KEY POINTS:
Craig Perks is turning to his wife, Maureen, for golfing as well as personal help as he tries to resurrect his career at this week's New Zealand Open.
Another failed campaign on the PGA Tour in the United States this year has left Perks swinging at shadows as he prepares for the $1.5 million New Zealand Open starting on Thursday at Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland.
The New Zealander has made just one cut in 18 months, and although Maureen surely appreciates the company at home in Lafayette, Louisiana, even she must know she has been seeing far too much of her husband at the weekends.
For this tournament, however, she will be hauling his golf clubs around as his caddy.
"We've just had 15 years of marriage and we're putting it all on the line this week," Perks quipped.
"She's been so supportive of my career, through the ups and through the downs... and we've had a lot of fun these last couple of days.
"I'm away so much from her and my kids and it's kind of nice to reacquaint myself with her."
Perks said Maureen was a little nervous heading into tomorrow's pro-am but that she'd done a great job.
"It's an extremely hilly golf course and then there's the wind, but we're having fun and we're going to make it light-hearted.
"It's been such a grind for such a long time so it's great to have her alongside."
For her part, Maureen Perks was looking forward to the event.
"My shoulder is coping so far," she said. "My main worry is that I'm about half his height and with his long legs it will be tough keeping up with him.
"I don't see myself doing this week in and week out, but we are having a lot of fun here."
Perks' solitary cut made this year, at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans -- when a third-round 80 put paid to a healthy pay cheque -- represents his only appearance during the money rounds since July, 2005.
With pickings so lean it comes as no surprise that Perks' confidence is at an all-time low, although he remains hopeful the New Zealand Open will present him with a pick-me-up.
The last time he contested the championship, Perks came 17th equal in 2002 at Paraparaumu Beach, two years after finishing second when he emerged on the wrong side of a playoff with Michael Campbell on the same coastal links course.
The 2002 season was a groundbreaker for Perks as he went on to stun himself, his rivals and the wider golfing community by winning The Players Championship, regarded by many as the unofficial fifth major.
"I've been on a downward spiral for a couple of years and it's been extremely frustrating," Perks said.
"I've been working extremely hard but, maybe, on the wrong things."
Perks' Players Championship victory earned him a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, which expires at the end of 2007.
Unless there is a serious improvement, Perks knows he won't be on the PGA Tour in 2008, and Gulf Harbour is where he hopes to start his revival.
Perks said his biggest mistake was trying to revamp his swing the year after his Players Championship victory.
"The year I won, I was next to bottom of the statistics in ball striking.
"I thought I needed to improve my ball-striking. So I spent a lot of time and hard work changing my swing.
"I went about changing my golf swing the wrong way. I tried to change the whole thing at once instead of seeing what I did well and keeping those and then improving on the things I was not quite so good at."
He said that for the past six weeks he had been working with a friend from his Nationwide Tour days in the late 1990s and they had tried to focus on what had worked best for him in the past.
Perks said the Gulf Harbour course was very well turned-out but he realised the wind would be a real challenge.
"It's in great shape, I've never seen a golf course in New Zealand in this good a shape," he said.
"But it's obviously very, very windy and the wind will play havoc with your ball.
"I think it would be a great golf course if the wind wasn't blowing. It's so beautiful, it reminds me a little bit of Pebble Beach with those views on the back nine and it's got a lot of variety."
However, he said there was at least one change he would like to see -- on the tough par five 17th hole.
"I know that they've changed number six to a par four. I believe they need to change 17 to a par six."
- NZPA
