Atwal tied 57th after opening round at Zurich Classic

New Orleans, Apr 28 (UNI) A brilliant back-nine studded with four birdies saved the day for Arjun Atwal as he returned to the USPGA Tour after a week's break with a two-under 72 opening round to share the 57th spot in the six-million dollar Zurich Classic of New Orleans at the English Turn Golf and Country Club here.

The Orlando-based Indian did not play in the 5.3 million dollar Shell Houston Open last week after a tied 17th finish at the Verizon Heritage Classic in Florida.

Atwal started off well with a birdie on the fourth hole and could have had a flawless front-nine but for a dropped shot on the ninth.

On his way back, Atwal double-bogeyed the 10th but quickly recovered to fire a birdie on the next before fumbling once again on the 12th, which was his last missed chance of the day.

The former Asian Tour number one then showed the kind of form which had not been witnessed in the previous events this season. He fired three birdies, including two back-to-back, between the 13th and the 16th before signing off with another on the 18th.

Meanwhile, India-born Swede Daniel Chopra, who finished tied 36th in the Houston Open, was way down at tied 102nd spot on the leaderboard after carding a level-par round.

Chopra had an eventful front-nine, of two birdies and three bogeys, and fired a solitary birdie on his way back to finish even-par at the event, which has a winner's share of 1.8 million dollars.

At the top, Englishman Graeme McDowell fired a blemish-free opening round of eight-under 64 -- studded with six birdies and an eagle -- to be the sole leader ahead of Houston Open Champion, Australian Stuart Appleby, who is a shot behind in the first major sporting event at the hurricane ravaged New Orleans.

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