by Shona A Singh

20th Nov 2005

Daniel Chopra travels the world with a Swedish passport but he will always be an Indian for our golfing fraternity. And last week he showed that his heart is in the right place, becoming the first professional golfer to make a personal donation when he pledged US$10,000 for the earthquake victims of Kashmir. As he added, he had a personal connection with Kashmir and just felt that he had to do something. Though Daniel started playing at the Delhi Golf Course when he was just eight-years-old, later that year he visited Kashmir and the only other person to give him a lesson apart from his uncle Parveen - who taught Daniel how to hold a club and remains one of his biggest supporters to this day - was Ghulam Mohammad, the best golfer to emrge from this region.

The idea to raise money for the earthquake relief started with just that - an idea. Neeraj Sareen and Faisal Qureshi of Sports Mantra decided to e-mail top golfers around the world to try and raise funds through an auction. And they were shocked when almost all the players they contacted wrote back. The result - Arnold Palmer sent a signed picture as well as a book written by him in 1954, a signed cap and picture from Greg Norman, Nick Faldo also sent a picture and a signed draw sheet from the 2004 Masters, Ernie Els committed to a signed tee-shirt, six golf balls with Seve Ballesteros’ signature, a signed picture and cap from Annika Sorenstam, a glove, cap and ball from Miguel Jiminez, two passes to the 2006 Ryder Cup curtsey the European Tour while IMG has offered a flag from the 2005 British open signed by numerous players including Mike Weir, Micheal Campbell, Ben Curtis, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia which will all be put up for auction. Meanwhile, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Bernhard Langer are amongst those who have promised to send something as well. They also informed Sports Mantra how much each item should go for and this will be done at the annual India-Pakistan Dil Se tournament which will be held at the Royal Palms Golf Course in Lahore.

Meanwhile, Daniel read about the coverage this memorabilia received in the paper and contacted Faisal to pledge US$10,000. He just wanted to help, “with an amount that would actually make a difference, not just a token amount.” It was a great boost for the management, as Faisal later informed that they had hoped to collect as much from the entire auction.

An ideal sportsman, Daniel does not hesitate to give credit where it is due nor is he afraid to speak up for what he believes in - not surprisingly, today he stands out from amongst the crowd. The Delhi Golf Course is home to him and still ranks right up there amongst his favorite courses. He currently plays some of the best courses on the PGA Tour, but says that “not one golf course looks like this one,” with its meandering fairways and lush greens surrounded by thick bushes overlooked by the ancient tomb that give it a historical edge.

Daniel is as Indian as any other professional golfer from the region. He spent as many as hours hitting balls on the eighth fairway, studied in Delhi, started his career on the Indian Tour like all of them after which he graduated to the Asian Tour and just loves Indian food. Needless to say, his achievements make us as proud as Arjun Atwal’s, his compatriot and buddy on the PGA Tour.

And just to clarify the tiny matter which always has golf enthusiasts and journalists in a tizzy - the son of an Indian father and Swedish mother, Daniel switched to a Swedish passport as it was easier to travel with while he was playing the European Tour. As Indians like Jeev Milkha Singh, who also played the European Tour for two seasons will confirm, it is financially and physically depleting to continuously fly back to London or Delhi for visas while playing in Europe.

So while the world ponders on his nationality - he speaks Swedish to the Swedish players, Hindi with the Indians and English with the others - every Indian golfer watches his achievements with pride and hopes that he too can some day hold his own and truly be a citizen of the world, like Daniel. Being able to contribute towards the relief work has made Daniel happy and he hopes that it will start a trend from the sports region as there are so many people in the limelight who can help.