Obscure Perks, " Happy Forever..."

`As good as it gets.`

World’s 203rd ranker last year, and 113th on last year’s money list. His past record certainly does not seem suitable for so-called the `5th Major`, Players Championship.

However, Graig Perks (35. New Zealand), to whom `participation itself is honor`, has stood at top to claim, what Tiger Woods (U.S.A.) expressed as, `unbelievable` victory.

The 4th round took place at Stadium course (par 72), Ponte Vedra Beach’s Sawgrass TPC, Florida. Perks was the solo-2nd runner on the previous day, but he hit even-par on the day, which summed up to the final result of 8-under, to outrun 2nd place winner Steven Ames (U.S.A.) by 2 shots.

As of Perks’ victory, this year’s Tour has produced 7 obscure champions, who have never won titles in the past, so far in the season’s 13 tournament.

Former table-tennis player Perks’ victory is not an ordinary one. Firstly, it is his first title in 3 seasons since his debut in the U.S. Tour in 2000. This year’s tournament is the 29th one and all of them have never granted an obscure player its title, but Perks has made a history. Also, he has won a ticket to All Masters, which he only expected to watch on TV at home, and secured Tour entry for 5 years from now. Besides, he earned 1.06 million dollars as the winning prize and recorded his seasonal prizes of 1,347,614 dollars, rising to the 2nd place from 50th on the money list. The amount Perks earned this time exceeds his total Tour prizes that count 822,653 dollars.

Perks certainly was lucky in his `surprising victory`. From rough, he pitched in from 6.3 meters to the flag for eagle in the 16th hole (par 5), and he continued on to manage an 8.4 meter-birdie putt in the island-green 17th. Crisis came in the 18th hole (par 4), where he missed 3-on shots, but he concluded a grand finale with an 8.7 meter-chip shot from the green edge.

“I was proud of even just taking part in this tournament, but a miracle has happened. That chip shot was the result of over 100,000 practice shots,” said excited Perks, who received the crystal trophy from last year’s champion Woods.

Woods, who was seeking the tournament’s first 2nd consecutive title in history, made poor progress with 2-over, being tied 14th with the total of 1-over.

The first Korean participant in the tournament that invites 1.5 million individuals was Choi Kyung-Ju (Superior), and he had shown the strength to climb up to 28th from the previous day’s 48th with the total of 2-over. After scoring the same shots as some eminent players like David Duval and Phil Mickelson (both U.S.A.), Choi has prepared a step for a great re-leap.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com