Bangkok: India’s Arjun Atwal has been named Asian Player of the Year for 2003 after a successful season capped by winning the Order of Merit title.

Atwal, 30, received the accolade, voted by fellow-professionals on the Tour, at a gala dinner on Saturday.

Atwal, who is now competing full time on the US PGA Tour won the 2003 Carlsberg Malaysian Open and the 2003 Hero Honda Classic and became the first golfer on the Asian Tour to surpass $1 million in career earnings.

On Friday, he earned the accolades from Tiger Woods for making it to the US PGA Tour.

The 30-year-old Atwal grew up in Calcutta and Long Island, New York.

Born into a wealthy family of miners and builders, Atwal started playing golf at the age of 14 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club. He loved the game but dreams of a professional career started only after he moved to the Clarke High School in Long Island, where home was just 15 minutes from the Bethpage Black, venue of last year’s US Open.

“I made the college team in Nassau and got really involved in the game travelling with (my) coach,” Atwal said recently. “When I turned 22, I thought ‘why not turn pro?’.” Atwal gave up a golf scholarship at Rollins College in Orlando, went to the Asian Tour’s qualifying school in Thailand in 1995 and started his professional career.But, as Atwal himself says, he still has a long way to go to win a Major.

Atwal, passionate about cars, has a Lexus GS 400 parked in Long Island and his short-term dream is to own a Mercedes SLK Roadster. He tied the knot with childhood sweetheart Sona Bhalla after winning his first title. The couple is expecting their first child mid-May.

Lots of good things to look forward to. “You know, I guess I have proved it. It’s possible to make a career out of this sport, big time. I hope the kids in Calcutta get this and realise golf isn’t just a pastime any more.”