Form puts Chopra into Ryder Cup contention

Swede Daniel Chopra’s impressive recent form has thrust him into Ryder Cup contention and elevated him to the ranks of genuine contender on tour.

The 33-year-old has enjoyed the best month of his 16-year professional career, winning his maiden PGA Tour title – the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro – and then beginning the 2008 European Tour season with top-seven finishes in his first two starts.

It is one of the reasons Chopra has rocketed to seventh on the Ryder Cup World Points List and is considered one of the favourites for this week’s 100th anniversary edition of the New Zealand Open.

He was defeated at the fourth extra hole of a play-off by Australia’s Aaron Baddeley at the Mastercard Masters in Melbourne at the weekend and that has made him the man to beat at The Hills Golf Club in Queenstown.

It is a tag which sits uncomfortably with the Swede.

“I don’t even think Tiger (Woods) would admit he’s favourite in a tournament,” said Chopra, who carded a four-under-par 68 in the pre-tournament Pro-Am.

He claimed it was a change to his mental approach, rather than anything technical in his game, which has brought dividends.

“My game was good right through to the middle part of the year. As I look back on it, what I was actually doing wrong was my game felt so good I expected such great things – I expected good results,” Chopra said.

“I started hitting shots that were overly aggressive, missing greens in wrong spots and on holes where you hit the perfect drive in the middle of the fairway and are looking at making birdie, I got overly aggressive with the second shot and wound up making bogey.

“That’s a huge difference. If you make a couple of those every couple of rounds you’re shooting 72, 73 instead of 68s and 67s.”

The appointment of Mitch Knox, a long-time caddie for former world number one David Duval, has also helped.

“He makes you play very conservatively and he doesn’t like you missing greens on the short side,” added the Swede.

“I felt this combination is exactly what I need – someone who can be my disciplinarian.”

He feels the changes in his attitude will undoubtedly help him as he plays in his second New Zealand Open, having finished joint 12th at Gulf Harbour in Auckland last year.

“This course has a lot of strategy involved. You really have to play every single hole and there’s a lot of different ways to do it,” he said.

“My opinion right now is you have to play fairly aggressively off the tee and get it down there as long as you can so have you can have the shortest club possible in order to get some control on the greens.”