Arjun Atwal thread

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 3:35 am

According to the Asian PGA website, "The top three finishers on this season's Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit will be rewarded with a trip to the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship, which has announced record prize fund of US$7 million for the 2004 edition."

Arjun Atwal is leading the Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit. Daniel Chopra is 10th.

http://www.asianpgatour.com/en/

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 5:43 am

I'm all confused here. If you see the eligibility on EPGA site
http://www.europeantour.com/tournaments ... id=1075256

it says "Top three players from the final 2002 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit." In that case Jyoti would be eligible. But Jyoti is not in the list and I am puzzled.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:42 am

Arjun Atwal is tied for 54th spot after scoring an even par round of 70 on the first day.

Atwal is currently 57th on the European Tour money list with a season haul of 335,855 euros and needs to remain in the top-60 to earn an invite for the lucrative season-ending Volvo Masters in Spain next month.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 10:57 pm

Arjun could not make the cut today and had a 4 above par round of 74.

Can he still make it to the season-ending Volvo Masters in Spain next month? Will check it out later on.

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 6:50 pm

Arjun Atwal is moving to APGA event this week. Probably he wants to consolidate his pole position in APGA event as there are many benefits of winning order of merit (invitation to various events).

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:44 am

Arjun is 59th on the money list on the European PGA Tour and the top 60 qualify for next year. By playing in the Asian PGA now is Arjun giving up on the European PGA Tour for next year?

Post by **Dhruv** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 10:31 am

Well If he consolidates his position on the Asian PGA tour #1 he will get SE entries all over. Also he can always play one or two last minute tourneys in Europe and if he does reasonably well he should stay in the top 60.
JMHO

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 8:47 pm

Bhushan, Arjun is exempted for the next year in EPGA as he won an EPGA event this year. So does not need to worry about EPGA card

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 7:37 pm

India's Arjun Atwal, the current leader of the Asian PGA Tour money list, and Korean Chung Joon are exempt into stage two, which will be held from November 12-15 and November 19-22. APGA

At least we have some confirmation about Arjun Atwal exemption into 2nd stage qualifier. If he clears 2nd stage qualifier, that will also guarantee him playing rights for Nationwide Wide tour.
But there is still no confirmation if he'll participate or not. Most likely he'll participate.

kathiresan_v · Post by **kathiresan_v** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:45 am

Arjun Atwal hopes to become the first golfer from India to play full-time on the US PGA Tour true?, after making history in Asia with career earnings of more than US$1 million.

Arjun Atwal with his successes on the Asian PGA Tour can go straight into stage two of the US qualifying school and will tee off at St Augustine, Florida from Nov 19-22. The final stage will be held from Dec 3-8.

Kathir

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:39 pm

I hope Arjun Atwal carries his confidence of Hero Honda into the qualifier. Since we have only one Indian in the qualifiers, we can discuss this event in this trhread only. There will be around 80 players in the field and top 21 and ties will move to the next round. Last year Arjun missed the mark by by three shots after shooting a diappointing 76 on the last day. hopefully, this time it'll be better.

Bu playing qualifiers here, Atwal is going to miss a cash rich Volvo China Open in APGA tour. The winner in Volvo open gets $90K. Zhang from china, who is mostly playing Japan tour this season and who is quiet capable player (he beat Ernie Els earlier this year to win APGA/EPGA event) is the favorite and if he wins the tournament, he'll close the gap on the moneylist for APGA. Currently Arjun is leading Zhang (on 2nd place) by $127K and he need to watch out as he lost the Order of Merit race last year around this time in similar circumstances.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 6:23 am

I think Arjun Atwal is a better player this year than a year back, and he is playing with more confidence and poise. I hope he makes it into the US PGA in 2004.

Missing the Volvo China Open is a calculated risk that he is taking - trying to kill two birds with one stone - win the US PGA Tour card and win the Asian PGA Order of Merit award. I wish him all the success.

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 7:38 am

Bhushan, Arjun Atwal has on many occasions has stated his desire of playing in US PGA tour. So this is his first priority and I'm sure most of us support this view. After all we all will like to see an Indian playing at the highest level golf.

We'll watch how Zhang performs this week. By the way if Arjun sucessfully qualifies to final stage PGA qualifier, Zhang will have another shot on money title as final stage qualifier clashes with another rich tournament Omega Hongkong open with the winning purse of $110K.

I think Arjun Atwal is a better player this year than a year back, and he is playing with more confidence and poise.

I'll put it little differently that Arjun is in better form at this time of year compare to last year. Last year, after winning the EPGA Caltex event he went into a slump and by the end of the year he was doubting himself. He regained his confidnce only after he won again in Malaysian open beating Retief Goosen. But this year he is going with a win and added confidence. That should definately help.

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 12:09 am

kathiresan_v wrote: Arjun Atwal with his successes on the Asian PGA Tour can go straight into stage two of the US qualifying school and will tee off at St Augustine, Florida from Nov 19-22. The final stage will be held from Dec 3-8.

Kathir

Arjun starts his quest tomorrow. Since he is the only Indian national in race for the PGA card, he has the opportunity to become the first Indian to do so. Top 20 and ties out of about 80 players (that is, a quarter of the field ) qualifies for the final stage. IMO Arjun must be much more confident this year.

Go Arjun!!

kathiresan_v · Post by **kathiresan_v** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:33 am

I hope Arjun Atwal with all his successes this year will perform with more confidence on these qualifiers to obtain the PGA card.

Let's hope he is going to be the first Indian to do so....add one more feather to the year 2004 acheivements by Indian sportsmen.... Go Arjun

Kathir

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