All those times watching the Mercedes-Benz Championship on television and playing the Plantation Course at Kapalua on a video game could never have prepared Daniel Chopra for his wild playoff victory Sunday.
He twice blew chances to win the tournament on the 18th hole.
He got out of one jam when his chip settled into a sprinkler cup, and he might have avoided another one when Steve Stricker's long putt on the first playoff hole was slowed by hitting Chopra's ball mark. Two birdie putts in the playoff were held up by a blade of grass.
A long, nail-biting start to the PGA TOUR finally ended as the sun dipped below the Pacific's horizon when Chopra two-putted for birdie on the par-5 ninth to beat Stricker in four extra holes.
Chopra, who only qualified for this winners-only tournament with his first PGA Tour victory in the second-to-last event of last year, closed with a 7-under 66 and walked off with a number of prizes.
The Swede earned $1.1 million and a Mercedes-Benz sports car. And his victory earned him his first trip to the Masters.
"I get to go to Augusta, my lifelong dream," Chopra said.
Stricker also had a birdie putt that grazed the lip on the third playoff hole, but on the next hole, he pulled his fairway metal on his approach to the par-5 ninth, chipped 15 feet by the cup and missed the putt that would have sent them to the 18th for a third time.
But it was a valiant comeback for the two-time PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year. Stricker birdied three of his last four holes to close with a 64 and force a playoff.
"Building blocks," Stricker said as his voice started to choke, this time more out of disappointment than raw emotion.
It was the first PGA TOUR playoff for both of them, although Chopra lost in a playoff to Aaron Baddeley in November at the Australian Masters. Momentum shifted on just about every shot, as both players had excellent chances to win.
On the first extra hole on the par-5 18th, Stricker putted from 120 feet away just off the green when his ball hit Chopra's large ball mark and took a big hop, losing so much speed that it stopped nearly 10 feet short of the hole. He missed the birdie putt.
Stricker realized the mark was somewhere around his line, but figured odds were low he would hit it.
Turned out he was wrong.
"It wasn't a coin," he said. "In hindsight, I should have had him mark with a penny. It took a lot of speed off. But you learn from that."
Chopra had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th in regulation to win, but it stopped an inch short. In the playoff, he left his eagle putt some 7 feet short and missed that one to the right, a scene that began to look familiar.
His 25-foot birdie on No. 1, the second playoff hole, looked so good that Chopra raised his putter and began to celebrate, then dropped to his knees and let the putter fall from his hands when the ball stopped on the edge of the cup. The second hole was Stricker's turn to win, and his 15-foot putt just turned away.
Chopra essentially won the tournament with a fairway metal to about 25 feet for eagle, and when that putt again was held up a a blade of Bermuda grass, he must have figured it was not meant for him to win.
"It felt like there was a goalie in the hole," Chopra said.
But it didn't matter when Stricker's chip came out too hot and the birdie putt stayed left of the cup all the way...
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After almost having it won it twice I was really pleased that Chopra held it together to win. He is another golfer I admire and have a lot of time for - congratulations!
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