Arjun Atwal Win Marks Triumph Over Injuries Mental and Physical

With a right-to-left curler on the final hole at Sedgefield Country Club, Arjun Atwal faced an opportunity to become the first native-born Indian to win on the PGA Tour. Struck crisply, the ball holed itself from the right side. Atwal had won the Wyndham Championship by a single stroke.

The 37-year-old dropped the putter, spread his arms wide, and looked up and around to the heavens and the crowd like he couldn't believe this was finally happening. For Atwal, he had been through a lot in the last 36 months to get to this point. Perhaps working backwards can best peel away the onion-like layers to Atwal's story.

Just a few weeks ago at the Canadian Open, Arjun Atwal played the last of his eight events awarded to him as part of a minor medical exemption. Atwal suffered a shoulder injury and was trying to earn enough money in the allotted events in order to regain his PGA Tour card. He failed. By virtue of that, Atwal had no status on the PGA Tour. He was left to drive around the country - with his caddy - to qualify for PGA Tour events in the grueling Monday qualifiers that often offer less than a handful of spots into PGA Tour fields for players like Atwal with no status.

Atwal had nearly qualified for the Turning Stone Championship after Team Arjun drove from West Virginia to upstate New York to play. Mired in a playoff battle for the spots several hours after adrenaline carried him into it with a round of 68, Atwal faltered and failed among three other players for the final spot. (Dick Mast won it.)

The miss was reminiscent of Atwal playing his way into a playoff for the rain-shortened BellSouth Classic in 2005. He scored well early, waited, and got into a playoff with  Phil Mickelson, Rich Beem, Brandt Jobe and Jose Maria Olazabal - then lost when he doused his ball in the hazard guarding the first playoff hole.

"I shot 64, I think, in the final round and I was done like two hours before everybody else, guys that were leading but -- I didn't know what to expect out of that playoff because I was in the situation where I was waiting around," Atwal said on Saturday night. "I didn't know if I was going to get in the playoff and when I got out there I was definitely not ready for it."

Atwal skipped a week with no entry into the PGA Championship and no opposite field event. He arrived in Greensboro set to try again. This time on Monday, he succeeded. The feel goods carried over into Monday's 61 that set the expected pace given the slow greens from a brutal summer.

Admittedly, the name setting it was unexpected. In July, Atwal was invited by buddy Tiger Woods into his (for all intents and purposes) AT&T National and lead after day one. Atwal faded from that position, but gained confidence from the experience of leading, which came as a surprise for him.

"I didn't really know what to expect because I hit it really bad last week in Hartford," Atwal said after a 68 that had him in a tie for the lead at Aronimink. "So you know, I practiced every day after the rounds over there and was trying to work on some stuff. You never know until you actually tee it up what to expect. But it was a bit of a surprise."

The course record-tying 61 on day one was surprising at Sam Snead's old Carolina stomping grounds, but not playing well. The specifics of his situation, though, were a surprise - or, at a minimum, unclear - and Atwal was asked about them on Thursday.  Was Q-school his only recourse? Atwal wasn't even sure.

"I prefer to win (laughter). If I can get in the Top 125...," Atwal paused. "I don't know what the rule is if I don't play my 15 -- if I don't get into 15, if I -- yes.

"You know, I think if I get in the Top 125 for this year's money list I should be okay for next year."

Atwal played solid again on Friday, shooting 67 and assuring himself a place in the headlines for the weekend. He talked about his options were he to not pull it out on Sunday. He could play in Europe thanks to a two-year exemption from an '08 win in the Malaysian Open, but he would continue to Monday qualify because he wanted to play in the States and Fall Series sponsors were not giving him a break. In other words, winning was his only real option.

"I'm going to definitely be thinking about winning," he said with no stutter.

"If I get into contention on Sunday on the back-9, I won't be scared. Hopefully my swing holds up and we'll see what happens."

A Saturday 65 left him atop the leaderboard going into the final round. Holding a three stroke lead - like Nick Watney the weekend prior in Wisconsin - Atwal would have to do much more than hang on to win. He would have to remain aggressive on a Sedgefield track that would eventually average 67 on Sunday.

"I'm going to see the leaderboard and, you know, play accordingly. If I'm leading by a bunch, I'll keep trying to go ahead. If I'm behind, I'll try to be more aggressive. It just depends on how guys -- obviously there's low scores out there, guys -- when I got here today I was tied for the lead and so I expect more of that tomorrow. We'll see what happens."

Four back nine birdies in five holes kept the momentum alive and positioned him for the win.

Tiger Woods was watching his Isleworth playing buddy. Atwal moved to the community in '05 and became practice buddies Woods.

"[H]e texted me a couple times saying, 'Well done, Bud.' That's it. It's nothing more than that," Atwal said.

The Sunday mission for Atwal was as unequivocally expressed as Tiger's text: win the golf tournament.

With a slew of low scores posted early, including a 62 by Fredrik Jacobson, Atwal was well aware he had challengers coming at him from every direction. At points on Sunday, Lucas Glover appeared poised to win and take his place on the Ryder Cup team. For a while, Justin Leonard was a real chaser. In the end, Atwal made one bogey on the card.

Standing on the 18th tee, that bogey was the only thing between him and a much more comfortable two-shot lead at the 507 yard closing hole. Instead, with a one shot margin and no one else on the course, Atwal was a long par away from defeating David Toms - the lone survivor of all the challengers at -19 - and getting his first PGA Tour win.

Atwal hit his tee shot into the left hand rough, but caught perhaps too good of a lie from there. Perhaps a flier, Atwal went over the green by just a few yards, shooting at a pin which the players in the final groups were exploiting in soft conditions.

If he were to assess the chip shot he hit next, Atwal with truth serum would say he was worried. A seven-footer going right to left is never the desired putt for the first PGA Tour win. A simple six inch putt would be preferred. Or no putt at all.

As he hoped, though, his game held up under pressure. He drained the putt and won the Wyndham Championship. Atwal became the first native-born Indian player to win on the Tour. He also ousted Fred Wadsworth as the last man to win a PGA Tour event after qualifying on Monday. Wadsworth won the 1986 Southern Open by two shots over four players. 

For his efforts, Wadsworth won $63,000. Atwal wins $918,000 for his.

The anguish of losing his card earlier in the season after injuring his shoulders while weightlifting - trying to get stronger and better at his craft - could not have been the only thing running through his mind as he looked to the sky.

On March 10, 2007, Atwal was involved in a fatal automobile accident in Orlando after what is disputed by Atwal to be a drag race killed a fellow Isleworth member. Atwal says he doesn't talk about the accident publicly, though he did to Golf Magazine in 2008, but was naturally uncomfortable with the topic. Though he was eventually cleared of criminal wrongdoing, Atwal's career and life were in limbo for a year plus.

"So you would have doubts, you know, but I mean I knew that I didn't do anything wrong and the other person didn't. It was no one's fault. It was an accident. That was it."

After Atwal was cleared of wrongdoing in 2008, he earned his way back to the PGA Tour by graduating for the Nationwide Tour that year. Following the shoulder injury in '09 that cut short his comeback bid, he was again running out of options to pursue his career and his life.

With that par putt on Sunday, Atwal got both back.