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Daniel Chopra

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Daniel Chopra
Chopra at the 2008 U.S. Open
Personal information
Full nameDaniel Samir Chopra
NicknameDanny Chops[1]
Born (1973-12-23) 23 December 1973 (age 50)
Stockholm, Sweden
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight180 lb (82 kg; 13 st)
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceOrlando, Florida
Partner
Samantha
(m. 2000)
Children2
Career
Turned professional1992
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Asian Tour
Asia Golf Circuit
Web.com Tour
Challenge Tour
Swedish Golf Tour
Professional wins14
Highest ranking60 (13 January 2008)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour2
Asian Tour1
Korn Ferry Tour3
Challenge Tour2
Other6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2008
PGA ChampionshipT41: 2006
U.S. OpenT24: 2004
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2005, 2012
Achievements and awards
Asia Golf Circuit
Rookie of the Year
1995

Daniel Samir Chopra (born 23 December 1973) is a Swedish professional golfer.

Early life

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Chopra was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He represents Sweden and his mother was Swedish, but his father was Indian and Daniel moved to India at age seven where he was raised by his grandparents. He won the All-India Junior Golf Championship at age 14.[3][4]

Professional career

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In 1992, Chopra turned professional. From 1996 to 2002 he played intermittently on the European Tour, sometimes failing to retain his tour card, and in 2004 he joined the U.S.-based PGA Tour.

With his victory at the 2004 Henrico County Open on the second tier Nationwide Tour, Chopra shot a new tour record over 72 holes in relation to par, shooting a 30-under-par score of 258. The record stood for 20 years until it was beaten in April 2024 by Chopra's fellow countryman Tim Widing.[5]

In 2007, Chopra won his first PGA Tour event at the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro. Two PGA Tour events later he picked up another win at the season opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. On January 13, 2008, Chopra reached a career best 60th on the Official World Golf Ranking.[6]

After his second PGA Tour win, Chopra's career started to fluctuate between the PGA Tour and second-tier (what was then) Nationwide Tour.

A difficult 2010 season, where he made only eight PGA Tour cuts in 28 events, cost him his Tour Card. He won the Nationwide Tour's Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae in 2011. Chopra regained his PGA Tour card for 2012 after finishing 19th on the money list. He finished 188th on the Tour's money list and went back to the newly renamed Web.com Tour for 2013. He finished 21st on the 2013 Web.com Tour regular season money list to earn his 2014 PGA Tour card. In 2013–14, he made only 2 cuts in 16 events and finished 249th on the FedEx Cup points list and lost his PGA Tour card.

In 2015, with limited status on either the PGA or Web.com Tour, Chopra won the Asian Tour's qualifying school.

Chopra is now a regular part of Fox Sports' golf coverage.

Amateur wins

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  • 1988 All India Junior Championship
  • 1990 All India Junior Championship
  • 1991 All India Junior Championship, Doug Sanders World Junior Championship

Professional wins (14)

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PGA Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 29 Oct 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic −19 (67-66-69-71=273) 1 stroke Sweden Freddie Jacobson, Japan Shigeki Maruyama
2 6 Jan 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship −18 (69-72-67-66=274) Playoff United States Steve Stricker

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship United States Steve Stricker Won with birdie on fourth extra hole

Asian PGA Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 9 Sep 2001 Mercuries Taiwan Masters −4 (71-69-73-71=284) 1 stroke India Vivek Bhandari

Asia Golf Circuit wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 9 Apr 1995 Chinfon Republic of China Open −8 (73-65-70=208)* 1 stroke Taiwan Hsieh Chin-sheng

*Note: The 1995 Chinfon Republic of China Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Nationwide Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 18 Apr 2004 First Tee Arkansas Classic −13 (75-66-68-66=275) 1 stroke United States John Elliott
2 23 May 2004 Henrico County Open −30 (65-63-65-65=258) 4 strokes Australia Nathan Green, United States Franklin Langham
3 17 Apr 2011 Fresh Express Classic −12 (68-69-61=198)* 1 stroke Scotland Russell Knox, United States Luke List

*Note: The 2011 Fresh Express Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to fog.

Challenge Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 24 Jul 1994 Jämtland Open −9 (71-71-68=210) 1 stroke Sweden Mats Hallberg
2 2 Oct 1994 Challenge Chargeurs −16 (68-64-64-72=268) 9 strokes England Stuart Little

Swedish Golf Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 19 Sep 1993 Upsala Golf International −4 (72-69-71=212) 3 strokes Sweden Joakim Nilsson

Other wins (4)

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  • 1993 Johor Baru Open (Malaysia)
  • 1994 Indian Masters, Malaysian PGA Championship, Indian PGA Championship

Playoff record

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European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2007 MasterCard Masters Australia Aaron Baddeley Lost to par on fourth extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open T24 T36
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship T41 CUT CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
The Players Championship T40 CUT T44 T42 T14 CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2008
Match Play R64
Championship T34
Invitational T14

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "PGA coverage prep, Danny Chops' big break, and Romo's rough day". The Fried Egg. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Week 2 2008 Ending 13 Jan 2008" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  3. ^ Bergman, Tobias (May 2004). "Daniel Chopra, Han drömmer om att bli känd" [Daniel Chopra, His dream is to be well-known]. SvensGolf. No. 5/2004. pp. 108–116. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  4. ^ Lerner, Rick (14 December 2008). "Seven Questions With Daniel Chopra". Golf Digest. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  5. ^ Dirlam, Zach (28 April 2024). "Tim Widing wins Veritex Bank Championship, breaks scoring records for back-to-back victories". PGA Tour. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Week 2, Sony Open in Hawaii". Official World Golf Ranking. 13 January 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
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