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GINN SUR MER CLASSIC AT TESORO

October 29, 2007

Daniel Chopra

PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA

DOUG MILNE: Daniel Chopra, welcome back to the interview room. Congratulations. The 2007 Champion at the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro Resort. I think one of the words I heard out there more than anything was patience. Certainly a long week, but it obviously paid off for you. Just a few opening comments, and how does it feel to be the Champion?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Well, it's amazing. It is something that I've dreamed about for a long time. I mentioned earlier when I was playing in Europe, I would sit on the couch every evening when I was home, and I'd watch the telecast. And I couldn't wait for it to start.
I'd watch the leaderboards with the red banders, and the players. And waiting that maybe one day I'd have my name on one of those leaderboards, just on the leaderboard. Just to be out on the PGA TOUR was always my dream.
And to finally have it on top on a Sunday, you know. Coming from India, growing up there. Having to fly overseas just to buy golf balls because you couldn't buy them in India, you know, at the time. To think that I could come from there to being a winner on the PGA TOUR, you know, when I think about it, it's pretty special.
DOUG MILNE: Your wife kind of summed it up perfectly when you're walking up. She said, "You just won."
DANIEL CHOPRA: I know.
DOUG MILNE: You're going to Hawaii. You've got all the other great thing that's come with it, which is awesome. So we'll just open it up and let these guys throw out a few questions.

Q. You said last night if you were able to win it would probably be sweeter because you'd work so hard for it and you'd treasure it more. Do you still feel that way?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Well, my coach, Kel Llewellyn, I was quoting him yesterday saying how hard it seemed to play that back nine yesterday after I missed that little putt on 10. I said, well, this is what Kel would be saying right now if he was here - It's not meant to be easy. It's meant to be hard, it's meant to be tough (laughing). And I didn't realize it was going to be that tough.
Last night I fell asleep just like a baby. It was amazing. I thought I'd have a hard time sleeping, and then probably 12:30, I was wide awake. Until, I don't know, 3:00 in the morning, I was tossing and turning. And I was playing those holes over and over in my mind. Those last three holes, how I would play them. Never once did I play them the way I played them today, so...
17 was kind of close. I said well I'll probably hit a 2-iron into the wind, I hit a 2-iron into the middle of the green and try to two-putt that one, you know. But, yeah, amazing.

Q. You had that putt on 17, is it easy not to think about that putt the same thing had you on 10 the other day?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Oh, yeah, it never even crossed my mind, that putt. It was a totally different putt to start with. I hit a really good first putt. It was uphill into the green a little bit. When it got up over the ridge, I thought that's perfect. All I wanted was a tap-in. Stress-free golf is all I was looking for. And it trickled down, and on, and on.
I thought how is it rolling so far uphill into the green. It usually doesn't do that. Then it dawned on me, I said, well, it's meant to be tough, it's meant to be hard.
I guess once you win five or six, then it becomes easier. But the first ones are hard, and it's meant to be that way because that's the way you get to enjoy it more and treasure it. And that 3, 4-footer that I had coming back, you know, you trust what you've done over the years. I managed to trust myself very well. I putted and rolled it right in the middle, yeah.

Q. After you played off the sand on 18, after you saw where the ball ended up, could you allow yourself to relax even the tiniest bit at that point? Was it a little too far for comfort?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, because anything can happen, you know. I've never had a putt or two putts to win a golf tournament on the PGA TOUR before. You never know how you're going to react. You could just go off on your hands and roll it ten feet by. It's downhill, you could leave it halfway there.
But again, I managed to put all of that out of my mind and I said go ahead and trust how you would hit this putt if it was the first round. You just trickle it down there. And I hit it exactly the way I would have hit it in the first round of a tournament, so that was part of it.
But I was able to put all that out of my mind. It's funny when people say you feel a little bit -- you almost feel relaxed over those putts. I was calm with that first one. Even though with the second one was only maybe a foot. But I looked at the hole, and it was too close. But yeah, I was reasonably calm over them, and I was able to trust what I've done in the past.

Q. You've been building up to this for a couple of years, and you've had more than a few on Sundays over the last couple of years. You famously played with Tiger at Doral last year, which must have been an educational experience I would imagine. Can you talk about some of the disappointments and whether they help you in a situation like this? Or do you try to put them aside? I guess it's all part of the process and learning in a way?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Depends on which way you take it. If you have a bunch of disappointments and too many, and you dwell on those, it makes it even more difficult the next time around. But, you know, I guess a little bit of that comes into it. You feel like will I ever get it done? But today I did.
I was especially proud of the way I started yesterday. Because the start of the going into the final round with the early lead. And making a statement playing the way, say, Tiger would have played, in a situation like that. I was very proud of that.
I knew they were going to play tough anyway. The wind was up, and the misses weren't that far off. I just kept getting bad lies in the rough. I wasn't that far off, but it wore on me.
Every time you got a bad lie, and you missed another fairway, you were so trying to get the ball on the fairway. Don't give it a chance to get yourself a bad lie.
Again, I wasn't missing by much, but when you tighten up a little bit, that fairway shrinks. I guess next time around I'm sure it will be a lot easier. I'm sure.

Q. Now that you look back on it, how did the delay last night, did it come at the right time the way you were playing the back nine?
DANIEL CHOPRA: I this so. I was wound up pretty tight last night. Came up this morning after a good night's sleep. And I mentioned to my wife, Sam, I said, wow, it's amazing how much more relaxed I feel today, you know. I kind of let it all kind of sink in and put it into perspective.
I thought what is the absolute worst that can happen? I'll finish third. Which is one hell of a great tournament. I would have taken it in the beginning of the week.
In my mind, I felt like, well, maybe as tight as the landing areas were and as high as the rough was, I would have thought maybe this is a golf course that doesn't quite suit my game to a tee. I need a little more breathing room off the tee. Though I have been driving the ball a lot better this year. I like to have a little bit of breathing room, and this golf course is very claustrophobic as soon as you get tight.
So in the beginning of the week, I would have taken a third place finish. To come out on top, I guess, when you get on the golf course that maybe doesn't suit you as well, you focus harder. You try. It's like when you hit a shot in the trees, you hit some of the best shots in the trees because you have to create something. It hard ens your focus, and I guess that's what this golf course did to me.

Q. After you made the birdie on 16 this morning, the rest of the playing group and the caddies were kind of waiting for the card and you kind of just took off on that walk. Was that a conscious thing? Did you just want to be alone with your thoughts there?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, absolutely. I knew that Bob was first to play, and I didn't want to have to get up on the tee and wait around. I wanted to get up there just about as he was ready to hit. In fact, I timed it just about perfect. It was a bit of a strategy play or whatever, to make sure I don't pace around the tee too much, and that I get up there and ready to go.

Q. On your second shot on 16, were you trying to lay-up there?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, well, I had such a horrible lie on the rough. I thought if I hit a pitching wedge or a 9-iron I might not get it out of the rough to get to the fairway. And my little 9-wood, I put it in the bag specifically this week because of the rough, and I never hit it once.

Q. That was the first time?
DANIEL CHOPRA: That was the first time. And that is the only reason I really hit it. I put it in the bag, and I've got to hit it at least once, you know. So I figured, you know -- I actually miss-hit it a little bit. I probably caught it. The ball was so far down in the grass, I'm not sure. It came out a lot lower than it normally does. I thought I'd get it up to the front of the green or whatever. It comes out of that rough really well.

Q. Were you aware of what was going on in front of you?
DANIEL CHOPRA: No, I wasn't. I was kind of in the back of my mind listening to cheers. But every hole is so far away. And early in the morning, there were not going to be a lot of people out. And I assumed most of them would be with us, because last group. But I wasn't sure.
I got to 18, and I looked at the leaderboard. I was surprised. As hard as 17 and 18 were playing, I thought that one of them might have a bogey. I might have had a bit of a cushion.
Again, I got in there and the voice in the back of my mind with my coach, it's not meant to be. You go out there. And I was kind of glad they were at 18. I wanted to be in a situation where I had to make a par 4 and find the hole to win.
I got a very good lie on my bunker. So I thought if I had a two-shot lead somehow, as hard as 17 was playing, I thought well maybe then I was going to chip it out. But I could go maybe left on the green, in case I hit it fat out of that bunker.
I had one plug on the front bunker. But I had a one-shot lead, and I said well, it's time to step up now. Hit the shot, and I hit it just flush.

Q. What club?
DANIEL CHOPRA: It was a 9-iron. I couldn't get there with the wedge. I had to take a little off the 9-iron. Any time you have a solid, easy lie, you're better off with a little less loft anyway. So put it back in my stance and punched it.

Q. Hit the rewind button, what different tours have you played on over the years? Because you've been working your way up to this arena for a while. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any you haven't played on.
DANIEL CHOPRA: Well, it's been I would call it stepping stones or a ladder that I've been climbing the ladder. I started out turning pro when I was in India. And the first few events I played I was 18. When I couldn't play junior golf anymore, I turned pro.
I started off on the Indian Tour, which is a very well established tour. Not a lot of people know that. They have 35 events or something out there. And the money out there now is pretty good. So I started playing there for the first 7 or 8 events. Then I played the Malaysian Tour which was a bit of a mini tour back then. But a lot of the players from Asia and Australia played that.
I went to Q-school for the Asian Tour a few times. But if you won a national PGA Championship and made the exempt on the Asian Tour for a year. So I won the Malaysian PGA, and Indian PGA Championship, which got me exempt on the Asian Tour. Played the Asian Tour.
After that I went to Europe, went to Q-school. Didn't get my card. But got my Challenge Tour card mainly through playing tournaments on the Swedish Tour. Then eventually I got my card --

Q. Swedish Tour as well?
DANIEL CHOPRA: I would play the Swedish Tour in the middle of the summer. They only had maybe 8 events or whatever. And I played five or six. And some of those were co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour. So I made enough money to get on to the Challenge Tour. I think I won one or whatever.
Then I played the Asian Tour through January to March. Then in the summer I'd play over there in Sweden, those 7 or 8 events.
Then in '95 I got my card and played the European Tour from '96 until 2000. We're not there yet. So from '96 to 2000 I played there. In 2000, I played in Japan for one year. I had semi-exempt status, conditional, I guess you could call it. Played on the Japan Tour for one year.
Then I played the Asian Tour again in 2001 and 2002, and I decided to come over here. I made a big decision. Probably the reason I'm sitting here right now is I was in final stage. I didn't have my card in Europe anymore. I was playing in Asia. I was in the final stage of the European Tour qualifying school. And I was in second stage of the PGA TOUR qualifying school at Orange County National.
And I just was wondering what should I do? They were on the same week. So I had to make a choice. Do I go to European Tour school, final stage, have a chance to get on to the big tour, or do I say, no, I want to go and play the PGA TOUR?

Q. What year is this?
DANIEL CHOPRA: This would have been 2002. No, 2001. Because I played the Nationwide 2002-03, so it was 2001. And I spoke to a few friends of mine, players on the Tour. I spoke to my wife. We said well, what decision would you regret more? If you went to the European Tour school and missed, would you then regret not going to second. Or if you went to second and missed would you regret not going to final.
I said if I went to European school and missed, I would regret not trying. So I went to Orange County National, and pulled out of final stage. They said you're pulling out of finals to go to second stage. Because if I miss at second now, I have nothing.
So I get to Orange County, I played fairly well, and I get to the final hole, par 5. And I had a 5-foot putt for a par. Putt straight into the wind, spun down the wedge. I had a 5-putt. I still visualize it today. Maybe even 6 feet. As years go by the putts get longer. But it was a left edge putt.
I can't ever forget it. Maybe it was just outside the left edge, and I made it right in the middle. I was as nervous as I'd ever been. Because I knew what the number was. Everybody knows what the number's going to be, and you have to make that putt. And I made it right in the middle.
Then I go into finals. Didn't play that great. Got Nationwide conditional. That was my first year out here, and then I got my card at Q-school. Same golf course, Panther Lake. So Orange County National has been good to me. That's why we live in Orlando.

Q. You were joking with Jacobson about this whether the other Swedes consider you to be Swedish or Indian. And he said well, I'm not sure he knows himself. When people ask you, maybe I should just say I know you were born in Sweden. How long did you live there? Then you went to India through age 18 before you started playing. Give us the pedigree, because you seem to be sort of a world traveler.
DANIEL CHOPRA: I'm right down the middle. I mean people of mixed heritage can probably understand it. I'm equally proud of both. I consider myself half and half, you know.
I feel maybe more Swedish when I'm in Sweden, and more Indian when I'm in India. And when I'm here, I'm half, you know.
I love both cultures, and I grew up in India, so maybe my thinking might be a little bit more Indian.

Q. What age?
DANIEL CHOPRA: When I was 8. So I had my 8th birthday there. So I think my thinking might be a little more Indian. But because I was born in Sweden, again, where you're born kind of pulls your heartstrings a little more. So my thinking is more Indian. So it's an equal balance.
It's something I love. I'm very proud of the fact that I have two great nationalities that follow me and are behind me and support me.

Q. Is your passport Swedish?
DANIEL CHOPRA: My passport is Swedish, because the Indian government doesn't allow dual citizenship with Sweden. It allows it with the U.S., Canada and England. I would have done that in a heartbeat, if I could. Played Ryder Cup and President's Cup (laughing).

Q. You're sitting on the couch in Europe looking from afar, how old were you?
DANIEL CHOPRA: I was playing the European Tour. I was mid to early 20's.
DOUG MILNE: If we can take you back to yesterday for the most part and one birdie today. If we could just run through your birdies and bogies.
DANIEL CHOPRA: You mean yesterday's round?
DOUG MILNE: I'm sorry, yesterday.
DANIEL CHOPRA: Oh, the final round. Starting on 1, I hit a little three-quarter gap wedge, which nearly went in. I had a about a 4-footer.
On 2, I had to lay-up and hit a lob wedge to about 10 feet, maybe.
On 3, I hit another gap wedge from 130 yards straight down win, and spun it back to about 8 feet and made that.
Bogeyed 5. Hit a very good drive. Pretty decent second shot. Just wind caught it and pushed it just right at the green, and didn't get that up-and-down.
Nearly holed my second shot on 9 for another birdie. Three putted from nowhere on 10. Just I guess I was anxious to make one more and really pull it out. I didn't know what my lead was at the time, but I knew I had some kind of a decent lead. I figured in my head, at worst case scenario, make this a two-shot lead.
Somebody told me I had 4. But even if I had known that, I would have loved to have a five shot lead, so I would have still hit the same putt.
When coming back, the wind gusted, and I backed off once. I wasn't comfortable. I already said I was going to finish, and I didn't want to be an idiot and say, okay, I want to wait now. So I went ahead and putted and I missed it.
I'm sure in the back of my head I would have done it a lot different if I made that. Because that started throwing all kinds of nuts and bolts into the machinery.
Then I bogeyed 13. Had one of the worst lies I've ever had in the rough. I had a pitching wedge. I had a hundred yards to the front. I figured if I hit it really hard, I'm pretty good. I could get pretty strong on the rough and hit it hard and get it out and get it there. And this thing came out of there like a ballistic missile. We had 138 to the flag, and I flew the flag by a good 10 to 12 yards. So I hit a pitching wedge out of the rough with the ball that deep, all the way down, and I flew it 150 yards in the air.
I had a similar lie at the next one. My caddie says I you should hit a lob wedge, I hit it 160. So I bogeyed that one.
Then on 16, this morning, I had a horrible lie in the rough. Just tapped it out, short of the green. That was my 9-wood.

Q. 3-wood off the tee?
DANIEL CHOPRA: Yes.

Q. And had about 85 yards and hit a little gap wedge, three-quarter one, and left it 8 feet short. And pulled that right in the middle. That was a good one. Because I kind of got mixed about it. I said no matter what I'm going to have some kind of putt on 18 for something. That's all I wanted this morning was to get on 18 and have some kind of chance.
DOUG MILNE: Daniel Chopra, congratulations. Thank you for your time.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
DANIEL CHOPRA: It was unbelievable, for a first year event with no experience under your belts to know what, you know, it was flawless. It was fantastic.
They took such fantastic care of us. And went out of our way to make us feel at home and special. I'm sure there's going to be a great event in years to come once word gets around how well we get looked after.
I'm sure those golf courses we'll play next year up in Hammock Beach and then the Bahamas after that will get a hell of a lot of people to come out and play.
DOUG MILNE: Thank you, Daniel.

End of FastScripts

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