Akshay Bhatia lies fourth as Atwal misses cut in Mexico

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.

Vinkmag ad

Read Previous

Modest start for Arjun Atwal in Mexico

Read Next

Hoshino birdies final hole to maintain one-shot lead

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *