By Rahul Banerji
Arjun Atwal, the only Indian winner on the PGA Tour, earned one of four berths available from Monday Qualifying for this week’s The Honda Classic, to be played in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Atwal tied for fourth place alongside Canada’s Adam Svensson, chipped in for eagle on the first play-off hole after the two had finished the qualifier on 5-under par 67s at the Banyan Cay Resort and Golf.
Atwal will thus join Americans Daniel Wetterich, Hayden Buckley and Andrew McCain who finished in a tie for first on 6-under 66s on Monday.
In regulation, Atwal had six birdies against one bogey, which came on his front nine.
Florida resident Atwal – the only Indian with a PGA Tour title from his 2010 Wyndham Championship win – had a reasonable run at the just-concluded Puerto Rico Open where he finished in tied 50th place on 7-under par 281 with rounds of 73, 67, 72 and 69.
Anirban Lahiri, who is one of the alternates for the Honda Classic came in tied 44th on 8-under 280 with four straight rounds of 2-under par 70.
Small jump
Lahiri is expected to climb from 208th to 203rd when the FedEx Cup standings are updated, while Atwal is projected to go from T221 to 217th place after the Puerto Rico Open
Meanwhile, 2019 winner Keith Mitchell will return to defend his title come Thursday and has a formidable cast of A-listers to contend with including 2017 champion Rickie Fowler, 2018 FedEx Cup champion Justin Rose, WGC Mexico runner-up Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland.
The three last named are all in search of a first win at the venue, the PGA National Resort & Spa, ranked as one of the toughest courses on the Tour.
The Champion course, which will also see sponsor exemptions including Ryo Ishikawa, recent European Tour winner Kurt Kitayama, two-time PGA Tour winner Lee Westwood and the evergreen Vijay Singh (56) in action, is a par-70, 7,125-yard layout.
It features the notorious “Bear Trap”, a stretch covering holes 15 to 17 and so named after a redesign in 1990 by Jack Nicklaus.
Also read: Arjun Atwal sizzles on first day of 3M Open in Minnesota
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.