India’s Arjun Atwal, mourning the death of his father, returned to the competition after taking a one-off, eight-under-par 63 from the lead after Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Bermuda Championship.
American Austin Smotherman, ranked 303, fired off his career-low PGA score with a bogey-free 62, facing Australian rookie Harrison Endicott at the windy seaside Port Royal Course in Southampton.
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But the best feat belonged to 49-year-old Atwal, who finished second with Americans Scott Brown, Adam Schenk, Denny McCarthy and Robbie Shelton.
Atwal took the field on Thursday morning after American Nicholas Lindheim withdrew from a back injury.
“I came around 7:30, hit some veg and then went to have breakfast,” Atwal said. “Around 8:45 my caddy texted me. She’s like, oh, 9:10 We can have a game. So I skipped my breakfast, came out, hit some drivers and off we went.”
Atwal started on the back nine and immediately birdied his first three holes, then closed the side with back-to-back birdies before taking his lone bogey in the first. He answered with back-to-back birdies on par-5 second and par-3 third and added two more in sixth and par-5 seventh.
Atwal has moved up to 2,815th place in the world golf rankings after returning to his homeland after a family tragedy.
“I haven’t played much golf. I lost my father in India about three months ago, so I went there,” Atwal said.
“I’ve never had a loss in my immediate family. This is my first, so it’s really hard to deal with. And with my parents, they lived in India. My mother still lives in India. For so many years Didn’t see them, it was really hard for me.”
Golf has found a way back in his life in the past week alone.
“I haven’t played golf yet – and forgot to walk,” he said. “I played 18 holes in our Scotch game at Golf Cart in Isleworth last Friday and it’s not quite like this place, so I’m really glad I got 18 holes and I didn’t screw up like that.”
It was the first time he played at the PGA 3M Open since the Isleworth Round in July.
“I hadn’t touched my clubs since then,” he said.
Atwal won his only PGA title in 2010 at Greensboro. He won three titles on the European Tour, most recently at the 2008 Malaysian Open, and eight wins on the Asian Tour, most recently at the 2014 Dubai Open.
“Sports is just a game. I take it as it is now and I have nothing to prove to anybody. I have won here, I have won the European Tour, the Asian Tour and I am going to be on the Asian Tour in March.” Looking forward to next year’s 50 Tour (Champions),” Atwal said.
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