Golf: For Perks, life will never be the same

Yesterday's performance by Craig Perks, who prides himself on never giving up, would have been beyond the imagination of Hollywood scriptwriters.

On a day the movie world saluted its stars in Hollywood, New Zealand's Craig Perks collected a golfing Oscar of his own with an extraordinary win on the other side of the United States.

The unassuming Perks pocketed the small matter of US$1.08 million ($2.47 million) for winning The Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida in dramatic fashion.

Previously a bit-part actor on golf's biggest stage in North America, the Palmerston North 35-year-old won for the first time in 67 starts on the US PGA Tour. He chose the richest tournament on the circuit to deliver a career-defining, and most probably life-changing, performance.

It was the most significant triumph by a New Zealander since Bob Charles won this country's only major title, the 1963 British Open.

Victory in the US$6 million ($13.7 million) Players Championship, considered by many as the sport's "unofficial" fifth major, rewarded Perks in much more than financial terms alone.

It gave him a five-year exemption on the US Tour, the final invitation to the Masters next month, and entry into the other three major championships this year - the British Open, the US Open and the PGA Championship.

The prizemoney moved Perks to second on the American moneywinners' list with US$1,347,614 ($3 million), narrowly behind world No 1 Tiger Woods.

"It's a great start to my career," Perks said later, only half-jokingly.

"I hope this is not my defining moment. I hope I can build on this," said the golfer who endured seven visits to the Tour qualifying school before breaking into the elite ranks for the 2000 season.

The manner of his success at Sawgrass could not have been scripted in Hollywood by the most imaginative of writers.

There was drama, near-calamity, miraculous recoveries ... before the good guy eventually won.

Starting the final round one shot behind American Carl Paulson, who later drifted back to the pack, Perks was overtaken by Trinidadian Stephen Ames, who carded a five-under 67 to enter the clubhouse on six-under.

The New Zealander endured a wild, rollercoaster ride in which he found just four of 14 fairways in a round that contained seven bogeys, a crucial eagle-three on the 16th, five birdies and just five pars. It had to rank as one of the most eventful even-par 72s in history.

The eagle at 16 swung matters his way when a chip-in from greenside rough eradicated a nasty bogey on the previous hole, when he missed an easy putt for par.

It allowed him to edge ahead of Ames by one shot before more magic followed on the treacherous par-three 17th, when he safely found the heart of the island green before calmly slotting home a 7.6m putt which gave him a two-shot cushion.

Needing only to bogey the last for his maiden Tour win, Perks drove into a stand of trees to the right, chipped out after agonising over his options, and his third ended up just off the fringe in the rough at the back of the green.

He chipped in again for the second time in three holes, saluted the crowd, hung his head in wonder, gave a fair impression of a Woods' fist pump and then hugged his caddie before doing the same with his wife Maureen.

Perks joked that it was "the easiest 72 I've ever shot in my life."

"No. I just hung in there and hung in there. This golf course was playing unbelievably today.

"But I pride myself that I never give up. I think that showed today.

"I drove it all over the course and I missed putts that I didn't think I could ever miss.

"It was playing so tough and it showed on the scoreboard. I felt if I could just hang in there you never know what could happen. I never dreamed that I'd finish three, two, four the way I did, and it obviously worked."

Earlier, New Zealand's Michael Campbell also shot an even-par 72 to finish two-under in a tie for 11th and a cheque for NZ$300,000.

Campbell, who was second in last week's Bay Hill Invitational behind Woods, spoiled his round by shooting a double-bogey on the 17th hole when his tee shot found the water.

Defending champion Woods carded a 74 to finish one-under.

- NZPA