0
PONTE VEDRA BEACH (Florida), March 26: New Zealand’s Craig Perks played the final three holes in three-under par on Sunday to become the first player in history to make the Players Championship his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Perks shot an even-par 72 at the Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass to take a two-shot win over Stephen Ames. Rocco Mediate finished third, another shot back.
Final round scores
280 Craig Perks (New Zealand) 71 68 69 72
282 Stephen Ames (Canada) 74 69 72 67
283 Rocco Mediate 71 70 69 73
284 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70 72 71 71, Scott Hoch 67 77 68 72, Billy Andrade 73 69 70 72, Jeff Sluman 69 69 72 74, Carl Paulson 69 69 69 77
285 Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 74 71 71 69, John Huston 73 69 73 70
286 Jerry Kelly 69 76 74 67, Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 72 68 74 72, Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 73 72 72 287 Jeff Maggert 72 72 71 72, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 71 71 72 73, Jim Furyk 71 72 71 73, Tiger Woods 71 72 70 74, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 72 72 69 74.—Reuters
