KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia(AP) Arjun Atwal, the Indian player involved in a fatal car accident last year, won the Malaysian Open on Sunday, beating defending champion Peter Hedblom of Sweden with a par on the second hole of a playoff.
Atwal, also the 2003 winner at The Mines, birdied the 18th to force the playoff. He finished with an 8-under 64 to match Hedblom (71) at 18-under 270 on the Kota Permai course. Both players parred the first extra hole.
Atwal, a three-time European tour winner, will not be charged in the March 10, 2007, accident in Orlando, Fla., that killed fellow motorist John Park, according to Newsday. Witnesses have said Atwal and Park were street racing, with the Florida Highway Patrol estimating Atwal was going 80 mph in a 45 mph zone just before Park's speeding car flipped.
Australia's Kane Webber (65) and England's Simon Dyson (69) finished a stroke out of the playoff in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours. New Zealand's Mark Brown, coming off consecutive wins in India in the Asian Tour's SAIL Open and the co-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic, closed with a 69 to tie for 26th at 10 under.
