Atwal falters in 2nd round

Arjun Atwal was undone by a poor front-nine as he carded a two-over 74 to slip to the tied 57th spot after the second round of the US PGA Tour Qualifying School Finals in California.

With three bogeys on the front nine and a lone birdie on the 15th hole, Atwal, aiming to secure his full playing rights on the US PGA Tour next year, made his task harder by dropping down the leaderboard with a total of two-over 146.

The Indian did not have the best possible start and ended up dropping shots on the fifth, sixth and ninth to make the turn at three-over. Atwal arrested the slide in his backward journey but could not save any shot until the 15th,

when he hit his lone birdie of the day.

The former Asian Tour number one will have to raise his game considerably in the later rounds to manage a top-30 finish as only that can earn him the US PGA Tour card for next season.

The Orlando-based Indian has a conditional card due to his 140th rank on the money list this season allowing him to compete in 15 events next season. He missed 18 cuts this season and managed just one top-10 finish in the 33 events played this year with earnings of 550,537 dollar.