Ginn sur Mer Classic round four: 'Time out' is Chopra's big break

Considering its size and geographical position, Sweden seems to produce more than its fair share of top flight golfers. But then who would have once imagined it would hand us one of the world’s greatest tennis players? I know those that show talent often gravitate to the welcoming warmth of America, but plenty of Brits have done the same and I don’t see a single home country flag on this year’s Tour roll of honour. Sweden have Henrik Stenson and now Daniel Chopra.

Chopra won despite wayward driving: he was barely able to make half his fairways. Even Shigeki Maruyama and Fredrik Jacobson were only able to hit seven out of ten. Distance in the end seemed to hold the upper hand on soggy turf where the ball didn’t roll - Chopra was seventh for distance off the tee. Combined with solid shotmaking and some fancy putting, it was enough to ease his worries for a couple of years. But Chopra’s biggest break was Sunday evening’s “time out", because it enabled him to draw breath and regroup from Sunday’s disaster roll.

His fellow countryman Jacobson is probably the most disappointed. Neither he nor Maruyama could get going from Monday’s cold start to produce the birdie that would have forced a playoff - it never looked as if they would. But in Jacobson’s case this is year number four without a win for someone who showed considerable promise when he set out on the PGA Tour road.

Maruyama told us he never really imagined making the top 125 in the money list; he would have been quite content with top 150, having decided he’s too old at 38 to do Q-school. Now he is a comfortable 103rd having banked 50k short of a million dollars. Considering the summer knee problem and the fact that he has to ice his back every day to keep playing, and you can understand if he thinks himself fortunate.

PS: One thing I didn’t see picked up on much was Chopra’s suggestion at the weekend of mounting locker room unrest over the Fall Series. He says the FedEx Cup has hung subsequent events and their sponsors out to dry and virtually killed off a number of historic events.

“The fall finish, no matter how you spin it, it’s not exciting. It doesn’t feel good for the sponsors, and $5m or $4.5m they’re putting out for this week is a lot of money. … (equivalent to) 11 Nationwide Tour events or 10 Nationwide Tour events. So I think the Tour needs to look after those guys a little bit better.”

There is also resentment at the increasing tendency to limited field events. “I think it’s dangerous to see the game, the Tour going in this direction.”

His suggestion: a split season in which the battle for FedEx Cup points begins immediately after the Tour Championship. But I’m not sure that would achieve much, because the top players he wants to see at these events should still easily be able to make the FedEx Cup grade in the regular season.

It’s always going to be difficult to sell competitive golf at this time of year. The only thing I can think of to give it bite is to merge it with Q-school in some way to produce a knockout qualifying competition along similar lines of the FedEx Cup.