Team GolfXYZ
Detroit, Michigan, July 3: Playing his first competitive round of golf after four months, Arjun Atwal found 10 of the 14 fairways and 12 of the 18 greens and opened his campaign at the Rocket Mortgage Classis with a round of two-under 70 at the Detroit Golf Club.
Atwal was Tied-68th, five shots behind the three co-leader led by Doc Redman, who last year came as a Monday qualifier and finished runner-up, Scott Stallings and Kevin Kisner, who shot seven-under 65 each. Six others carded 66 each.
Atwal, who said the course suited his eye, had a birdie chance on first from under seven and a half feet, but missed and then on second, he missed a par putt from six and a half feet after going into the rough from the tee. He followed with a birdie from 11 feet on fourth, holed a testy par from 13 feet on sixth before coming out well from bunker on seventh to get a birdie on seventh and turned in one-under.
On the back nine, he holed from 21 feet on 10thfor birdie, missed from inside three feet for par on 11thand then again rolled in a birdie from 12 feet as he continued to ride the roller-coaster. He missed birdie from inside six feet on 14thand missed par from just over five feet on 18th. “But I had a great hole out from a bunker almost 40 feet away for a birdie on Par-3 15th. That bunker hole out was pretty special as I couldn’t see the green or see the ball go in! Sure I left a lot of shots, missed some small ones, but also made a few long putts. I guess a bit of rust. But I will take this considering how long I have not played.”
On a quiet morning and easy scoring conditions, Redman shot a 7-under 65 to share the first-round lead with Scott Stallings and Kevin Kisner.
The 22-year-old Redman was T-11 last week with a final round 63 at the Travelers Championship and T-21 earlier at RBC Heritage.
Redman ended with four successive birdies and seven in the last eight holes. Stallings, Tied-6thlast week, birdied his last two holes and three of four, while Kisner had a bogey-free round.
Bryson DeChambeau, the only player with top-10 finishes in each of the last three tournaments since Return of Golf, had an action-packed 66 with an eagle, eight birdies and four bogeys. On Par-5 14 he drove 376 yards and his second shot came to rest 33 feet from the pin and he rolled it in. He was in a shared lead before missing an eight-footer for bogey on last.
Peter Malnati, Emiliano Grillo, Chase Seiffert, J.J. Spaun, Matt Wallace and Chris Stroud matched DeChambeau at 66.
Rickie Fowler, who missed the cut in the two tournaments he has played since the restart, was among the players at 65. Defending champion Nate Lashley, shot one-under 71 to be T-87.
Atwal to tee up at Rocket Mortgage Classic on PGA tour this week
