Sign of Things to Come, or Flash in the Pan?
Daniel Chopra won the Mercedes Championship last night in prime-time, in a playoff over Steve Stricker (who is looking like the mid-ought's version of Vijay Singh). Chopra becomes the latest winner in a stellar list of champions that few tournaments can claim.
Yes, this is partly because the field is open only to those players who won an event in the previous season (Chopra won the Ginn Sur Mer Classic, a post-Fed Ex Cup event, last season) and rarely has more than a field in the low thirties. Naturally, the players that can win tournaments are more likely to be household names. In fact, you have to go back to Mac O' Grady in 1987 before you find a player that wouldn't be recognizable to even the most casual of golf fans.
The 32-year old Swede will hope that in the future, people still look to O'Grady for the first run-of-the mill pro (2 wins, 16 unsuccessful Q-school visits) to win the season opener.
In other golf news, there isn't any other golf news. It's the first week of the season. That didn't stop Jason Sobel from doing the painstaking work of coming up with a Best of 2008 column, however. Hint: Chopra gets the nod for Player of the Year, and Tiger thinks this year's Major Championship courses are a fit for him.
