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KAPALUA, HAWAII (TICKER) -- Daniel Chopra won the Mercedes-Benz Championship in a playoff on Sunday.
Chopra outlasted Steve Stricker with a tap-in birdie on the fourth playoff hole, the par-5 ninth, for his second career PGA Tour win.
Chopra and Stricker both finished at 18-under-par 274. Chopra signed for a 7-under 66 while Stricker shot a sizzling 9-under 64 to earn a spot in the playoff.
Stephen Ames shot 66 to finish third at 17-under and fellow Canadian Mike Weir, who entered the final round with a one-shot lead, finished fourth at 16-under 276 after a 70.
Ranked 130th in the world coming into the event, Chopra picked up $1.1 million and a Mercedes-Benz sports car for the win. His victory also earned the Swede his first trip to the Masters.
"I got a golf course today that was just right up my alley," Chopra said. " This one was just built for me. It was an unbelievable day, really. I felt very comfortable all week, really. I guess the win made me more comfortable."
Chopra could have wrapped up the win on a few occassions before he actually did, but he could not make a birdie at 18 when he really needed one.
He had a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to win, but it stopped just short of the cup. The playoff started back at 18 and Chopra left his eagle putt some almost eight feet short and he burned the edge to the right.
"I was nearly positive I was going to make it," Chopra said. "Those putts, the first one in the playoff, I thought I hit a beauty. I hit the ball to the left. We were positive mine was going to go that way, too. And it just hung up on that high side."
Stricker had not birdied 18 all week but he finally did to close his final round on Sunday and get to 18-under. Now tied for the lead, Chopra made a three-footer for par at 17 and parred 18 to force a playoff.
"This is definitely a good start for the season, a little bittersweet again today where I played a great round and ended up with some opportunities in regulation to make a couple more birdies coming down the stretch, hit good putts, but I can't be disappointed," Stricker said. "It was a great start to the year. I mean, I can be a little disappointed, I guess, because I didn't win. But again, it was a good start."
Ames had seven birdies in a bogey-free round but just missed out on the playoff. He closed with a flourish, birdying three straight starting at 13 and finishing with a birdie at 18.
I'm happy, considering I've had two months off coming into here and haven't had much practice," Ames said. "And the way I've hit it and played, I'm quite content with the way I finished this week."
Weir was also content with his finish on Sunday, but it was his start that did him in. Weir entered the final round with the 54-hole lead for the ninth time in his career but played the front nine in 1-over-par and was unable to ever get back to the top of the leaderboard.
The winner of the 2003 Masters, Weir started his round with a bogey and dropped another shot at No. 4. He carded his first birdie of the day at the par-5 ninth and he added four more on the back nine.
"Obviously hit a bad tee shot on one. Outside of that, I thought I played pretty well, just got nothing out of it," Weir saud. "I thought the three-putt on five hurt. I battled back but it was a tough start.
Weir is now 1-9 in his career with the 54-hole lead but chose to look at the positives.
"I'm not going to beat myself up. I played well, just a bad start. If I could have made some putts, I could have easily still shot 5-, 6-, 7-under maybe and been right there."
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