AS THE summer quest for Ryder Cup points quickens, Daniel Chopra, the American based Scandinavian golfer who was born of a Swedish mother and an Indian father, has accepted an invitation from the organisers of the Barclays Scottish Open to appear at Loch Lomond next month.
An occasional visitor to Europe since the Nineties, the 34-year-old will tee up in Scotland in a bid to improve his chances of qualifying for the match against the USA at Valhalla.
Currently tenth in the world points list for Nick Faldo's Eu
ropean team, the Swede won the Mercedes-Benz championship in Hawaii earlier this year. One of the best putters on the US PGA Tour – he's ranked third in putting average on the other side of the Atlantic - the only European golfers who have enjoyed more successful seasons so far in the States this year are Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald.
"The Ryder Cup is something I have obviously been watching intently since I was a little kid," Chopra volunteered earlier this season. "It's certainly something to be looked forward to."
This year the Swede has featured in seven European Tour events worldwide , including a runner-up finish in Australia at the Mastercard Masters and seventh at the Hong Kong Open.
Having returned to form by shooting 65 in the first round of the Buick Open on Thursday – Chopra is 81st on the world rankings –the Swede was also a creditable 36th behind Tiger Woods in the US Open at Torrey Pines. The golfer is just one of many notable professionals striving to clinch a place in Faldo's plans who has plenty of work to do over the coming months.
Had the Ryder Cup side been declared this week then players of the calibre of Open champion Padraig Harrington right, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey and Luke Donald – all members of the winning team at the K Club two year ago – would have been looking for captain's picks to tee up against the Americans.
As things stand today, the five leading lights on the world points list are Lee Westwood, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia while the top five on the European list, not already qualified, are Martin Kaymer, Henrik Stenson, Oliver Wilson, Nick Dougherty and Graeme McDowell.
This leaves many Ryder Cup stalwarts from past campaigns, including Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter and David Howell, with plenty of incentive to make their mark in the run of rewarding events which start this week with the French Open in Paris and continue with the European Open in Kent before the Scottish Open and the Open Championship at Birkdale. More than £12.5 million in prize money, as well as a large dollop of Ryder Cup points, is on offer at these events.
While Rose and Kaymer are the real deal and can expect to make their debuts in Kentucky, it will be interesting to see if the three other potential rookies – Wilson, Dougherty and McDowell – can consolidate their positions. Or if the old guard will mount a revival over the coming weeks and inject more experience into the line-up.
"Some of the household names, some of the more experienced players, are maybe just drifting out of a bit of form and there are new guys coming in," Harrington cautioned earlier this season. "We really are seeing a new breed of young European pros and that means the team is going to change and I think Nick (Faldo) is possibly going to have a team that is split half and half between rookies and more established players."
Whether this is a good thing or not is up for debate; of the nine players who figured in both the 18 1/12- 9 ½ victory at Oakland Hills in 2004 and the same record margin of success at the K Club, only two, Westwood and Garcia are currently in the side. It goes without saying that of the other seven – Monty, Harrington, Clarke, McGinley, Donald, Casey and Howell – Faldo would prefer to see at least three of those stalwarts play their way into the side rather than force his hand on wild cards.
As to the hopes of maintaining Scottish interest in the match, Alastair Forsyth is 19th in the world list and 20th in the European. The truth is the Paisley golfer, who succeeded in Madeira earlier this season, will, in all likelihood,have to force his way into the winner's circle again if he wants to have a chance of boarding that flight to Louisville in September.
Ryder Cup standings: 1 Lee Westwood 216.12, 2 M A Jiménez 174.86, 3 R Karlsson 169.93, 4 J Rose 167.46, 5 S Garcia 163.70, 6 H Stenson 163.02, 7 M Kaymer 148.45, 8 P Harrington 135.82, 9 L Donald 134.66, 10 D Chopra 121.25
The full article contains 823 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
