Anirban Lahiri returns to action at French Open, looks for more glory

Paris: Anirban Lahiri, who shot into global limelight with his twin wins at the Malaysian and Hero Indian open, will be hoping to re-capture the same form as he comes back from a two-week break after the US Open to feature in the the Euro Alstom Open de France which begins here on Thursday.

Lahiri will be one of the three Indians teeing off at the 3 million Euro tournament at the Le Golf National tomorrow.

Lahiri, winner of two titles this season on the European Tour, will have for company Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur, who have had a less than satisfactory season so far. Besides being in Top-50 of the world, Lahiri is No. 15 on Europe's Race to Dubai and he will be looking to move up there also.

"I have played a lot of golf and at the highest levels this year so far, so a break after the US Open was very welcome. I was back home and it really felt good to relax and re-energise oneself," said Lahiri.

Playing his first full season on European Tour, Lahiri will make his debut at French Open, which will lead to Scottish and British Opens over the subsequent two weeks. The Le National will be yet another club where Lahiri will make his maiden appearance so he is looking forward to the event.

"This is a course one has heard a lot about and it will host the 2018 Ryder Cup, so I am looking forward to playing on it," added Lahiri.

Kapur and Jeev will hoping for a reversal in form after missing a fair number of cuts. Jeev has made the cut in exactly half the number of events he has played and his best has been tied 22nd at Lyoness Open in Austria.

Kapur has missed eight cuts in 17 starts and he has not played over the weekend last six times he has teed up, including at the US Open and that is something he will be hoping to put behind him.

Jeev is playing alongside Niclas Fasth and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, while Kapur tees off with Johan Carlsson and Thomas Levet, the last Frenchman to win this title in 2011.

Meanwhile, Graeme McDowell will begin his quest for a hat-trick of Alstom Open de France titles alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Lee Westwood and rising French star Alexander Levy.

McDowell, the champion at Le Golf National for the past two years, tees off from the 10th at 13.20 local time, one group behind the widely-tipped Francesco Molinari, Lahiri and young Frenchman Gary Stal.