Round 4 Notes – Mercedes-Benz Championship
Final-Round Notes – Sunday, January 6, 2008Weather: Mostly sunny skies turning partly cloudy with a high temperature of 81 degrees. Winds E at 10-20 mph.
Daniel Chopra’s victory today gives him 4,500 FedExCup points and pushes him into first place on the 2008 FedExCup points list. Steve Stricker earned 2,700 points this week and in turn finds himself in second place on the season-long points list. Stephen Ames (3rd) and Mike Weir (4th) collect 1,700 and 1,200 points, respectively.
Today’s playoff marked the 12th in Mercedes-Benz Championship history and the fourth since the event moved to Kapalua in 1999. The four-hole playoff is the longest in tournament history.
Daniel Chopra’s win today marks the 218th PGA TOUR win by a Nationwide Tour alumnus.
The Plantation Course at Kapalua likely set up perfectly for Chopra after finishing 189th on the 2007 PGA TOUR in Driving Accuracy. The Plantation Course was the fourth easiest course in terms of Driving Accuracy on the TOUR in 2007 with an average of 76.39 percent of the fairways being hit for the week.
Chopra becomes the seventh consecutive foreign-born winner of the Mercedes-Benz Championship: 2007, Vijay Singh; 2004-2006, Stuart Appleby; 2003, Ernie Els; 2002, Sergio Garcia.
Stricker was even par for the tournament through his first 31 holes before playing the remaining 41 in 18-under par.
After recording only three top-10 finishes from the start of 2002 to the end of 2005, Stricker has now notched 17 top-10s since the start of the 2006 season.
Ernie Els (2003) is the only player to successfully capture titles at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open in the same year to open the PGA TOUR season. Back-to-back Hawaii wins for Chopra would result in 9,000 FedExCup points and at least a 3,600-point lead.
Four first-time participants finished among the top-10 this week: Daniel Chopra (3), Hunter Mahan (T5), Nick Watney (T5), and Brandt Snedeker (T10).
Jim Furyk’s T5 finish gives him his sixth top-10 finish at the Mercedes-Benz Championship since the event moved to Kapalua in 1999. He is tied with Tiger Woods for second on that list, two shy of Vijay Singh, who has eight.
Winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship has traditionally sparked an outstanding season -- the last 16 winners at the Mercedes-Benz Championship have been eligible for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the fourth and final event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Steve Stricker’s and Hunter Mahan’s final-round 64 is one-shot off the low final round score at the Mercedes-Benz Championship since the event moved to Kapalua. Jonathan Byrd set the low with a final-round 63 in 2003.
Mahan’s front-nine 30 on Sunday was the low front-nine score for the week, while Stricker’s back-nine 31 was the low for the week on that side.
Beginning with his win at the 2007 Travelers Championship, Mahan has now carded nine rounds of 65 or better in his last 11 starts on the PGA TOUR, four of which have come in the final round.
Defending champion Vijay Singh carded a final-round 70 en route to a T12 finish. Singh has now recorded 30 of his past 36 rounds at Kapalua under par
Bogey-free rounds: Daniel Chopra, Steve Stricker, Stephen Ames, Jim Furyk, Charles Howell III, Justin Leonard, Mark Calcavecchia, Vijay Singh, and Henrik Stenson.
Boo Weekley was the only player this week to record multiple eagles (2). Mark Calcavecchia, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker, and Mike Weir recorded one each.
Eagle Totals at Mercedes-Benz Championship (1999-2008):
Year Total Year Total
1999 3 2004 12
2000 8 2005 11
2001 21 2006 6
2002 20 2007 8
2003 22 2008 7
Scoring Averages:
Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 35.792 36.968 73.645
Friday 34.645 36.000 70.645 72.145
Saturday 35.000 34.742 69.742 71.344
Sunday 34.129 35.579 69.706 70.935
Mercedes-Benz Championship -- Kapalua Plantation Course
Round by Round Scoring Averages
Year Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Cumulative
2008 73.645 70.645 69.742 69.706 70.935 (-2.065)
2007 73.559 73.394 72.848 71.597 72.895 (-.105)
2006 74.036 75.500 75.036 75.000 74.893 (+1.893)
2005 70.387 69.387 69.613 70.286 69.855 (-3.145)
2004 70.600 71.800 69.500 72.867 71.192 (-1.808)
2003 69.361 69.694 69.250 68.333 69.160 (-3.840)
2002 70.313 72.031 73.563 70.031 71.484 (-1.516)
2001 71.576 71.242 69.697 71.121 70.909 (-2.091)
2000 75.033 74.267 71.033 71.767 73.025 (+ .025)
1999 69.633 70.167 71.933 73.000 71.183 (-1.817)
The most difficult hole at Kapalua this week was the par-3 8th, which played to an average of 3.121.
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