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Arjun Atwal

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Arjun Atwal
Atwal in action in 2012
Personal information
Full nameArjun Singh Atwal
Born (1973-03-20) 20 March 1973 (age 51)
Asansol, India
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Sporting nationality India
ResidenceKolkata, India
Windermere, Florida, U.S.
Spouse
Sona Atwal
​
(m. 2000)​
Children2
Career
Turned professional1995
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Asian Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Web.com Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins13
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
European Tour3
Asian Tour8 (Tied 6th all time)
Korn Ferry Tour1
Other3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2011
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2005, 2011
U.S. OpenCUT: 2010
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2004
Achievements and awards
Asian PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year		1995
Asian PGA Tour
Order of Merit winner		2003
Asian PGA Tour
Players' Player of the Year		2003

Arjun Singh Atwal (born 20 March 1973) is an Indian professional golfer who has played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour and is the first player born in India to participate in and win the U.S.-based PGA Tour.

Early life and education

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Atwal was born in a Sikh family to Harminder Singh Atwal, an industrialist from Asansol and Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He attended St. James' School in Kolkata. At age 14, he took up golf, playing at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club and Tollygunge Club. He also spent two years at school in the United States, attending W. T. Clarke High School, in Westbury, New York, on Long Island

Career

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After turning professional in 1995 he became one of the leading players on the Asian Tour, topping the order of merit in 2003 and becoming the first man to win a million U.S. dollars on the tour by winning the Hero Honda Masters on home soil in the same year. Atwal was the second Indian golfer to earn membership of the European Tour after Jeev Milkha Singh and the first to win on a European Tour event when he notched up a five stroke victory in the 2002 Caltex Singapore Masters, which was co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours. A second European Tour win followed at the Carlsberg Malaysian Open in 2003. Late in the same year Atwal finished seventh at the PGA Tour's qualifying school in the U.S., earning a PGA Tour card for 2004, making him the first native East Indian golfer to do so. (The most famous golfer of Indian origin, longtime PGA Tour mainstay and multiple major winner Vijay Singh, is a native of Fiji.) In his 2004 rookie season on the PGA Tour, he finished 142nd on the money list.

In 2005, Atwal came close to winning on the PGA Tour numerous times, most notably at the BellSouth Classic in April. After posting a 64 (the low round for any golfer in the tournament) in the final round of the rain-shortened event, he wound up in a five-man sudden death playoff along with Rich Beem, José María Olazábal, Brandt Jobe and Phil Mickelson. On the first hole of the playoff, the par-5 18th, Atwal's second shot went into the water, yet he almost holed his fourth shot. If he had done so, he would have made birdie and won (Mickelson, Beem and Olazabal made pars, while Jobe bogeyed.) After two-putting the green, Atwal made bogey, and he and Jobe were eliminated. Mickelson went on to win the tournament. Atwal finished 82nd on the money list in 2005 to secure his spot on Tour for 2006.

Atwal was involved in a crash possibly associated with street racing on SR 535, in Windermere, Florida, on 10 March 2007, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.[1] Atwal was not injured, and after a year of investigation, the case was closed with no charges filed.[2] A second driver, John Noah Park, 48, was killed in the incident.

After the 2010 RBC Canadian Open, Atwal lost his PGA Tour card after his medical exemption, received due to a shoulder injury, ran out and he had failed to earn enough money.[3] He later regained his playing privileges on the PGA Tour through 2012 and obtained an invitation into the 2011 Masters Tournament by Monday qualifying for and later recording his maiden victory on the PGA Tour at the Wyndham Championship, the final tournament of the regular season. He became the first Indian-born player to ever win on the PGA Tour, and was the first Monday qualifier to win a PGA Tour event since Fred Wadsworth won the 1986 Southern Open.[4] Because he had lost his tour card, he received no FedEx Cup points for his victory and had not earned enough points previously to make the playoffs. He has been a neighbour and practice partner of Tiger Woods for five years at home in Florida.[5]

After failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup in 2010, Atwal entered the 2011 playoff series 123rd. Atwal had only two top-10 finishes in the two years after his win and lost his Tour card after the 2012 season. In 2014, Atwal had his first win in four years at the Dubai Open on the Asian Tour. The win earned Atwal a two-year exemption on the Asian Tour.

Professional wins (13)

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PGA Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 22 Aug 2010 Wyndham Championship −20 (61-67-65-67=260) 1 stroke United States David Toms

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2005 BellSouth Classic United States Rich Beem, United States Brandt Jobe,
United States Phil Mickelson, Spain José María Olazábal 		Mickelson won with birdie on fourth extra hole
Olazábal eliminated by par on third hole
Atwal and Jobe eliminated by par on first hole

European Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 24 Feb 2002 Caltex Singapore Masters1 −14 (70-69-67-68=274) 5 strokes Australia Richard Green
2 23 Feb 2003 Carlsberg Malaysian Open1 −24 (62-65-67-66=260) 4 strokes South Africa Retief Goosen, Australia Brad Kennedy
3 9 Mar 2008 Maybank Malaysian Open1 (2) −18 (70-68-68-64=270) Playoff Sweden Peter Hedblom

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Maybank Malaysian Open Sweden Peter Hedblom Won with par on second extra hole
2 2017 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open South Africa Dylan Frittelli Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Asian Tour wins (8)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 14 Mar 1999 Wills Indian Open −12 (72-68-66-70=276) 4 strokes India Shiv Chawrasia, South Korea Kang Wook-soon,
Thailand Prayad Marksaeng
2 5 Nov 2000 Hero Honda Masters −18 (68-68-68-66=270) 2 strokes England Simon Dyson
3 12 Nov 2000 Star Alliance Open −12 (65-63-68-72=268) 2 strokes Taiwan Yeh Wei-tze
4 24 Feb 2002 Caltex Singapore Masters1 −14 (70-69-67-68=274) 5 strokes Australia Richard Green
5 23 Feb 2003 Carlsberg Malaysian Open1 −24 (62-65-67-66=260) 4 strokes South Africa Retief Goosen, Australia Brad Kennedy
6 11 Nov 2003 Hero Honda Masters (2) −7 (69-71-70-71=281) 1 stroke Mexico Pablo del Olmo, India Jyoti Randhawa,
United States Gary Rusnak
7 9 Mar 2008 Maybank Malaysian Open1 (2) −18 (70-68-68-64=270) Playoff Sweden Peter Hedblom
8 21 Dec 2014 Dubai Open −16 (73-65-68-66=272) 1 stroke South Korea Wang Jeung-hun

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Maybank Malaysian Open Sweden Peter Hedblom Won with par on second extra hole
2 2017 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open South Africa Dylan Frittelli Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 19 Oct 2008 Chattanooga Classic −24 (66-60-66-72=264) Playoff United States Webb Simpson

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Chattanooga Classic United States Webb Simpson Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (3)

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  • 1995 DCM Open
  • 1997 Classic Southern India Open
  • 2000 Wills Eastern Open

Results in major championships

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Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship CUT CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
The Players Championship CUT T57 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Match Play
Championship T48 T43
Invitational T63
Champions T48
  Did not play

"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

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Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Atwal Investigated After Crash Death Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "No charges pressed, so Atwal can press on". Archived from the original on 12 March 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  3. ^ "India's Atwal matches course record to seize PGA lead". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  4. ^ "Arjun Atwal of India gets historic win". ESPN. Associated Press. 22 August 2010. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  5. ^ "Woods' practice partner ties for 1st". The News Tribune. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
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