Golf-Disappointed Lahiri believes Asia on brink of majorsuccess (Reuters)

By Sudipto Ganguly

MUMBAI, July 23 (Reuters) - India's Anirban Lahiri believes a lack of experience cost him dearly inthe last two rounds of the British Open but the Asian Tour money leader is confident the region willsoon be celebrating another male major winner.

Lahiri was in contention after an impressive 36 holes at St Andrews but the 28-year-old suffered twoback-nine meltdowns over the weekend to finish six-under for the tournament and tied for 30th, ninestrokes behind champion Zach Johnson.

"A lot of it comes down to experience," the seven-time Asian Tour winner told reporters in aconference call confirming the defence of his Venetian Macau Open title in October.

"It was only my fifth or sixth major and in that sense I was a little bit inexperienced, also having notplayed St Andrews before.

"The conditions that we did get on the weekend, it was not easy on the back nine. Not just myself,but a number of guys lost a number of shots coming in."

Despite his struggles in Scotland, the two-time European Tour winner has complete faith in his gameand believes there is no particular area in need of a significant overhaul.

The mistakes he made at the British Open were strategic rather than down to poor execution andLahiri feels his decision-making will improve the more he plays top tournaments and in trickyconditions.

"I don't think there is anything lacking in my game andfalling short in any one department. Whenever you wina big event or a major, you need everything to click," hesaid.

"And yes, everything did not click together last week. When I look back at last week, there weremore positives and the learning bit will happen soon."

While it was disappointing for Lahiri that male players from Asia have failed to mount a seriouschallenge for major titles since South Korean Yang Yong-eun won the U.S. PGA Championship in2009, he felt the region's golfers were getting closer.

"We haven't really had any one player or group of players consistently in the top 10. Having saidthat, I do think we are making progress," Lahiri said.

"There are more of us playing, there are more of us playing the weekends. Some of us do come closeto contending.

"But I feel like it is only a matter of time. I think you only need everything to click. The week thatYang won was an example of that.

"I don't think we lack anything in terms of quality but everything has to come together at the righttime." (Editing by John O'Brien)

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