When asked if he new he lost his PGA Tour status on Thursday he was shocked to know he did not have current status. Did not much matter to him because he Monday Qualified anyway. When asked if he had a lot of pressure to regain his status, he stated he had nothing to lose and could play loose and to win this event. These are the answers of a man who was comfortable being himself... Arjun Atwal. An Indian golfer who loves to do what….play golf. Does not matter to him if it is PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, Euro Tour or a local muni to get some work in. He just enjoys the challenge of trying to live out his child hood dream…Winning a PGA Tour event. Mission accomplished Sunday at the Wyndham Championship.
For me this win felt better than seeing some of the other players win on tour. I met Mr. Atwal while volunteering at a Nationwide Tour event a year ago. I had the pleasure of working with the live online scoring and the walking scorers so they were long days. Each day I was there super early and many players would come and go by and not say a word to us but Mr. Atwal made it a point every morning to see how we were holding up with the long days and always asked if it was anything he could do for us. Ok Ok here is a guy trying to win an event and focus on his golf game but has the thoughtfulness to ask if he can help us, the volunteers out. WOW.. On the Saturday after his round and being several shots off the lead he comes by the volunteer area and just plops down and has lunch with us and talks with us while the scores come from the leaders. This has stuck with me and I always thought if anyone deserves a sponsor exemption or PGA Tour status it is Mr. Arjun Atwal. A TRUE CLASS ACT.
FRAUD OF THE WEEK - PGA Rule book. I have thought long and hard about how players keep getting penalized for penalties that are questionable. First let me say that I am a sport purest. I like to maintain things as close to how they were intended. That being said I also know that things need to be reviewed periodically to see if they still make since in the current environment. Golf is taking longer to play, 5 hour rounds are closer than further to being the norm. Maybe the rule book could use a little trimming with the thought of improving the pace of play. Not slowing things down and forcing players to hesitate whenever there might be a ruling needed. Maybe the 2011 rule book could read like Tweets….LOL short and to the point
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