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A Milestone... How many of us know about it?
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Aug 24, 2010 2:29 am
890 Views
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It’s actually hugely difficult to win a PGA Tour title, even if the Wyndham Championship is not exactly the Augusta. The US PGA Tour competition is intense and at the top of the pyramid which one reaches after going through the grind of the Asian and European golfing circuits.
To win this one—on a tour where hundreds of equally competent competitors slug it out—is one of those highly creditable achievements that requires more than the passing mention.
Consider the odds against Arjun Atwal, who won the Wyndham Classic in North Carolina on Sunday. No Indian has ever won a PGA Tour title before; at 37, Atwal is not really in the category of an upcoming player, he had to qualify for this event on Monday after losing his US PGA card that allows automatic qualification, no qualifier had won the title in 24 years, he has battled career-threatening shoulder injuries for the last few years and was three years ago, being investigated for a vehicular homicide.
If victories in sport are often scored in the head than through sheer prowess, this is an example, in a rare sport in which you are often competing only with yourself.
Atwal made nearly a million dollars in prize money for Sunday’s win, but then it was never about money. He lives in Florida, was driving a BMW M6 coupe when the accident happened in 2007, and has Tiger Woods as a friend and practice partner. He was also never a struggler financially—growing up in Kolkata, the son of a builder started playing at 14 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, went to the US to university and has lived there since.
But Atwal has had to go through the typical professional grinds of the Indian, Asian and European tours since the late 1990s before this moment. He had to struggle in the lower rung Nationwide Tour in 2008 after injuries and the accident laid him low. He has won everywhere and he has persevered.
It is also perhaps justified that at a time when golf is getting a series of new champions and players in their late 30s and 40s are more consistent, an Indian should get his name on the trophy.
yes.. First Time an Indian Winning on PGA Tour. 
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