As we open the 2008 season at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, we can all hope that all the tournaments are as closely contested and exciting as this week's event in Kapalua. This was a wonderful battle between Daniel Chopra and Steve Stricker.

This was like a classic basketball game, with both players trading scoring shots and with momentum changing throughout the whole day. Early on, Daniel Chopra was on fire, making everything in sight with his putter. For awhile, it certainly looked as if he would pull away from the field and could cruise in for a victory.

But hold that, on the back nine, Steve Stricker came on late, got to the clubhouse first, and forced Chopra to scramble just to get into the playoff. And once they made the playoff, it seemed neither wanted to give an inch. Actually, Chopra gave a few inches, the sum of all the putts on the final few holes that just would not drop.

There were so many great things about watching this battle, from the determination in both players' eyes to some of the great shots both seemed to hit throughout the day. Any one of those shots seemed critical in determining a winner. But one shot stood out to me, maybe because I know it's a shot that most amateurs love to watch but are often too scared to try. In today's A Lesson Learned, I want to talk about the great up-and-down birdie Chopra made on hole no. 12 that at the time, increased his lead to three shots.

After hitting a great drive down the right hand side of the 12th fairway, Daniel's ball rolled into the light rough. With the pin cut on the right hand side of the green, a terrible angle to come in from, and the ball slightly below his feet, Daniel hit the difficult 55-yard shot to tap-in birdie range. Here is how he hit it.

Daniel started this shot with his lob wedge and opened up the face with the ball forward in his stance. With the ball slightly below his feet, he had to get slightly closer to the ball. Due to the lack of length in the shot and lie of the ball, Daniel had to open up his stance well left of the flag. From the cameras and what was heard from his caddy, they were aiming fifteen to twenty feet left of the pin.

Now here is the tough part! With such a short shot and not much green to work with, Daniel needed to generate lots of speed quickly. This required, an early set of his wrists back and through the shot lofting the ball very high and allowing it to stop quickly on the ever increasing speedy greens of Kapalua.

This is a fun shot that all of us love to try and hope to pull off in front of all of our friends, watching them cringe when we make our par.

Chopra's fairway wood on the final playoff hole certainly earned him the victory, and there were at least a half dozen other shots that we witnessed that were critical in his win. But that lob shot, that's the one that any golfer can hit with enough practice and gumption. Try to incorporate some of what Daniel did and hopefully you too will have a few more tap-in birdies or pars, and the awe and admiration of your playing partners.

Craig Renshaw is the PGA Teaching Professional for Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club in New Durham, NH. He spends his winters as the Teaching Professional for Advantage Golf School in Scottsdale, Arizona and Ken McDonald Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona. He is a CHEK Biomechanical Specialist and instructor for Katherine Roberts for her Yoga for Golfers Certification. He can be reached at crenshaw@lwgcnh.com or by phone at (603) 569-3055.