Daniel

Chopra

The Englishman made a big move in round three at the Memorial last week. He went from T63 to T23 with a third-round 69 that bettered the field scoring average by 4.5 shots. He closed his week with a day-four 73 to settle for 26th place. Now, he will opt for rest instead of battling another potential stop-and-start event due to an ugly forecast in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Willett is not in the field for next week’s U.S. Open so the earliest we’d see him would be two weeks at the Travelers Championship (or BMW International Open if he’s looking to balance out his starts across the globe).

Visacki fired a 5-under 67 on Monday and then punched his way through a 4-for-2 playoff to earn his seat this week at the Valspar. From there, his post-round phone call to his father ended up going viral. His emotion was spilling out as he broke the news to his dad. The 27-year-old Central Florida product has more than 30 wins on the mini-tours and will finally get to test his skills on the grandest stage. He won’t be on any fantasy radars this week but it would be a real feel-good story if he kept this momentum rolling and played his way to a payday at Innisbrook Resort. Others to qualify on Monday were Jordan Hahn (66), Brad Adamonis (66), and Daniel Chopra (67).

He could be a nice low-salary pick at the season’s last major.

He has a two-shot lead over Vijay Singh, while big names like Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink are within striking distance. Chopra’s looking for his second straight top-10 finish after a tie for ninth at the Booz Allen a couple weeks ago. More importantly, the Swede is looking for his first PGA Tour win.

This wasn’t your usual round of golf. Chopra buried eight birdies and carded just one bogey, but he built a snowman on the par-5 11th hole, and the doubled the par-4 16th. Included in the highlights were birdies measuring 16'0"-16'10" at the first, fifth and ninth holes.

For the season, the Swede hasn’t posted a single round in the 60s. His last made cut on the PGA TOUR was in this event last year, as he posted a tie for 47th coming in at 2-over-par. Chopra ranks 184th in GIR, 188th in driving accuracy, 187th in ball striking and 188th in scrambling. Needless to say, nothing is going right for him this year.

No, that’s not a misprint, and it’s not 2007. Indeed, the Swede, who didn’t cash in his first seven starts on the PGA TOUR this year, posted his first round in the 60s on the circuit since October 2010. Chopra has documented success at TPC Louisiana, going 5-for-5 with three top 20s. Today he hit 14 greens and needed only 26 putts. He circled six birdies, three of which measuring over 10 feet. His longest conversion disappeared from 12'2" at the 10th hole.

The Swede has made just two cuts in 10 tries for a total of $56,018. If there is a reason for optimism, it’s that both of his paydays have come in his last three starts. His struggles can be defined by his 182nd ranking in GIR. However, if he could find a solid week with the irons at the TPC River Highlands his Strokes Gained-Putting ranking of fourth could lead to some low numbers.

Chopra has made a paltry three of 17 cuts this season, with a T27 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic the best. He will step onto the first tee at TPC Summerlin having missed his last two cuts leading into the week, and having missed the cut in his last trip to Las Vegas in 2010. He has quite the mountain to climb if he hopes to avoid a trip to the second stage of Q School in a few weeks, as he must finish in the 126 to 150 range on the money list to be exempt to the final stage. He currently ranks 211th.