JAKARTA, March 20 - Daniel Chopra, a two-time winner on the U.S. PGA Tour, returns to his roots next week when he competes in the U.S. $1 million Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia PGA Championship at Emeralda Golf Club.
He is one of a host of big name players competing in the tournament along with Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, Thaworn Wiratchant from Thailand, Englishman Simon Dyson, Japan’s Shingo Katayama and Kim Kyung-tae from Korea.
The OneAsia event tees-off from March 28 to 31 and is fully joint sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour Organisation for the first time as part of a blossoming relationship between the two major regional circuits.
Much interest will focus on Chopra who has claimed 14 international titles and grew up playing tournaments in Indonesia between the age of 14 and 21. He normally spent a month each season in the country over a seven year period, from 1989 to 1995, as his coach was based there.
He played his golf at Pondok Indah Golf Club and actually finished second in the Indonesia Open at Jagorawi Golf & Country Club in 1995 -- which was the last time he visited Jakarta.
“It will really be a sentimental trip for me. I have so many great memories of playing golf in Indonesia and of course I played there at a time when I just turned professional in 1992,” said Chopra.
“I remember loving the golf courses and the food. I played many great courses but never Emeralda. I am really looking forward to playing Emeralda, especially as the course was designed by Arnold Palmer. He is a good friend of mine and my first win on the U.S. PGA Tour was on a Palmer course.”
His first victory on the US PGA Tour came in the Ginn sur Mer Classic in 2007 and the following season he claimed the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii.
“I have been putting some good results together recently and I am looking forward to a good season. The Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia PGA Championship is definitely on my radar,” added Chopra, who lives in Orlando, Florida.
In addition, he has triumphed in three Nationwide Tour events -- the most recent being in the 2011 Fresh Express Classic.
Chopra has also won three events in Europe, and six tournaments in Asia (two each in India, Malaysia, and Taiwan).
The talented golfer was born in Sweden but moved to Delhi when he was seven where he was raised by his grandparents.
The young Chopra, whose mother is Swedish and father Indian, excelled at golf and won the All India Junior championships three times.
His early golfing years saw him travel much of Southeast Asia and as well as Indonesia he also trained and played tournaments in Malaysia.
Next week will mark his first appearance on OneAsia.
Also competing are defending champion Andre Stolz from Australia and Indonesian number one Rory Hie, who came second to Stolz when the event was last played in 2011.
The Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia PGA Championship is the second event of the season on OneAsia.
Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng claimed the season-opening U.S. $1 million Thailand Open last week, to become only the third Thai to win the title in the 44 year history of the event.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment