Opening day 61 catapults Arjun Atwal to his first PGA Tour title in N. Carolina

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 13:25

Written by Editor

Arjun Atwal became the first Indian and just the sixth Asian-born player to win on the PGA Tour when he secured a one-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship.The 37-year-old from Calcutta parred the final hole for a round of 67 and a 20-under-par total as he avoided a play-off with nearest rival David Toms. "That was huge," said Atwal, whose win owed much to a stunning nine-under 61 in his opening round in Greensboro.

"I was really nervous over that last putt. My heart rate was probably 150." Atwal, who lost his Tour card in July, began his final 18 holes with a three-shot lead. His advantage was gradually eroded, and, at one stage, he shared the lead with six other players.

Atwal, though, birdied the 16th to regain the lead, and as he teed off at the 18th, Toms, who had birdied three of his last four holes for a 64, was alone in second and hoping for a slip-up.However, Atwal, who had led or shared the lead after each of the first three rounds, was not about to wilt. He even had the courage to blast his approach to the last in the hope of hitting the spectators' tent that was positioned behind the green in order to get a favourable drop shot.

His plan worked perfectly. The ball hit the base of the tent, Atwal was awarded a drop and he made no mistake with his up-and- down, holing a seven-footer to earn the $918,000 (£591,000) top prize and a two-year Tour exemption.

Atwal joined Japanese trio Isao Aoki, Shigeki Maruyama and Ryuji Imada and South Koreans K J Choi and Y E Yang in an elite but growing club of champions from world's most populous continent. Atwal, who did not even have exempt status on tour, only got into this event via a qualifier for four spots ,and he became the first Monday qualifier to win on tour since 1986 and his rewards also included  an invitation to next year's Masters, a tournament he has never played.

"That will be awesome," he said. "I was supposed to get in when I won the money list in Asia in 2003, because the No. 1 gets in from there, but they somehow gave it to the No. 2 guy, who was from China that was obviously some diplomatic thing  he said”.