2008 PGA Tour

[Kumar]

With another -2 round, VJ is at -4 (9th position) and 3 strokes off the lead

[PKBasu]

No heroics from Vijay today. He is even par after 13 holes, and sits on T9 -- a full 11 shots behind Anthony Kim, who has almost certainly secured the title, sitting 6 shots clear of the next best golfer in the tournament so far!

[ajay]

Dan is having a good second day as he is -2 and T10 after 12 holes. Dan birdied the 2nd and 10th holes, same holes that he birdies in 1st round too, but unlike 1st round where he evened out with 2 bogeys, he is bogey free in 2nd. The leader Kenny Perry is at -7 followed by Garcia at -6. Go Dan!

Update: I spoke to soon as Dan is on his way to a bogey on par 3 13th until he sinks the ball from 37 ft.
Play by Play for the Par 3, 181 yards 13th Hole X
Shot 1 154 yds to right rough, 60 ft to hole
Shot 2 96 ft to green, 37 ft to hole

[jaydeep]

Then Daniel scored double bogey on par-4 15th hole ..

On par-5 hole 16 Daniel managed birdie to finished another PAR round ... This time its lifted him to T16 in standing with even score.

[jaydeep]

6 over in last round finished Daniel's hope of finishing inside top 10 ..

At THE PLAYERS Championship,

T42 Daniel Chopra 72 72 73 78 +7  $ 29,830.00

[ajay]

After a long time, Daniel Chopra had a great round as he finished just one stroke behind the leaders on first day in the Buick Open. Dan is T4 with a -7 round, just behind the trio of Corey Pavin, Bo Van Pelt and Dudley Hart. That's a great show, which inclded 8. Now let us see if he can build on this great start or not. Best of luck Dan!

[ajay]

Shiv Kapur was awesome today on the European tour (Check the European tour thread), and onthe PGA tour, Daniel kept up the tempo from yesterday as he shot a round of 5 underpar today. However, Bo Van Pelt, the first round leader who lead by a stroke over Dan yesterday , shot another round one stroke better than Dan. So BoVan Pelt with scores of 64 66 has the club hous lead at -14, while Dan with scores of 65 67 (-12 ) is in the tied second position along with another overnight leader Dudley Hart.

We need to watch what the third overnight leader Corey Pavin do in the afternoon who is yet to play. Plus there may be one or two more players who may come close to Dan by the en of  the day.

Update: Corey Pavin was off color today as he palyed over par.  Only one player from the afternoon session, Woody Austin has emerged as a challenger when he reeled off 4 birdies and an eagle in a row on 12th to 16th holes (3rd to 7th) to go 6 under and tie with Dan and Dudley Hart at -12. But after that he also cooled off and he did not make any more birdie, instead, he made a bogey on his last hole. So the top 6 players playing in the last three groups in the 3rd round are:

-14 BoVan Pelt
-12 Daniel Chopra, Dudley Hart
-11 Woody Austin
-10 Fredrik Jacobson, Bubba Watson

It would be interesting how Dan do tomorrow. Go Dan!

[ajay]

Dan is about to start his round. He is playing  the final group. Somehow I feel it should be a good day for him. C'mon Dan!

[ajay]

Daniel Chopra has taken two strokes lead as he goes to -15 after 10 holes 

Great job Dan so far keep it up!

Update: Dan is still -3 for the day and one stroke ahead of Bubba Watsaon and Dudley Hart. He missed few birdie holes and he should get a birdie soon to distance himself from the others. Go Dan!

[ajay]

Daniel missed a birdie chance on the easiest par 5 hole because of way ward 2nd shot. Hart got his birdie and now tied with Daniel for the share of the lead. Two holes to go for the day.

[ajay]

Finally, Daniel makes one more birdie on the toughest par 4 18th hole. While Hart made a bogey. That's a two stroke swing and Daniel ends the day with two stroke lead. Great day as he started one back and after just one mistake on the first hole, he made 5 birdies and finished with a 4 under round that took him -16.

Tomorrow will be a very important day for Daniel. He needs one more solid round to win this and more or less seal Ryder Cup spot. Go Daniel!!! You can do it!

[ajay]

Here is a PGA report on Dan's third round.

Plus check out the vedio about Dan's comment on the 3rd day.

GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) -- Daniel Chopra took advantage of an opportunity to build a cushion in the Buick Open.

Chopra birdied the last hole Saturday after Dudley Hart bogeyed it, giving the Swede a two-shot lead with one round left at Warwick Hills

Chopra made a 15-foot putt to close the third round at 4 under and reach 16 under 200. Hart (70), Bubba Watson (68) and Woody Austin (69) were tied for second.

Second-round leader Bo Van Pelt (73) was another shot back along with Kenny Perry (67), the highest-ranked player in the field.

Chopra was alone atop the leaderboard for the first time at the ninth hole when Hart had his first bogey of the tournament.

Hart pulled back into a tie with Chopra with a birdie at 16, where he got off to a good start with a 308-yard drive in the middle of the fairway. An errant drive set up trouble at 18, though, and he would've had to make a 31-foot putt just to stay within a stroke.

Van Pelt closed the front nine at 3 over after going from one sand trap to another to card a double bogey at the ninth hole. He got back into contention with two birdies in a four-hole stretch, pulling within two shots.

Chopra won the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, but has failed to crack the top 30 in any tournament since.

Hart has won twice on the PGA TOUR, with the last victory coming in 2000 at The Honda Classic. His highlight this year was in February, when he had a third-place finish at Pebble Beach.

He missed the last seven months of the 2007 season after a softball-sized tumor was discovered in his wife's lung. She had the tumor and two-thirds of her lung removed last May, but it turned out to be a benign mass. He returned to the TOUR this year under a family medical exemption and has already made enough money to regain his card.

Chopra was wild off the tee -- hitting just three of 14 fairways -- but recovered well enough to hit 13 of 18 greens.

When he didn't stick an approach, such as at No. 4 -- when his approach rolled off the green and under a camping chair -- his touch with a wedge was sharp enough to help him scramble for par.

The sixth hole seemed to be a pivotal hole for the final threesome of Chopra, Hart and Van Pelt.

Hart chipped in from 60 feet for birdie to take the lead at 14 under, then Chopra's 15-foot birdie putt kept him within a stroke before Van Pelt blew a chance to regain a share of the lead by pulling a 5-footer.

[BSharma]

Best of luck, Dan.  A title on Sunday will be so sweet.

[suresh]

Good luck Dan.

[PKBasu]

Excellent stuff from Daniel Chopra! Congratulations!!!

Daniel has had a quiet year after a blazing start at the Mercedes championship (which followed a blazing end to last year, with his first PGA tour title). Great to see him back to prime form now. With Tiger not around for the next few majors, there is a golden opportunity for Daniel and Jeev to try and win a major. And on recent form, that looks a distinct possibility...