Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra – file pictures
Blaine, MN, US, July 22: It is time for Arjun Atwal to put into practice at the 3M Open all that he felt he needed to work on after the previous start three weeks ago. The 47-year-old Indian, who will play this week also gets a start next week at the Barracuda Championship, played opposite to the WGC-St. Jude Invitational. Two weeks after that he is also expected to be in action at Wyndham Championship, an event he won exactly 10 years ago in 2010. So that means three starts in four weeks, and that means a chance to assess his current physical condition.
Atwal, who had a fair outing in Tied-45 after first three rounds of 70-69-66 before dropping to 73 on the final day. Atwal is grouped with Patrick Rodgers and Swede Alex. Noren.
Daniel Chopra, the Swede who grew up in India, will figure in only his second start in 2020. The two-time PGA Tour winner last played the Puerto Rico Open and finished 68th. Chopra will play the first two rounds with John Merrick and Kyoung-Hoon Lee.
The 3M Open does have some good memories for Atwal, who came into in the 2019 edition by shooting 62 and winning the Monday Qualifiers. He followed that up with a superb 65 on first day and then 68-68 in next two rounds to be in the Top-10 going into the final day, butt a 70 on Sunday saw him finish T-23.
“Yes, 3M and the course has good memories,” said Atwal. “Also, I feel I can improve on the things that did not go right for me at Rocket Mortgage. Playing after a long stretch did mean some tiredness, because when you are playing for fun, we generally use carts and walking did mean some effort,” he added with a laugh.
Yet, now feeling fitter than he has in last 8-10 years, Atwal is looking at a good stretch of events. “That will be good to play back-to-back and some more.”
As for the field at 3M Open, the debate is about how strong is the line-up. The event comes right before two big weeks – the. WGC-St Jude and the PGA Invitational, which will be played back-to-back.
Matthew Wolff defend his 2019 title against the likes of. Brooks Koepka, who is. hoping to make up for recent missed cut. Dustin Johnson after a 80-80 at the Memorial is there as is Bubba Watson and Paul Casey are all competing this week. Also in the field is Tommy Fleetwood for his first start since the ‘Return to Golf’ happened in early June. Fleetwood came over to the US from UK and spent two weeks in quarantine and will now play as much as he can till the end of season. Harris English and Tony Finau will also tee up.
