Akshay Bhatia. Filepic/ Getty Images
VALLARTA, Mexico, April 29: Arjun Atwal suffered a crippling triple bogey in the middle of the second round and crashed out of the Mexico Open at Vidanta. Atwal, who had a modest 1-under 70 on the first day returned a score of 3-over 74 at the Par-71 course at Vidanta Vallarta.
Atwal totalled 2-over 144 and the cut came at 1-under.
Atwal started on the tenth a birdie that augured well but the triple bogey on Par-4 16th hole, which was his seventh and a bogey on 18th meant he was 3-over for his first nine holes. A birdie on first on bogey on fourth did not help and he missed the cut.
American Indian Akshay Bhatia, a Special Temporary member moved into contention for his maiden PGA Tour title as he shot a superb 6-under 65 that catapulted him to tied fourth place. Alongside his first round 3-under 68 he is now 9-under and four shots behind the 36-hole leader Tony Finau.
Runner-up last year, Finau shot a 7-under 64 to take a one-shot lead through two rounds.
Finau, the second highest-ranked player in the field behind world No. 1 and defending champion Jon Rahm, made five birdies on his front nine — none from longer than 11 feet. After four straight pars, he holed a 30-footer on the par-3 fifth hole for the first of three consecutive birdies.
The 33-year-old Finau was at 13-under 129 at Vidanta Vallarta, one better than Brandon Wu — who finished alongside him in a tie for second last year — and Erik van Rooyen. Wu closed with three straight birdies for a 64; van Rooyen shot 66.
Playing for the second time since his win at the Masters, Rahm had a problem in windy afternoon conditions when his tee shot on the 142-yard, par-3 ninth hole came up short and found the water, leading to double bogey. He bogeyed the par-4 10th, but rallied with four birdies in his final eight holes to shoot 68 and he was six shots back.
Finau didn’t have a top-15 finish last year before his tie for second at Vidanta. He later won in back-to-back weeks at the 3M Open and the Rocket Mortgage Classic, then picked up another win at the Houston Open last fall for his fifth PGA TOUR victory.
Raul Pereda, a Mexico City native making his PGA TOUR debut on a sponsor exemption, shot 70 and was six shots back. Andrew Putnam (66), Will Gordon (66), Eric Cole (69), first-round leader Austin Smotherman (70) and Akshay Bhatia (65) were four shots off the lead.