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MIAMI - Big-hitting Swede Daniel Chopra shrugged off a fitful night's sleep to claim his first victory on the PGA Tour at the rain-hit Ginn sur Mer Classic in Port St Lucie, Florida on Monday.
Feeling more relaxed than he had expected, the 33-year-old covered his last three holes in one under par to edge out compatriot Fredrik Jacobson and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama by a shot.
"Last night I fell asleep just like a baby," Chopra told reporters after becoming the fifth Swede to triumph on the PGA Tour, emulating Gabriel Hjertstedt, Jesper Parnevik, Carl Pettersson and Henrik Stenson.
"I thought I'd have a hard time sleeping. Then from probably 12:30, I was wide awake and until 3:00 in the morning, I was tossing and turning.
"I was wound up pretty tight last night but amazingly this morning I felt much more relaxed. I let it all kind of sink in and put things into perspective."
Tied for the overnight lead with Jacobson and Maruyama at 18 under, Chopra had three holes remaining when play resumed at a sodden Tesoro Club on Monday.
"All night, I was playing those holes over and over in my mind," said the Stockholm native, who joined the PGA Tour in 2004. "Never once did I play them the way I played them today."
Chopra, who had relinquished a four-stroke lead midway through the final round before play was suspended in fading light on Sunday, effectively sealed the title when he birdied his first hole on Monday.
He rolled in a nine-footer at the par-five 16th and then parred 17 and 18 to clinch his breakthrough victory in his 133rd PGA Tour start.
"It is something I've dreamed about for a long time," said the globe-trotting Chopra, who moved to India aged seven to be raised by his grandparents.
"It's not meant to be easy. I just didn't realise it was going to be that tough," he added with a smile.
"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."
Born to a Swedish mother and Indian father, Chopra celebrates both sides of his ancestry.
"I'm equally proud of both," he said. "I consider myself half and half. I feel maybe more Swedish when I'm in Sweden and more Indian when I'm in India.
"I love both cultures and I grew up in India, so maybe my thinking might be a little bit more Indian. But I'm very proud of the fact that I have two great nationalities that follow me and are behind me and support me."
- REUTERS
