Professional Golfer Anirban Lahiri becomes Dubai Golden Visa Holder

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Transcript

00:00So I turned pro in 2007 and I started on the Indian tour on the PGTI and my first big break

00:11or my first big opportunity to play an international event or a global event was actually the Dubai

00:17Desert Classic and Golf in Dubai were nice enough to me to invite me to play in 2010.

00:25I won the money list in India in 2009 and they extended me an invitation in 2010 January.

00:31It was the first time I actually played golf with a lot of my idols as well.

00:35The Muchless Golf Course obviously is quite spectacular and a great event so my association

00:40goes back all the way to then and then over the years having played in Asia, I've been

00:46a European Tour member for many years, playing the Abu Dhabi, playing the Desert Classic,

00:51the DP World Championship at Jumeirah.

00:54I've come here often and I've enjoyed my time here.

00:57I'm so excited, honoured really to get the Dubai Golden Visa.

01:02Over the years so many of the top pros have resided or made their golf base here.

01:07Rory obviously, so many years and I know a couple of Indian golfers that are here, Jeev

01:13and Shiv, Niko is here and a bunch of pros come in the off season to sharpen their tools

01:20so obviously there's a long association of high quality professional golf with Dubai.

01:25It definitely was a big encouragement for me to consider this as a long term base.

01:31Initially with the whole move to Dubai, I think everything that's happened over the

01:34last few months has been quite hectic.

01:36I have a young family, I have a daughter that turns four February next year and a son who's

01:42four months old so there's a lot going on at home, it's a proper circus so to relocate,

01:48to move, I think initially we focused on moving to an area where we have friends and

01:53we have a lot of friends from when we were in school in India and the like so most of

01:58them are downtown and that's I think where we're going to rent initially to begin.

02:02I think over the coming months maybe try and figure out where we want to lay our roots

02:07down.

02:08Obviously here at the Elves Club where I'm going to make my base, it's definitely an

02:12option, there's a lot to do in Sports City which is something that I think my children

02:19would benefit from in the long run, also the schooling.

02:22There's so much choice, you're almost spoiled for choice so I think over the next few months

02:28it'll be about sitting down with my wife, trying to figure out what our priorities are

02:32and just going from there and seeing what we want to do in the long run.

02:38I've been very pleasantly surprised to see how advanced and developed the golfing infrastructure

02:46is actually out here.

02:48The academies are well designed, obviously the Elves Club is fantastic, they have everything

02:54that someone of my caliber would require and they have everything that an average club

02:58golfer would require and I'm sure this is not the only club, there's plenty of golf

03:02courses, plenty of facilities that provide it, so I think it's a great future watering

03:08hole for golfers of all levels to come and get their feet wet or cut their teeth if they

03:14have to and get serious about it.

03:19Golf is such a crazy game, it's taken me to so many different places and now we find

03:23ourselves in a different kind of situation in professional golf.

03:26For me personally, it's been a very fulfilling year, had probably one of my best performances

03:32in the last few years at least at the Players' Championship, fell agonizingly short but lots

03:38of positives, a great memory and it was really nice to perform at the level that I know I

03:44can and now I find myself here in Dubai, so life's been very, very interesting, it's been

03:51a fantastic journey, I've gone to a lot of different places and now I'm looking forward

03:56to what's next.

03:58For the rest of the year, my schedule will probably be looking at about 4 or 5 events.

04:04I'm playing Bangkok next week and then we go to Jeddah and then we have team finale

04:09in Miami and then in November is when I'm planning to move my family, my kids, get them

04:16settled in and kind of start making it feel like home and then in December I'm going to

04:23head out and support the Asian Tour and play a couple of events as well.

04:26It will be really cool for me to go back, lots of familiar faces and a lot of new ones

04:32as well, interact with the next generation of professionals from Asia, especially from

04:38India, some of whom I know and kind of just enjoy my competitive career but also kind

04:44of have another role in trying to help groom and nurture some of the new talent that's

04:49coming through, so very interesting times ahead.

04:53Then kind of call it for the year and we'll have good weather here, so lots of golf.

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