues each evening after play concludes at Shinnecock Hills. Dustin Johnson has built a four-shot lead at the halfway point, but there’s still a lot of golf remaining on a difficult track. Here are our predictions for the weekend. There is only one man under par. Is the U.S. Open over?  Cameron Morfit, Staff Writer: Absolutely not, especially in light of what happened at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the 2010 PGA Championship, and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions last fall. That last one was probably the most shocking, mathematically, given that DJ had a six-shot lead over his nearest pursuer but shot 77 to lose. And it’s easier to have a meltdown at Shinnecock than any of those places. Just look at Ian Poulter’s triple-bogey, bogey finish Friday. Ben Everill, Staff Writer: Not yet, but it is close. Dustin Johnson has given up leads before but he just looks like he is in that mood where he is going to blitz them. If he shoots 1 under over the next two rounds I don’t think anyone can catch him. Sean Martin, Senior Editor: Hardly. As Brooks Koepka said, “This is the U.S. Open. There’s disaster lurking around every corner.â€� I feel like every time the media prematurely hands a player a trophy, the golf gods yank it out of his hands. Dustin Johnson is definitely the favorite but there is still a lot of golf to be played. History does favor Johnson, though. This is the seventh time someone has led by four or more shots after 36 holes. Only Tom McNamara in 1909 failed to convert such a large lead into victory. Jonathan Wall, Equipment Insider: I think so. DJ isn’t anywhere close to the player he was in 2010 when he collapsed over the weekend at the U.S. Open. He won’t run away and hide, but he’s not giving up this lead the way he’s playing at the moment. Four shots feels like eight the way Shinnecock is playing. There’s no rain in the weekend forecast and the winds are supposed to be relatively calm. What do you think will be the winning score? Morfit: Having seen Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka each put a 66 on the board today, I’d say the winner will have to get to 4 under, which means DJ merely has to tread water. Easy, right? Everill: I think 5 under is enough to win outright. If they set it up super hard then as low as 1 under could still win. Martin: Johnson holds the answer in his oversized palms, but I think 5 under is a safe bet. Shinnecock Hills drains easily so, even with two days of rain, Shinnecock Hills can still play firm and fast this weekend. And that is a scary proposition for the field because of the steep slopes of closely-mown grass that surround these poa annua putting surfaces. Wall: My guess is 5 under. I think DJ posts another red number tomorrow and strolls to victory.  How far down the leaderboard can you realistically look for a potential champion? Morfit: I would say anyone at 4 over is still within shouting distance, but obviously in need of a terrific weekend. Alex Noren is on that number and has the chops to make a big move like that. Everill: I don’t think you can go past the guys at 3 over. That’s already giving the world’s best player a seven-shot head start. If those guys can manage a 5-under weekend and get some help from Johnson, they have a slim chance. Martin: The 10-shot rule is no longer used in determining the cut, but I’m going to apply it here. Players at 6 over par should have the benefit of playing in good scoring conditions Saturday morning. We saw a couple 66s on Friday. If someone at 6 over can shoot 65 on Saturday, they’ll likely start Sunday in contention. Wall: I think anyone at 3 over has a chance, but someone is going to need to throw out a 65 or 66 to have a realistic shot on Sunday.  Who do you expect will make the biggest move into contention on Moving Day? Morfit: I like the fire that Rickie Fowler is showing right now. He’s been asked a lot this week about not having won a major, and he hasn’t shied away from saying he’s got the game to get it done. He’s showing as much so far and is right there without shouting distance. He’ll start Saturday in ninth place, six shots behind Johnson. Everill: Defending champion Brooks Koepka. A very nice 66 today continues his form of late. Since his return from injury he has gone low multiple times and having already won the event the nerves shouldn’t be a factor. Plus he loves DJ, and loves beating him more. Martin: My heart says Phil Mickelson. And I can talk my head into agreeing. He is 6 over par but hitting the ball really well. He’s missed just two fairways this week and hit 15 of 18 greens Friday. He knows how to play Shinnecock Hills. I could see him taking advantage of some good scoring conditions early Saturday. Wall: I love Rickie Fowler’s position. He looked under control today and has a realistic chance to take down DJ if he posts 66 or 67 on Saturday. Sooner or later he’s going to shed the major-less title. This feels like another great opportunity.  Halfway through the U.S. Open, how do you feel about Shinnecock Hills’ performance? Morfit: The golden sunlight that fell over the course Friday afternoon was absolutely stunning, and with the wind down I really think it was Shinnecock at its best. I’m glad some of the ones who were caught in the strongest winds Thursday morning got to play in those absolutely primo conditions Friday night. Everill: It is a gorgeous part of the world and a wonderful golf course. I feel nostalgic for the sand belt courses of Melbourne with every step. I think it has proven itself a worthy part of the championship rotation. Martin: We saw completely contrasting conditions over the first two days at Shinnecock Hills and it was a challenge in both of them. It isn’t hard to find an unhappy player at a U.S. Open, but even Ian Poulter, who admitted that he hated this tournament for 14 years, said that he was pleased with the course setup. Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka showed us that good scores are out there but Shinnecock Hills is a bear even in the best conditions. Wall: Tough but fair. This is exactly what the USGA was hoping for at the beginning of the week. Even without the wind over the weekend, players are still going to get all they can handle. In my opinion, Shinnecock helped the U.S. Open reclaim its identity as the toughest test in golf.

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