It may have lacked its typical star power, but the final round of the Mercedes Benz Championships was a fabulous way to begin the 2008 PGA Tour Season.
When the final round began, Mike Weir was in the lead but difficulties on the front nine quickly took him out of the running. Instead Daniel Chopra began his front nine with four birdies through his first seven holes to take the lead. After birdies at 11, 12, and 13 it appeared Chopra would cruise into the clubhouse with the tournament. However, just as Chopra looked to be in control, Steve Stricker began heating up. On the back nine, Stricker’s four birdies and an eagle on his way to 64 left Stricker tied for the lead at -18. Chopra came to the 18th tied for the lead and had a birdie putt to win the tournament. Chopra left his putt dangling on the edge of cup sending both players to another Kapalua playoff.
The players went back to the eighteenth for the first playoff hole. After finding the fairway, Stricker found the fringe to the right with Chopra just inside on the green. In a twist of fate, Stricker’s putt went right over Chopra’s ball mark sending it hopping in the air and ultimately falling six feet short. Chopra’s putt ended five feet short, and both players putted out for fives to continue the playoff. Afterwards Stricker recognized the mistake of not having Chopra mark his ball, "[The ball mark] — it’s pretty tall. You know, that’s my fault, and just not having him re-mark it. It took a lot of the speed off. But you know, you learn from that, you know? Like I say, I should have had him mark with something smaller."
Onto the first hole a 540 yard par 4, both players found the fairway and the green and two putts later were tied. Finally on the fourth playoff hole, the par 5 ninth, Chopra finally gave himself a chance to put away the tournament finding the green with his second shot and settling 25 feet from the pin. Stricker missed his second shot right of the green and when his chip went eleven feet past the pin, Chopra was left with two putts for birdie. After leaving his eagle putt dangling on the lip, Chopra tapped in for birdie. After Sricker missed his birdie putt, Chopra had clinched his second PGA Tour win and an invitation to The Masters. Chopra said, "I felt very comfortable all week, really. I guess the win made me more comfortable. I felt like I did belong now and I was a winner. I felt very comfortable out there… There’s not a golf course out there that suits me more."
For Steve Stricker, this was his first playoff on the PGA Tour and he looked to the positives of the experience, "This is definitely a good start for the season, a little bittersweet again today where I played a great round and ended up with some opportunities in regulation to make a couple more birdies coming down the stretch, hit good putts, but I can’t be disappointed. It was a great start to the year." For Chopra, the pressure of playoffs was very familiar as he lost to Aarron Baddely in a playoff at the Australian Masters. Chopra commented on the similarities between the two saying, "I felt like I always had a putt to win except for on the second hole. It was a bit of a mirror image in a way."
Your Reaction?- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0