By IANS
Kapalua (Hawaii) : Indo-Swede golfer Daniel Chopra has won the Mercedes-Benz Championship in a play-off against Steve Stricker here.
Chopra’s victory Sunday was more about perseverance making the ball mark didn’t do any favours for Stricker.
He won the season-opening event on the PGA Tour when Stricker failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the fourth extra hole.
“It’s the best final round I’ve ever played to win a tournament,” Chopra said after closing with a seven-under 66 without a bogey in the final round.
Chopra twice missed birdie putts on the 18th hole from inside 12 feet that would have won the tournament. He got out of one jam when his chip settled into a sprinkler cup, and he might have avoided another one when Stricker’s long eagle putt on the first playoff hole was slowed by Chopra’s ball mark. Chopra twice fell to his knees when he thought his putts were going in.
“I felt like there was a goalie in the hole, like it wasn’t meant to be,” he said.
There was no doubting his fairway metal to the par-5 ninth on the fourth playoff hole that settled 25 feet away for a birdie.
Chopra earned $1.1 million and a Mercedes-Benz sports car and also his first trip to the Masters.
“I get to go to Augusta, my lifelong dream,” Chopra said.
It was a valiant comeback for Stricker, who birdied three of his last four holes to close with a 64 and force a playoff that looked like it might never end.
It was the first PGA TOUR playoff for both of them, although Chopra lost in a playoff to Aaron Baddeley in November at the MasterCard Australian Masters.
On the first extra hole on the par-5 18th, Stricker putted from 120 feet away just off the green when his ball hit Chopra’s large ball mark and took a big hop, losing so much speed that it stopped nearly 10 feet short of the hole. He missed the birdie putt.
Chopra had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th in regulation to win, but it stopped an inch short. In the playoff, he left his eagle putt some 7 feet short and missed that one to the right, a scene that began to look familiar.
His 25-foot birdie on No.1, the second playoff hole, looked so good that Chopra raised his putter and began to celebrate, then dropped to his knees and let the putter fall from his hands when the ball stopped on the edge of the cup. The second hole was Stricker’s turn to win, and his 15-foot putt just turned away.