Arjun Atwal- the name that come in the forefront if anyone talks about the most successful Indian Golf players in the World circuit of Golf. Arjun Atwal is such a Golfer who proved that if anyone has got the talent then his family background is not an issue. He has played the European Tour and Asian Tours and is the first player born in India to become a member of, and later win on the U.S.-based PGA Tour.
Early Life of Arjun Atwal
Arjun Atwal was born on 20 March 1973 in the district town of Asansol, in the Indian state of West Bengal under comfortable situations. Atwal took up the sport of Golf at the age of only fourteen when he played at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. This Golf Club was founded in the year of 1829 and is one of the most ancient Golf Clubs outside the United Kingdom. He learnt about the tricks of the trade while playing there. He also spent two years of his life at school in the United States and learnt more tricks of Golf there.
Career of Arjun Atwal
At the age of only 22, Arjun Atwal turn into a professional golfer in 1995 and he established himself as one of the leading players in the Asian Tour. During that period he won a lot of important Asian Tour Titles that include the 1999 Wills Indian Open, Hero Honda Masters, 2000 held in India and also the Star Alliance Open, Hong Kong in 2000. He was the first Indian to win a European Tour Order of Merit event with his 14-under-par triumph at the 2002 Caltex Singapore Masters tournament in the year of 2002. He topped the Order of Merit on the Asian Tour in 2003. He became the first Indian Golf player to win a million U.S. dollars on the tour by winning the Hero Honda Masters on home soil in the same year.
Arjun Atwal was the second Indian golfer to earn membership of the European Tour after Jeev Milkha Singh and he won his second European Tour title at the Carlsberg Malaysian Open in 2003. Later in the same year, he finished seventh at the PGA Tour`s qualifying school in the U.S. and earned a Tour card for 2004. This gave him the honour to become the first Indian player to participate in the prestigious U.S. PGA Tour. However, his 2004 season in America was not a great one and he was disappointed with his performance as he finished in the142nd place.
However, that poor performance could not discourage him and he covered up with a remarkable performance in the BellSouth Classic tournament where he lost the title only by a whisker in April 2005. Atwal finished 82nd on the money list of the international Golf players in 2005 and secured his spot on Tour for the year of 2006. He was a proud member of the Asian team and represented Asia in the Royal Trophy in 2006. At present, he is calculated amongst the two most prominent Golf players in India along with Jeev Milkha Singh. India is hoping some more great performances from him to feel proud.