KEY POINTS:
The image remains in the mind; the rangy, slightly self-effacing Kiwi stepping up to lift one of golf's most sought-after trophies.
Four years ago, Craig Perks won the Players Championship in March at the Sawgrass course in Ponte Vedra, Florida. It's not known as the fifth major for
nothing.
He accepted the cup from Tiger Woods no less, and for a brief few days he stood second on the US PGA Tour's Order of Merit behind Woods. That'll do. Big time. Glory days.
Pinch himself? A self-administered belt round the ears more like.
Perks will tee off at Gulf Harbour today for his second round of the New Zealand Open, and if you happen to spy him, mentally tip your hat to a bloke whose gone through an experience few sportsmen have known and none would want.
For the 39-year-old remains that pleasant, open bloke still swinging away when he had every right to jack it all in and head for the hills.
The broad outline of the story is well known.
At the end of 2002, Palmerston North-born Perks sat 36th on the Order of Merit. He had the next best thing to a major title on his mantelpiece in Louisiana. He'd pocketed way over US$1 million. Life looked good.
Then Perks made a big mistake. It would have been so simple. Just box on as he had been and he would have most likely been there or thereabouts often enough to keep decent cheques rolling in.
"But I looked at the stats and was next to bottom in ball striking," he said this week. "So instead of saying, 'Look how good I played with poor ball striking', I said, 'I've got to play better so I've got to improve my ball striking'."
He took his swing apart. He admits he didn't listen to those who said don't change a thing.
"We're always thinking we've got to get better. I'd come from a small town in New Zealand, I was the 200th ranked player in the world, won one of the biggest events in the world.
"I didn't have to change anything. I was there. If I'd just maintained that I'd have been a lot better off."
Perks tried to overhaul the whole swing at once, scrap it and start again "instead of just seeing what I did well and keeping those the same. Looking back, I know I went about it the wrong way."
He dropped into a spiral which, taking in the latter part of last year and this season, at one point produced 19 straight missed cuts. Packing his bags on Friday nights became a habit.
Perks made one cut this year, at New Orleans in April. He trimmed the course with a second round 66. Maybe ... and followed with an 80 the next day and there was no maybe about it.
He won just US$11,880 this year, finished 254th.
When he felt he needed a break, he returned to New Zealand with his wife, Lafayette-born Maureen, and their children Meghan and Nigel. They toured the South Island with the family in the middle of the year.
His thought was to return straight back to the Tour "but when I started practising it was as bad as it had ever been". He took more time to try and find the elusive ingredient which would make the ball fly where he wanted.
"The most frustrating thing was to get up and bust your butt every day and get nothing out of it. The range of emotions was incredible and it wore on me after a while."
Then came Mississippi and the Southern Farm Bureau Classic at the start of October.
"I took pride in the fact I never withdrew from a Tour event. You see guys who play poorly and pack it in [after the first round].
"But after making 85 in Mississippi I couldn't do it any more. I didn't see the point. If I shot another one I may never play again. That was pretty much rock bottom."
Coming back to New Zealand has been positive. It's taken him into a different environment and rather than be sitting around trying to figure out what to do, he's playing an event he hasn't for several years, has Maureen caddying this week, quipping that "15 years of marriage go on the line this week" and the smile is intact.
So what shape is his game in now? "It's getting better, but it's still not very good. More than anything it's lacking a lot of confidence. I've hit so many poor shots for so long now. I have to fight myself not to expect to hit those shots."
He's working on clearing his mind, "getting rid of all the garbage", thinking about where he wants the ball to go, not fearing where it might end up.
Ian Baker Finch and David Duval are the biggest names to have gone through golfing hell. Baker Finch didn't get out of his hole; Duval is battling.
Perks remains insistent he can get back to the stage where he'll compete with the best.
"I'm not trying to set expectations. I just want to go out and hit it one shot at a time, one hole at a time.
"I still feel deep down, even though I've struggled for so long, when I play well I can compete with anybody.
"It's a matter of gaining confidence, putting myself under pressure, hitting some good shots, then I'll be on my way."
Perks has one year left of his exemption for winning the Players Championship. He will be New Zealand's only presence for most of the Tour, with Phil Tataurangi, Michael Long and Grant Waite having failed to retain their cards and Michael Campbell primarily operating out of Europe.
You want Perks to succeed. No one should relish seeing a good man down.
He appeals as a bloke not in search of sympathy. Golf has dealt him tough blows, but he has his health, his family and no matter what lies ahead, he'll always have one thing no one can take away.
* Perks' first shot yesterday swerved out of bounds. He did not recover, carding a 13-over 84.
