Former PLAYERS Championship winner Perks retires  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand golfer Craig Perks, whose only PGA TOUR win was the 2002 PLAYERS Championship, is quitting the TOUR after a lengthy slump. "I played as hard as I could for as long as I could and it wasn't working," Perks, 40, told the Manawatu Standard newspaper in his home town of Palmerston North. He played on the PGA TOUR for eight years but has made only one cut in two years. "I have no feeling at all, no regrets," he added. "When you give it all for so long and you aren't competitive, it wasn't a hard decision." Perks' PLAYERS Championship win -- one of the most spectacular in the tournament's 34-year history -- earned him a five-year exemption which ended this year. Trailing by one shot, Perks chipped in for eagle from 20 feet on the 16th hole. On the par-3 17th, Perks holed a 30-foot birdie putt. On the 18th, he chipped in for par from 30 feet behind the green. Perks will work for a golf company's performance institute near his U.S. home in Lafayette, La. He hopes to develop a new golf fitness program which will use high-tech video to assess players' physical strengths and weaknesses. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
