Atwal finishes 59th in Reno

Arjun Atwal began his final day with a birdie and ended with a birdie-eagle sequence, but in between rode a roller-coaster and ended the round with a two-over 74 at the Reno Tahoe Open golf tournament.

Atwal's final day effort took his total to one-under 287, that gave him only the 59th place and USD 6,510 at the USD 3 million event at the Montreux Golf and Country Club.

Vaughn Taylor, meanwhile, retained the title with a scoring record yesterday enroute to his three-stroke victory over Jonathan Kaye.

Taylor, in his second year on Tour, had an even-par 72 to join Vijay Singh as the only other repeat champion this year and also became the fifth wire-to-wire winner of the season.

Former Asian Tour No. 1 Atwal opened with a birdie on the first and then bogeyed the third, but again birdied the sixth. And when he bogeyed the ninth, he was even at the turn.

He picked a shot on 11th, but gave two away on the next.

Yet another bogeyed followed on 14th and a triple on 15th, where he lost a ball.

A birdie on 17th and an eagle two on par-4 18th gave him something to smile at the end.

This was Atwal's lowest finish after making a cut. His only missed cut this season was in the previous week's PGA Championships.

Kaye shot a 67 -- his fourth round in the 60s -- but missed three birdie putts from within 15 feet on the last three holes to finish at 18-under and second on the 7,472-yard course.