Arjun Atwal - All done with Monday Qualifiers
Yesterday Arjun Atwal became the first Indian-born player to ever win a tournament on the PGA Tour. He also became the first Monday qualifier to win a tournament in 24 years, when in 1986 Fred Wadworth won the Southern Open. On a side note, when Wadworth won his tournament he took home a check for $63,000. Atwal's takehome? $918,000. How's that for inflation for you!? He can, in part, thank his good buddy Tiger Woods for that.
If you watched any of yesterday's round, you saw that the lead changed hands several times and probably five to six guys all had a shot at it at one point or another. David Toms birdied the 18th hole to have a share of the lead and had to watch the final few pairings come in from the clubhouse. Justin Leonard choked on 18 to lose even a chance at a playoff.
With his drive in the rough, and facing a good 200 yards to the green on the 18th hole, Atwal made a very gutsy play and decided he would try and win it with his short game. He knowingly took too much club and hit his hybrid out of the rough and banked it off the hospitality tents, which would leave him with a drop and a chip shot to make par and win the tournament. Knocking his chip to about eight feet, it left him a knee knocker for a par and his first victory on the PGA Tour, which would secure his card and get him in to next year's Masters. He dropped the putt dead center and raised his arms in victory.
Later Atwal said, “I told my caddie, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose this week. Just go out there and try and win it. Guys are going to be out there trying to secure their FedEx Cup spots or whatever. We’ve got nothing. I don’t have a card. I don’t have anything. Just go out there and freewheel it, and that’s what I did this week.”
Freewheel it he did, and he should be commended for his grit and gutsy play on 18. It was a smart play that paid off for him. This is a feel good story, and things the true fans look for during the year. It's nice to be talking about something like this rather than if Tiger will play in the Ryder Cup or not, or fans calling in to rat out Juli Inkster.
