Golf: Extended break for floundering Perks

New Zealand golfer Craig Perks is to take an extended break from the PGA Tour in the United States in a bid to save his floundering career.

Perks has wiped two upcoming tournaments from his schedule and lengthened a planned holiday in New Zealand as he comes to grips with a mid-career crisis.

The 2002 Players Championship winner has endured a horror stretch dating back to July last year, which has seen him miss the cut in 22 of 23 tournaments.

His sole collect during that period was a cheque for US$11,880 ($19,345) when finishing 71st in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans one month ago.

Perks, 39, has bettered par only twice in 30 attempts this season, and felt he'd reached a new low last week when failing to qualify for weekend play at The Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I felt that I'd completely lost my game," Perks told NZPA yesterday from his home in Lafayette, Louisiana.

"I felt as if I'd hit rock bottom and it seemed like nothing had happened despite all the hard work I'd put in for years and years and years."

Not for the first time, Perks said he seriously questioned his future in the sport, despite his Players Championship success guaranteeing him exempt status on tour until the end of 2007.

A weekend at home with his wife, Maureen, and two children allowed Perks to put his prolonged slump into some sort of perspective.

After much soul searching, he decided he was not yet ready to give up, although an extended break was needed to freshen up mentally.

He subsequently withdrew this week from the upcoming Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, and Barclays Classic in New York, and informed the family he would take them to New Zealand for a five-week holiday starting in mid-June.

It will be his first visit home since 2000 when he mixed business with pleasure to finish second in the New Zealand Open after losing a playoff to compatriot Michael Campbell at Paraparaumu Beach.

Perks hopes some rest and recreation will enable him to return to the tour in August devoid of the mental baggage his string of failures has weighed him down with over the past 12 months.

"I just want to go out there and compete up to my own capabilities," Perks said.

"I know when I compete up to my level of ability that I perform at a high level and do have a chance to win."

Perks said he last felt good about his game after finishing fourth in The Colonial tournament two years ago.

"There's been a few glimmers since then when I've played well for 36 holes but it has been a full two years since I put four rounds together."

Perks has been a constant on the PGA Tour since 2000 when he graduated to the elite ranks at his seventh attempt via qualifying school.

He performed steadily enough for the first couple of seasons then exploded to prominence by winning the Players Championship, widely regarded as the unofficial fifth major, in March, 2002.

That result propelled him to 34th on the tour moneylist that year with earnings of US$1,632,042 and saw Perks named the New Zealand sportsman of the year.

Times changed, for the worse, after Perks decided to rebuild his swing at the end of 2002 in a bid to compete with more consistency.

The move backfired and he is now once again working with George Kelnhopher, who coached him in the US since he turned professional in 1993 up until 2000.

- NZPA