At the cusp of Victory- Vikrant Chopra
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Transcript of At the cusp of Victory- Vikrant Chopra
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8/17/2019 At the cusp of Victory- Vikrant Chopra
1/1
6 2 G o l f P l u s MAY 2 0 1 6
CLUB NEWS
We live in an age that eulogizes victors andbe it the life or sport, the runner’s up hardly
ever gets a mention. Winning in Professional
Sport is tough and more so in Golf. In mostother sports the odds of winning or losing
a match are the same, be it Football, Cricket,Badminton, Tennis or Hockey. In Golf however,
the odds for any player to win are ratherlopsided in favor of not doing so, each player
has less than 1 % (approximately 0.7%) chance
of winning a tournament (due to the numberof participants).
Often, the top five players in a tournament aretightly bunched together till the end, and the
difference between the winner and the rest can
be as little as a small missed putt or a fleetinglapse in concentration. In a game of slim
margins caution might will be the anathemafor a victor, as highest glory often goes to those
who can risk it all and go for broke!Getting the short end of the stickA player well too aware of the perils of being
consistently good is Vikrant Chopra. Still
yearning for his maiden victory this much-vaunted talent from ONGC has often found
himself at the wrong side of the bargainingtable. He is arguably the best player in India
with an active winless streak, not for the want
of effort though!
Currently ranked top five in the country, with
six runners up finishes and more than twentytop five finishes on the PGTI Tour since 2007,
Vikrant has been the perennial bridesmaidfor rather long and his eerie record of runner
up finishes has often drawn comparisons
to Sergio Garcia’s similar run at the MajorChampionships.
Flying under the radar!Chopper, as he is fondly called by his mates is
probably one of the most prolific iron players
on the PGTI Tour, strengthened by meticulouspractice sessions under the watchful eyes of
Coach Ajay Gupta; his iron play can rival that ofthe best in Asia.
His accuracy is devastating and he is one of
the few Indian players that can bring a Golfcourse to its knees, despite possessing an
average short game. Testament to such abilityare some of his low rounds on the PGTI (he has
shot rounds of up to 8 under par at challenging
courses such as Jaypee ,KGA and the tricky
Eagleton Golf Course).A solid player no doubt, Vikrant has tastedsuccess since the early parts of his career,
first ascending to the top of the Amateur
rankings and subsequently representing Indiaat prestigious international events; including
the Eisenhower World Cup. A late bloomer, hepicked up the game in College and only turned
professional at the age of twenty five.
A team player, he has often stated his wishto see more team format tournaments, little
wonder that he has been a key member of thewinning squad that won the Prestigious Louie
Philippe Cup on two occasions!
Adrenaline runs in his blood!Vikrant’s younger brother Vishal is an officer
from the Indian Army’s elite Para SpecialForces (having also served with the NSG)
and an instructor for the Indian Army SkyDiving Team. Little wonder that Vikrant has
taken a leaf from his younger brother’s book
and has cultivated a similar passion forextreme sport.
A Shooter, Sports Bike racer, Rock Climber and aSky Diver his passion for the daring is vast but,
from all his interests Sky Diving seems to be a
clear favorite. Fellow golfers and good friendsVikrant, Jyoti Randhawa and Digvijay Singh
can often be spotted jumping from a plane,helicopter or bridge.
The trio has done close to ten solo jumps
together! “I treat adventure sports as training
for Golf, each time I jump out of a plane Iam taking a calculated risk, and with each
jump I improve my ability of handling stress
and pressure, an ability that helps me on the
course”.
The Best is yet to comeAt thirty six, he is now arguably at the peak ofhis career and seems to have finally produced
performances worthy of his talent. If recent
performances are anything to go by, then itis just a matter of time before he scales the
same heights as his illustrious jumping mates-Digvijay Singh and Jyoti Randhawa.
At the cusp of victory- Vikrant Chopra!by Shaurya Singh