By Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf)
With all due respect to his Swedish citizenship, I have always considered Daniel Chopra more Indian than Scandinavian. After all, I am yet to meet a Swede who can watch every ball of a Test match cricket and then talk about it for the next five days, or relish chicken tikkas more than meat balls. And don’t even get me started on his profoency in Punjabi!
Dressed in all whites that Sunday of the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship (now called Sentry Tournament of Champions) – perhaps his ode to Bjorn Borg and Wimbledon – Chopra made the most of his first-ever journey to the Plantation Course when he took down Steve Stricker at the fourth extra hole for his second PGA Tour win.
The tournament featured 33 winners from the previous season on the PGA Tour that season and Chopra had made it to the elite field by virtue of winning the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro, a Fall Series event
Even though Canadian Mike Weir led the tournament going into the final round, there was never any doubt that Chopra would be contending come the back nine. He had been in superb form through the first three rounds. When regulation play ended with him and Stricker tied at 18-under par, Chopra had missed only 10 greens in 72 holes, and was third in putts per round (29.3).
Chopra should have won the tournament in regulation, but his birdie putt on the final hole from 12 feet was probably stopped by the last blade of grass protecting the cup, and he had a similar heart-breaking moment from a similar distance on the second play-off hole.
The moment of magic came on the fourth extra hole – the par-5 ninth.
From 245 yards out, Chopra muscled his hybrid to the heart of the green, leaving himself 25 feet for eagle. That eagle putt once again stopped less than a roll short, but Stricker missed his birdie attempt and Chopra just needed to tap his in.
“The ninth hole plays about 10-12 yards uphill. There were bushes left and right of the green. They were not very close, but they were close enough to take notice. I hit a lovely little draw which started straight at the flag and turned slightly away from it,” remembers Chopra.
“A win is always cherished, but that shot will always remain very special because it got me into my first ever Masters later that year.”
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SHOT 3- Sandhu’s stunning 5-wood called the shots when the chips were down
SHOT 2 – Bedi becomes Marathon Man with a shot world golf will remember
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