HAVING won two of the last three US PGA Tour events he's entered – the Swede clinched victory in a play-off on Sunday over Steve Stricker in Hawaii at the Mercedes Benz championship – Sweden's Daniel Chopra has emerged as an unexpected candidate in an already crowded race for Europe's Ryder Cup side in September.
With Nick Faldo in the commentary box for American TV, Chopra could hardly fail to command the attention of Europe's captain as he moved into second place behind Justin Rose on the world points list. As well as earning the Swede $1.1 million and movi
ng up to 61st in the world rankings, Chopra's success also earned him a place in the field for the Masters at Augusta.
The 34-year-old from Stockholm moved to India at the age of seven and was raised there by his grandparents. Born to a Swedish mother and Indian father, this cosmopolitan golfer can look back on an early success in Scotland when he won the Doug Sanders world junior title.
A regular member of the European Tour between 1996 and 2000, he moved to America six years ago to play his trade on the Nationwide Tour, America's equivalent of the Challenge Tour. He moved up to the PGA Tour in 2003 and played in more than 130 events before winning the Ginn Sur Mer Classic last season. He drew a comparison with David Duval's career and said he needed time to feel comfortable before winning could become a habit.
As far as the Ryder Cup is concerned, Chopra reckons the fact he's based in the USA might be an advantage to the team since the match is being contested on an American course at Valhalla.
"I've obviously got some Ryder Cup points that will propel me up the rankings, but the European Tour has a lot of tournaments and I still have to be in the top five of the ranked players in the world," he said.
"I have to play well, and when you consider guys like Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson, Colin Montgomerie and all those guys, Sergio Garcia, they're going to be racking up points. I've got to beat those guys. I have to be amongst the very elite that Europe has in order to make the team, which is a tough road."
Chopra has already played three events on the 2008 European Tour schedule. He's twice finished in the top ten, including the runner-up spot at the MasterCard Masters.
The full article contains 421 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
