Greensboro (US), Aug 21 (IANS) Never before has the leaderboard at a PGA Tour featured two Indians in top-10 as it has for the first two days of the Wyndham Championships.
Arjun Atwal continues to have a share of the lead at 12-under, while Jeev Milkha Singh, third after first day, was tied seventh after the second.
Atwal, who came through the Monday qualifiers, is tied for the lead at 12 under with Brandt Snedker after shooting a 67 Friday in the second round, while Jeev Milkha Singh, a European Tour veteran who is a PGA TOUR rookie this year, is currently tied for seventh at 8-under after shooting 68 Friday.
After his nine-under in first round, his second round of three-under 67 included five birdies and two bogeys. His birdies came on third, fourth, eighth, ninth and 15th and he dropped shots on 10th and 14th.
Jeev had four birdies and one bogey on 11th. His birdies came on fifth, eighth and 13th. A win for Atwal may not be able to earn FedExCup place this week but a win would give him a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR.
Atwal had lost his card three weeks ago when he wasn’t able to earn enough money to fulfill his minor medical exemption. Atwal is still exempt on the European Tour after his 2008 win at the Maybank Malaysian Open, his eighth international victory. But he has opted to stay in the States and continue his quest to earn his PGA TOUR card.
‘That’s my goal is to secure my job for next year,’ Atwal said. ‘… We could have gone and played in Europe. I didn’t want to do that. My main goal is to play here.’
Prior to this week, Atwal’s last tournament was The Greenbrier Classic. After being told that he would find it difficult to make the connections to make the Monday qualifiers for the Turning Stone Resort Championship, he and his caddy rented a car and drove to Syracuse, arriving at 6:30 a.m.
Atwal was in the second group off the tee in the qualifier. He shot a 68 and then had to wait until everyone was finished for the playoff – where he lost out on the final spot.
But this Monday at Forest Oaks he was successful as his 67 got Atwal into the field. He opened with a 61 on Thursday and followed with a 67 to tie Snedeker.
‘I feel pretty good about my swing,’ Atwal said. ‘Obviously I didn’t hit it as good as yesterday but they say that it’s hard to back up a really low number with another one. I missed a couple of fairways today where, you know, kind of hard to get it on the green from there. That’s why I made a couple of bogeys. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with the way I played today.’
Atwal, who likes keeping an eye on the leaderboard added, ‘If I get into contention on Sunday on the back nine, I won’t be scared.’
