Golf: Healthy pay-days for golfers

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The top-20 finishes by New Zealand golfers Frank Nobilo and Craig Perks in the Southern Farm Classic yesterday earned them some much-wanted Christmas spending money, but were not enough to guarantee their places on the 2001 United States PGA Tour.

Nobilo, who began yesterday's final round in Mississippi in a tie for fifth, closed with a par 72 to finish in a tie for 13th on 272, six shots behind Steve Lowery, who beat fellow American Skip Kendall in a sudden-death playoff.

The $US40,040 won by Nobilo took his season's earnings from 28 tournaments this year to $US236,476, up from the $191,734 he won a year earlier, but left him in only 152nd place on the money-list.

Perks, who slipped from a tie for ninth to a share of 20th yesterday, also with a par 72, collected $US21,535 for a total of $297,912 and 136th on the money-list.

Although 11 places outside the top 125, and with it a guaranteed place on the 2001 tour, Perks will be entitled, as a top-150 player, to at least a partial exemption.

Grant Waite, with a 70, slipped from a tie for fifth to a tie for sixth yesterday but still pocketed $US68,860 and took his season earnings to $1,142,789 and 37th place, well ahead of last season's 148th and $253,209.