Daniel Chopra is one of the PGA TOUR's iron men, a player who seldom passes up a chance to stick a peg in the ground and put a ball in the air. It's not just that he enjoys the competition and the fine golf courses that the TOUR visits. He simply has a deep affection for the game.

"On the weeks when I'm not out here, I'd probably play at home, so I figure I'll play as many tournaments as I can," says Chopra, 32, a native of Sweden who is in his third full TOUR season. "Being on the PGA TOUR, it doesn't really get any better than this. It's a dream come true, one a lot of people would love to live, so why would I not try and live it to the fullest?"

Especially when he has shown a penchant for making the most of his chances.

Chopra, who is making his 22nd start of the 2006 season at this week's B.C. Open, is starting to come on strong in recent weeks. He has made the cut in 14 of his 21 starts to date with five top-25 finishes and three in the top, but two of those top-10s have come in the last three weeks. He ended up tied for 10th at the recently completed John Deere Classic and joint ninth at the Booz Allen Classic. In between, he was in contention at the Cialis Western Open before falling off the pace.

He is 63rd on the PGA TOUR money list with $782,542.

"I've been playing quite well, though a bit scrappy at times," says Chopra, who grew up in India after moving there to live with his grandparents at age 7 and is good friends with another TOUR member from India, Arjun Atwal. "It's such a small margin between playing really well and just missing cuts by a shot or two here or there."

Chopra, 108th and 90th in earnings the last two years, led after the first round each of the last two weeks. Earlier this year he played in the final pairing with Tiger Woods at the Ford Championship at Doral (eventually finishing tied for 20th). His best finish this year is a tie for fifth at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and his career best is a tie for fourth at the '04 Deutsche Bank Championship. He has not broken par in the final round since a 69 in the FBR Open in February.

Daniel Chopra finished T10 at the John Deere Classic. (WireImage)

"You always learn. You know, the most important thing is comfort level, being in that situation often enough, eventually you'll be comfortable with it. It's the same with everything, "Chopra said. "For me it's always taken me a little bit longer to get comfortable with my surroundings because I've always been a huge fan of the game, and I guess I put it more on a pedestal than what other players might do, and I maybe make things a bigger deal than what they really should be just because I love the game so much. Growing up in India, you dream of playing on the PGA TOUR and having chances to win events. I guess when you get there and have the opportunity to do it, you maybe overemphasize the importance of it a little bit."

That's not to suggest that Chopra feels out of his element when in the hunt. He owns nine international victories and twice won the Nationwide Tour in 2004 playing a limited schedule while also competing as a PGA TOUR rookie. The second of the two triumphs came at the Henrico Country Open in Glen Allen, Va., when he broke the Tour's 72-hole scoring record by four shots with a 30-under 258 total at The Dominion Club. He became the first player to get to 30 under on a par-72 golf course in a 72-hole professional event.

Interestingly, many of his better events have come when the fields have been populated by the top-ranked players in the world.

"That's one good thing that I was very proud of is a lot of my good events that I've played on the PGA TOUR and my high finishes have come with Tiger, Phil (Mickelson), Vijay (Singh) in the field," Chopra said. "It's actually been kind of nice, a lot of times I'm playing and I'll look on the leaderboard and I'll see Woods, Chopra, Mickelson, and just to see my name on the leaderboard with those guys, I mean, not just in the smaller events when they don't play. I've actually played well when the fields have been strong. So, no, I'm not intimidated."