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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 13, 2006

Daniel Chopra

SILVIS, ILLINOIS

Q. Daniel, continued good play.

DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah. First round leader again so far (laughing). I played the last hole and I wasn't sure if I should hit driver or 3 wood, and I think the smart play was 3 wood, and I made a total hash of it, probably the only fairway I missed all day, in the trees, and a complicated second shot, water and had to keep it low and run it up there, and I managed to two putt from the front of the green.

It would be kind of neat if I could be part of the lead first round again this week in my mind, so let's just see if I can have a bit of a do over from last week.

Q. What did you come out of last weekend with? I know it wasn't the weekend you wanted, but you're still playing well.

DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, you never want to sound like one of those guys that complains about bad breaks, but I really didn't play that poorly on the weekend. I got a lot of really bad bounces and breaks and lies with balls just missing fairways and being literally almost unplayable in the rough and having to hack out. It just felt like it was one of those weekends where I got punished for some of the good play.

In my own head that's kind of how I felt. I never lost any confidence in my game. Over every shot I felt confident I was going to hit a good shot. That's what I take out of it, and the fact that I felt comfortable in the situation I was in, and playing with Vijay on Saturday helped because I know him very well, he's a great guy and I love playing with him, and that helped.

I felt very relaxed. I mean, the most nervous you really would be would be on the 1st tee when you've got a lead. I played that hole beautifully and I was relaxed. I'm not going to take anything negative out of last week because I really don't feel anything bad about it. It's just a shame that I maybe didn't finish higher than I did. But the game is still good.

Q. I know you didn't get any breaks, that's for sure, but you still have to pack up and come down the road, and how good is it to pack up, come down the road and start off as co leader again?

DANIEL CHOPRA: I've always been good at that. I forget about all the bad stuff very quickly. I might feel sorry for myself that evening but then wake up the next morning, big smile on my face and I'm ready to go again always. It really takes something pretty special to keep me down for more than a day.

Q. Talk about Arjun, playing with him.

DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, that was great. We haven't played in a while. Strange in a way because our categories are very similar and we should really have been playing a lot more together this year. Playing with him, he struggled a little bit this year, and he fought very hard today, which is nice to see. When you struggle a little bit that way, sometimes you lose a little bit of the will to fight when things start going badly, but he fought very well today.

It's such a small margin between playing really well and just missing cuts by a shot or two here or there. He's not that far off. I kind of was a little bit rooting for him today but still minding my own business and doing what I was trying to do.

Q. Talk about being off to the start you are and building as you know you want to do.

DANIEL CHOPRA: That's it exactly. We've got the first round in the bag so far. I want to go out now tomorrow and the day after. Each birdie I make is another brick towards building, and I was going to keep laying those bricks and see how high I can go.

Q. What things did you do specifically to deal with the two hour delay?

DANIEL CHOPRA: They had an X Files marathon on the Sci Fi Channel today, so I watched about four straight episodes of the X Files.

Q. Is it a matter of staying cool at this point? You really couldn't get out of the routines that you go through.

DANIEL CHOPRA: No, not really. You have late tee times and you wake up and do stuff and you have things that you do to help keep your mind relaxed and not worry too much about it. I was excited about coming out and playing here on a golf course that I really like. That's why I'm out here this week.

Q. Whatever mojo your amateurs gave you yesterday seemed not to have gone away. You guys seemed to have a really good time with it.

DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, usually you'll play well when the amateurs are enjoying themselves and are relaxed and they're not too hyped up about what's going on, they will tend to play quite well. That's what we did yesterday, and we managed to win the Pro Am.

Q. Anything different in the way you approached the holes today?

DANIEL CHOPRA: No, actually if anything, I was swinging it and driving it a lot better today, and I felt almost superhuman a little bit not superhuman, I felt very strong off the tee today. I was driving it further and straighter than I was yesterday, and I was basically being able to stand up on the tee and being able to take a pretty full wind up and good smack at it. Got myself in positions a lot off the tee.

Q. The best part of your game on this course today was driving?

DANIEL CHOPRA: The best part of my game today was my short game. It was amazing, I went through a stretch where I hit five bunker shots or chip shots that stopped either right on the edge of the hole or just rolled over the edge of the hole and just tap ins. I could have literally chipped in from off the green five times in a row today, which I don't think I've ever done before. My short game, when I did miss today, I was brilliant around the greens, and that's kind of what kept my round going and momentum going.

Q. Your prep this week, did it make you feel coming into today that you could shoot a good score?

DANIEL CHOPRA: Yeah, I've been feeling good for a while. Like I said, it's a golf course that I like, and I feel like if I play well, I can score well on it.

End of FastScripts.

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