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Atwal misses out on title

Source: PTI
July 18, 2005 15:04 IST
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Arjun Atwal claimed his third top-10 finish of the season, but still went back disappointed at being unable to make a charge for the title at the USD 3 million B.C. Open.

In a low-scoring tournament, Atwal started the day at 18-under in tied second position, but then added only a two-under 70 to finish at 20-under 268 and in the tied ninth place.

He ended four shots away from the title, for which he was very much in contention till the bogey on the 13th hole.

Jason Bohn, who at 19 had won a million dollar hole-in-one shoot-out, made a clutch putt on the final hole to keep the lead with which came the title and a cheque of USD 540,000.

Bohn edged his playing partner, Ryan Palmer (67), J P Hayes (66), John Rollins and Brendan Jones (68) by a shot.

Atwal, who was among the leaders in birdie count, had three on the front nine, till which point he was very much in contention.

He birdied the second, fifth and seventh to turn in three-under. On the back nine, he managed just one on the 14th, but worse, he bogeyed twice.

In his previous three rounds, he had not dropped a single shot on the back nine of the course.

Atwal seemed to recover from the bogey on the 13th, when he birdied the 14th. But he missed a short six-foot putt for birdie on the 15th and then could not sink a 14-footer for birdie on par-4 17th.

Before that on the 16th, which he had birdied in his previous three rounds, he went into the rough and managed only a par. On the 18th, he missed a short four-foot par and ended with a bogey.

As it happened in the second round, he made just one birdie from four par-fives and on a good scoring course like this one, he could ill-afford that on a final day.

He needed 28 putts for the third day in a row, but what really let him down was his driving accuracy which dropped to just 50 per cent, his worst of the week.

Atwal's cheque of USD 78,000 takes him past USD 770,000 and confirmed his full card for the next season.

Another positive, as Atwal put it, was the season's third top-10 after his tied second place in Bell South Classic and tied fifth in Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

He now goes into the next week for the US Bank Championships in Milwaukee.

Bohn, 32, who was tied with Atwal after third round, closed with a second straight 6-under bogey-free 66 for his first PGA Tour victory.

His total of 24-under also gave him a tournament record total at the B.C. Open. The previous tournament record in relation to par was 22 under, set in 2001 by Jeff Sluman and Paul Gow.

Brendan Jones, who held a one-shot lead entering the final round, sparkled with three straight birdies at the finish, but his three bogeys earlier on cost him a shot at the title. Ben Crane (64), Michael Allen (64) and Mathias Gronberg (66) of Sweden were two behind in tied sixth.

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