Golfer Arjun Atwal searches for finishing touch to his game
The 47-year-old’s putting let him down at his comeback PGA Tour event in Detroit. Atwal wants to improve his touch ahead of upcoming events at Minnesota and California.
Experienced Indian golfer Arjun Atwal almost enjoyed a near-perfect return to the US PGA Tour at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week.
The only Indian golfer to win on the PGA Tour, at the Wyndham Championship in 2010, Arjun Atwal comfortably made the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit earlier this month only to finish out of the top 20.
A topsy-turvy final round meant that Arjun Atwal ended tied 45th at the Detroit Golf Club. He said his putting was much below par.
“I have just been putting ever since I returned from Detroit,” Arjun Atwal told the Hindustan Times in an interview.
“That was a big wake-up call because everything else I did was good enough to win the tournament, but the putting was so below average,” rued the Indian golfer.
Arjun Atwal, who eventually ended with a 10-under 278, felt that he fell short of his original target by two shots on the third day, which would have set him up for a 20-under on the final round if all had gone to plan.
“If I was four shots lower, I would possibly have been in the top-10,” thought the Indian golfer. It would have also meant that he would take home six times more the eventual prize money he won.
What next for Arjun Atwal
The 47-year-old Indian golfer aims to play at the 3M Open at Minnesota next week and the Barracuda Championship at California at the end of the month.
However, Arjun Atwal is looking forward to playing the most at the Wyndham Championship, where he won his only PGA Tour title on August 22 a decade back.
The date notwithstanding, the Indian golfer loves playing the course at the Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina.
“It reminds me of my home course - the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. It’s tree-lined and has a lot of doglegs. They do not make courses like that anymore,” Arjun Atwal recalled.
Having been playing professionally for 25 years, the Indian golfer is now focused on playing at tournaments a few days apart to give his body a break and aims to hit the ground running on the Seniors Tour when he turns 50.
“I want to be the first Indian to win on the European, PGA and the Korn Ferry (PGA Feeder) Tours,” he said.