Craig hoping things perk up

New Zealand golfer Craig Perks will hope for a fresh start on home soil this week after a finishing a disappointing season on the PGA Tour.

Perks won the Players Championship in 2002 but has failed to reach those heights since and this year has been one of his most frustrating.

However, he will take comfort from playing in front of a home crowd when he tees off in tomorrow’s New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour Country Club in Auckland.

“I’ve kind of been on a downward spiral for a couple of years and it’s been extremely frustrating,” said Perks.

“I’ve been working extremely hard but maybe on the wrong things.

“I’m trying to claw my way back. I’ve continued to work hard and I am never going to quit.”

Perks is playing the PGA Tour on a five-year exemption after that victory at Sawgrass but he made only one cut in America this season and knows he has to change things.

“I want to just play as well as I can, practice as hard as I can and hopefully at the end of next year when my exemption runs out, my game will be back in shape and I will continue to play,” he said.

“It’s been very, very difficult and many times I have wanted to just not play any more and just hide somewhere.”

Fellow Kiwi Michael Campbell will have nowhere to hide as the star name in the £500,000 event co-sanctioned by the European and Australiasian Tours.

The 37-year-old 2005 US Open winner plays competitively on home soil for the first time since that victory at Pinehurst.

With the added pressure which comes with being a major winner Campbell is trying to take a more relaxed approach.

“You try a little harder and you get less,” he explained.

“I’m trying to let go of any emotional attachment to any result.

“Being labelled a major winner puts more pressure on you, and my expectations have probably been too high.

“I’m trying to be more relaxed.”