January 7, 2008
PGA.Tour.com

Fans congratulate Chopra
By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Daniel Chopra knew all about Steve Stricker’s ability to rally. Heck, all of the PGA TOUR knows and appreciates Stricker's stick-to-itiveness, having awarded him Comeback Player of the Year two seasons running.

But Chopra knows a thing or two about perseverance. After grinding overseas in Europe, Asia and Japan and serving a worthwhile apprenticeship on the Nationwide Tour, he reached the pinnacle of golf, the PGA TOUR, in 2004. But winning eluded him in his first 130 starts. All of a sudden, now, he's won two of his last three.

Stricker fired a final-round 9-under-par 64 Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course -- tied with Hunter Mahan for low round of the tournament -- but Chopra, with a 66, answered him at every turn and then outlasted the veteran in a four-hole playoff to win the TOUR's season-opening event.

It came just a month after Chopra lost a four-hole playoff to Aaron Baddeley at the Australian Masters. It came on a par-73 layout, which is significant given that the victory that earned him his trip to Maui was claimed in Florida at the Ginn Sur Mer Classic at Tesoro -- which is the only other par-73 track on the TOUR.

"How about that?" Chopra said, starting to come to grips with all the coincidences.

But Chopra's victory in the tournament of champions was more than just a coincidental occurrence. In some ways it seemed pre-ordained, at least when analyzed in the aftermath.

Dreams do come true, it appears.

"The golf course was designed by me, I'm guessing," Chopra, who turned 34 two weeks ago, proclaimed after winning $1.1 million and a Mercedes-Benz CL 550 worth more than $100,000. "There's not a golf course out there that suits me more. I've just loved it from the moment I saw it, and I've obviously been familiar with it from on TV, but when I played it the first time, I thought, 'Wow, I love it.' And of course, I managed to take advantage of it. I felt like I knew how to play the holes, and I got it done."

Though Kapalua features arguably the widest fairways on the PGA TOUR, Chopra kept the ball in play 70 percent of the time, ranking 30th out of 31 players. Surprising this isn't from a player who ranked 183rd on the TOUR last year in driving accuracy.

However, to reach 18-under-par 274, Chopra used his innate talents and a putting touch that was good enough to best Stricker, who was sixth in putting average last year.

Chopra only three-putted twice and he ranked third in total putting. More importantly, he was first in putts per green in regulation and collected 23 birdies, best in the field. It didn't hurt that he gave himself a lot of chances, hitting 86 percent of his greens in regulation, tied for ninth overall. Chopra, who was born in Sweden and grew up in India, joked earlier in the week that he's found himself communicating English, Swedish and Indian all during one round, and he's comfortable with all three. But it was his translation of the shot-making challenge at the Plantation Course that spoke volumes.

"I was able to use my imagination to read putts and see it just comes naturally to me," said Chopra, who is only the third player in 20 years (and the second at Kapalua after Sergio Garcia in 2002) to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship in his debut. "I can see the slopes, I can see the grain, I can see where the wind is going, and all my years of playing all over the world on different types of greens helps me, and being able to hit different shots into the greens with the different wind conditions.

"I love to hit these shots," Chopra added, "and be able to think, OK, I'm going to hit that little draw in there and the wind is going to bring it and it's going to hit into the slope, and the slope is going to bring it down and it's going to go next to the hole. I love hitting shots like that. And this golf course, almost every hole you had an opportunity to hit a shot like that. I just enjoy the challenge that the golf course provided on every shot."

He also enjoyed the challenge of the chase. The playoff turned into a defensive affair until Chopra nailed a 225-yard utility club at the par-5 ninth to set up a two-putt birdie. His eagle putt hung on the lip, causing him to turn in disbelief and drop his putter. Two holes earlier a birdie try brought him to his knees as it came up a revolution short.

But during regulation play, as he began to pull away -- leading by as many as three strokes after a string of birdies at 11, 12 and 13 -- he couldn't believe that Stricker kept responding. "I was impressed with how he kept coming after me," Chopra marveled.

He also was amazed, rediscovering just how hard it is to separate from the pack.

"(Saturday) I finished my round off, and I finished at 11, and I get back to the hotel room, and Sam [his wife] says, 'You're only two shots off the lead.' I go, 'What?' I thought I'd be tied for the lead," Chopra said. "At the absolute most, if somebody went crazy I'd be solo second, but not only am I not second, I'm third. That just goes to show how good everybody out here is.

"Today, I birdied 11, so I'm pretty sure at that point I've definitely got the lead now. And then I birdied 12, OK, for sure I have got the lead now. Then I birdied 13, I thought, wow, I'm going to run away with this thing. I look up on the board, and I'm only ahead by one. I'm going, what the hell do you have to do?"

He answered that question himself. He didn't beat himself. He put himself in position to win and gave himself chances in the playoff, and, well, it just happened.

"You know what, it's definitely by far the best final round I've ever played to win a tournament, actually just to get in a playoff," Chopra said. "But seven birdies, no bogeys, I always dreamed of having a bogey free round to win a golf tournament, and I managed to do it today."

What's more, he said he'd always dreamed of playing at Kapalua. Because it was made for him, you know. "It's just been unbelievable," he said.

No, a win against a field of PGA TOUR champions...it's something he can believe in. Something better than a dream.

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