Atwal shoots 75, lies way back as sponsor invitees take lead

Arjun Atwal – File Picture

Palm Beach, Florida, Feb 28: Arjun Atwal, who came through a tough Monday qualifier, seemed fine for a while, till he ran into rough weather, which became worse and he ended with five-over 75 and was T-120thin the Honda Classic. He will need a solid second round tot have any chance of trying to make the cut, which as it stands looks likely around three-over.

Atwal opened with two pars and then had an eagle on Par-5 third, when he holed out his third shot from 72 feet. That was the last he smiled as he bogeyed four in a row from fourth and added two more bogeys on ninth and tenth.

Birdies on 14thand 17thmeant little because of a double on 15thand a bogey on 18thand a card of 75.

Tom Lewis and Harris English, who came into the event as sponsor’s invites  made good use of that as they shared the lead at the end of the first round.

Both shot 4-under 66 at PGA National, while Lee Westwood, also in the field due to a sponsor exemption, was one shot back with Zach Johnson, J.T. Poston, Brian Stuard and Cameron Tringale.

On a day when winds went above 20 miles per hour, only 22 of the 144 broke par at the PGA National.

English, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2013, but has no wins since, was great with his short game besides once holing out from about 25 yards on the par-4 11th.

Westwood hit 11 of 14 fairways and was thoroughly pleased with how the day went.

Lewis had a bogey-free round.

Brooks Koepka, in his hometown tournament, made a triple bogey and a double bogey in a four-hole span on the front side on his way to a 74.

Defending champion Keith Mitchell finished birdie-birdie and still shot 75. Rickie Fowler, winner of The Honda Classic in 2017 and second last year with Koepka, made one birdie in his 76.

Read also:

Atwal makes it to Honda Classic through toughest Monday qualifier

 

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