Arjun Atwal opened with an up-and-down round with five birdies and seven bogeys to finish two-over 72 in the Canadian Open at the tight, tree-lined and rough-rich par-70 Shaughnessy Golf Course in Vancouver, Canada.
Atwal was tied for 55th, while defending champion Vijay Singh was further behind on 71st place.
Atwal had a roller coaster round after he started on the tenth. He opened with a birdie, but that advantage went away with bogeys on the 16th and 18th. On the back nine, he did not par a single hole, as he birdied four and bogeyed five.
He had a lot of trouble on the greens and took as many as 32 putts to complete his round.
Vijay Singh failed to land a single and made three bogeys in a round of 73. He again struggled with his putter, missing several birdie putts from inside 15 feet.
Lucas Glover and Mark Calcavecchia took advantage of excellent conditions in the afternoon to bring in cards of five-under 65 each.
Jasper Parnevik, who played in the morning, shot a 66.
Four other players were two behind the leaders. Among them were Todd Hamilton, the 2004 British Open champion, besides Scott Dunlap, a Monday qualifier, Brandt Jobe and Ted Purdy.
This is Atwal's 16th event and he has made the cuts in 14 of his previous 15 starts with the only exception being the PGA championships, his only Major appearance of the year.
He has earned USD 820,666, which makes sure that he will have full playing privileges on the US Tour next year.
