Imada gets first Tour win

He beat Kenny Perry in a sudden-death playoff.

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Ryuji Imada stood atop the ridge that overlooks the 18th green at TPC Sugarloaf, wondering about all that commotion down below.

Could it be?

Yep, someone else was in the water.

One year after losing a playoff at the AT T Classic when he knocked a shot in the pond, Imada won the same tournament Sunday under nearly identical circumstances for his first PGA Tour victory. This time, Kenny Perry came up wet on the 73rd hole.

“I never really believed in destiny,” Imada said. “But I’m starting to believe it.”

The two finished regulation at 15-under 273, but Perry’s ball wound up in the water on the first playoff hole even though his second shot easily cleared the pond in front of the green.

Unfortunately for Perry, he struck a pine tree behind the green about 10 feet up the trunk. The ball ricocheted straight back across the putting surface and didn’t stop rolling until it was in the water, the gallery groaning in disbelief.

“I couldn’t really tell what happened,” said Imada, who was standing alongside his ball after driving in the rough. “I asked a couple of people and one of them said it was close and another said it was in the water. That’s why it took me so long to make the decision to lay up.”

Imada played it safe with an iron on the par-5 hole and wound up two-putting for the winning par.

After taking a drop, Perry nearly spun back his wedge into the cup, then missed a 14-footer that would have forced another extra hole. The 31-year-old Imada stepped up and calmly knocked his ball straight in from 4 feet for the victory.

“I left myself a tester,” he said. “I’m glad it went in.

Imada has been a runner-up three times on the PGA Tour, including twice already this season. A year ago, he got into a playoff with Zach Johnson at the suburban Atlanta tournament, only to lose when he knocked his second shot into the same pond that claimed Perry’s ball.

A native of Japan, Imada had plenty of fans cheering him on; he attended the nearby University of Georgia. As he walked off the green after his winning putt, a few fans woofed it up. In the interview room, someone yelled, “Go Dogs!”

Imada needed a birdie on the 72nd hole just to get in the playoff. Trailing Perry by a stroke, he was right of the green with a 3-wood, but chipped up to 4 feet and made the putt for a 5-under 67.

Perry, a nine-time tour winner playing in the final group, still had a chance for the outright win with a birdie of his own. He chose to lay up with his second shot, but his wedge from 118 yards wasn’t nearly as close as he wanted. He misread a 25-foot putt and settled for a 69, his fourth straight round in the 60s.

He probably wishes he had laid up again on the extra hole.

“I hit a beautiful 5-wood,” Perry said. “I must have been pumped up because it hit the tree trunk over there and shot across the green into the water. What are you going to do?”