Atwal's woes continue, tied 89th at Bellsouth Classic

Georgia, Mar 31 (UNI) A horrendous front-nine did the damage and even a blemishfree backward journey didn't help much as Arjun Atwal finished tied 89th alongwith Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra after the first round of the Bellsouth Classic here.

The Orlando-based Atwal, who has missed the cut in three back-to-back events so far, started with a bogey on the second hole and dropped another shot on the next and further compounded his woes with a double-bogey on the the eighth.

But the former Asian Tour number one was on damage control mode on his way back and recovered to have a blemishfree back-nine, firing three birdies but could not help finishing one-over 73.

Meanwhile, Chopra, who shared the spot with Atwal, had a similar day. After starting with a birdie on the first hole, he dropped three shots on the third, fifth and ninth to finish off a poor front-nine.

His back-nine also started with a birdie and the Swede was going level par before dropping a shot on the 16th hole. However, he made amends on the very next hole by firing a birdie to round off the day at one-over to saty tied with Atwal.

Defending Champion Phil Mickelsen, meanwhile, started his campaign strongly and finished at the top of the leaderboard with a nine-under 63 after firing 10 birdies.

The American holds a one shot lead over Australian Gavin Coles.

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