WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand golfer Craig Perks, whose only U.S. PGA win was the 2002 Players Championship, is quitting the tour after a lengthy form 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 U.S. 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 5 meters (20 feet) on the 16th hole. On the par-3 17th, Perks holed a 9-meter (30-foot) birdie putt. On the 18th, he chipped in for par from 9 meters behind the green.
Perks will work for a golf company's performance institute near his U.S. home in Lafayette, Louisiana. He hopes to develop a new golf fitness program which will use high-tech video to assess players' physical strengths and weaknesses.
