Carlsberg Malaysian Open Golf-Arjun Atwal leading

Post by **Dhruv** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 8:04 pm

Arjun Atwal is putting up a great show at the Carlsberg Malaysian Open Golf chanpionship. In the first round he shot a 62 and today after 7 holes he had 4 birdies before rain stopped play.

He is leading guys like Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington etc at -13 under par. Lets hope he continues his great play and wins this co-sanctioned tourney European and Asian PGA's. Just thought I would update on what looks like another great showing by Arjun.

Post by **Dhruv** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:21 pm

From the European tour site

Arjun Atwal opened up a four shot lead in Carlsberg Malaysian Open after moving to 17 under par before play was abandoned for the day as a tropical thunderstorm hit The Mines Resort and Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur.

The leading group had just completed the eighth hole of the third round when the klaxon sounded at 17.45 local time with Atwal picking up two birdies to move four strokes clear of World Number Five Retief Goosen and Thailand's Thammanoon Srirot.

The third round will resume at 8am on Sunday morning and players will then go out for the final round in the same groups as Saturday, with the fourth round starting at 9.45am and the leaders teeing off at 11.50am.

Atwal, who became the first Indian golfer to win on The European Tour International Schedule when he won last year's Caltex Singapore Masters, presented by Carslberg, picked up two birdies in the first eight holes of his third round. Earlier the 29 year old from Calcutta had added a second round of 65 to his opening 62 for a 15 under par total of 127, the lowest 36 hole score of the season.

"I am not bothered by this delay," said Atwal. I flayed 11 holes in the morning and eight in the afternoon so I am not to upset. I would have liked to have finished but there was no way that was possible.

"I am still hitting it well and it is nice to be four in front. This is what you practice for. I'm concentrating well and keeping myself relaxed. I keep telling myself I have been in this situation before and that I've won four times on the Asian PGA Tour. If someone is going to beat me, he has got to shoot better than me. I don't want to beat myself."

Atwal's biggest threat looks likely to be Goosen, the winner of the Volvo Order of Merit for the past two seasons. Goosen has won in every continent except Asia and hopes to put that right this week but has a lot of ground to make up.

"Arjun is playing really well," said Goosen. "I didn't play that solid today so hopefully it will be a bit better tomorrow. I hit one bad drive and pulled a nine iron which cost me a bogey. The greens are tricky and I have just got to get a few things going. Arjun has holed some good putts so is obviously reading the greens very well. But tomorrow is another day. Hopefully I can give myself a half chance but it is going to be tough."

Go Arjun win this thing

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 6:23 pm

Arjun Atwal won his second European PGA tour title, beating Retief Goosen (and the rest of the field, which included Padraig Harrington, among others) by a comfortable four strokes to take the Malaysian Open (it was also his fifth title on the Asian tour, quite a good achievement for a 29-year-old golf pro from Calcutta who is only in his second year of full-time overseas touring). Arjun is now fifth on the European money-winners' list. (Incidentally, Sweden's Daniel Chopra finished sixth, four strokes behind second-placed Goosen).
Sania Mirza won a Futures event in Nigeria, the fourth futures she has won in five months.
And the Indian cricket team won its third match at the World Cup, a thumping 181-run victory over Namibia (who had almost beaten England a few days ago), with Sachin and Sourav both making centuries and Yuvraj picking up 4 wickets for 6 runs.
On a day like this, it's nice to toast Indian sporting achievement...

Post by **jayakris** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 6:24 pm

Here is the PTI wire report on Arjun's fantastic win!

Jay

==============================================

Golf: Arjun Atwal wins Malaysian Open

New Delhi, Feb. 23. (PTI): Arjun Atwal scripted a golden chapter in the history of Indian golf as he won the $ 1.1 million Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur today pipping world number five Retief Goosen of South Africa.

The Indian chipped-in for a birdie on the final hole to beat a quality field, led by Goosen, by four shots.

A final round five-under 65 saw Atwal tallying 24-under for the tournament, beating Tiger Woods' record of 21-under, the best four-round total at the Mines Resort and golf club, according to information received here.

It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Kolkata pro, who shot a nine-under 62 on the opening day to take the lead. He never relinquished the lead after that and followed it up with rounds of 65, 67 and 66.

Goosen, US Open champion in 2001, and Brad Kennedy of Australia tied for the second place at 20-under 264.

Post by **jayakris** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 6:26 pm

Not too many guys can claim to have overtaken a Tiger Woods record!

Jay

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 8:19 pm

Congratulations! Way to go Arjun Atwal. Winning the Malaysian Open is a great feat but beating Tiger Woods record is even sweeter. It goes to show that some of the Indian golfers are at the brink of breaking into the PGA tour. I feel that the Indians can compete with the best of the golfers once more Indians start taking the game seriously.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:41 am

The Malaysian Open 2005 began yesterday, and of course Arjun isn't playing. He didn't defend his title last year either! Thongchai Jaidee, the defending champion, had a great first round of 64 (8-under I think) and is in the lead.
Jyoti Randhawa is 6 shots off the pace, T22 on 2-under par 70. Jeev Milkha Singh is one shot back at 71 (T36) and Gaurav Ghei (75) is close to the bottom of the leaderboard.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:49 am

Oh, I missed the best Indian performance on day 1: Amandeep Johl (T12) shot a 3-under par round of 69. And a correction to the previous post: after Amandeep and some others finished their rounds, Jyoti's score put him on T27 and Jeev's on T43. Rahil Gangjee is T62 (even par), Ghei (+3) is T113 in a field of 149.

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:03 am

PKB, we are covering this tournament in European thread.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:22 pm

Thongchai Jaidee shot a -6 on day 2, and (at 14 under par) has a two-stroke lead over Thomas Bjorn at the half-way mark. Terrific performance: he almost owns this tournament. Ah, if only Arjun had come back to defend his title last year...

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