Atwal, Chopra to tee up at Barracuda Championships in US

INDIA's ARJUN ATWAL will tee up for only his sixth start as he gets ready for the Barracuda Championships golf tournament Reno, Nevada. 

Atwal, who has made the cut in four of his five starts this season, has not been able to make any of those count meaningfully and will therefore look to the Barracuda to change his fortunes at the Montreux Golf and Country Club, starting later today 

While Atwal plays the Barracuda, the boy he inspired Anirban Lahiri, will play the WGC-Bridgestone, which is also being held in the same week. 

Atwal, whose tied 27 in his first start of the season in Puerto Rico remains the best of the year on PGA Tour, will play with Kyle Stanley and Jim Renner. 

Last week Atwal, who got a start at Quicken Loans finished tied 72nd after making a great start with a 66 in the first round. 

Atwal has shot in the 60s in his first round in his last three starts but after that he has not been able to build on it. He was tied 40th at FedEx St. Jude Classic, tied 48th at Barbasol Championships and tied 72nd at Quicken Loans. 

The field also includes Daniel Chopra, whose four starts have seen two missed cuts and he withdrew after the first round from Texas Open. His best like Atwal came in Puerto Rico, where he was tied 38th. 

At Barracuda, he plays Steve Lowery and Andreas Gonzales. 

The Barracuda Championship will be the only tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule to utilise the modified Stableford scoring format, which encourages aggressive play by allocating points based on number of strokes at each hole. 

This week's Barracuda Championship is the only PGA TOUR event that uses the Modified Stableford scoring format, which encourages aggressive play. 

Combine the format with Reno's altitude -- which allows the ball to travel farther -- and fans can expect to see plenty of birdies. 

Modified Stableford awards points are based on the number of strokes taken at each hole. At the 2015 Barracuda an albatross will fetch eight points, an eagle will get five and a birdie will get two points. Par fetches no points, while a bogey means one negative point goes into the score and a double bogey, the worse a player can do, results in three negative points. 

So the format encourages risks and rewards as well. Geoff Ogilvy set a scoring record last year at +49 points.