Paulson's overnight lead soon disappeared

His tee shot went into the tree and he chipped back out onto the fairway before his approach to the green ended in the light rough at the back of the green.

He chipped in from 14-feet for a par to secure a dramatic victory.

Reflecting on his chip, Perks said: "As soon as it landed, I said to myself 'I've won', because I knew that it wasn't going to go anymore than a foot past.

"When it got closer and closer and closer and disappeared, that was an incredible emotion right there."

Trindad's Ames had held the advantage in the clubhouse after his round of 67.

Ames had the luxury of watching those out on the course make mistakes as they sought to tame the testing course.

Numerous players made attempts to attack the course, but a number of players failed to hold their nerve and dropped shots over the last few holes.

Perks had missed two handy putts when in the lead on his own to slip back to five-under.

Testing round

The attacking play of Billy Andrade and Sergio Garcia led them to drop shots when they were within range of the lead and they were back on four-under.

Overnight leader Craig Paulson had an awful final round despite birdieing his first hole.

He led by three strokes from Perks, who began with a bogey.

But the American then dropped four strokes in five holes to see his lead disappear.

Tiger Woods' hopes of a final round charge evaporated and he went around in 74, two-over-par.

Woods congratulates Perks

World number two Phil Mickelson, who led after the first round, dropped four shots in his opening six holes and finished with a 76 to lie two-over for the event.

Before Ames finished his round Zimbabwe's Nick Price had been the clubhouse leader after a final-round 69 left him three-under-par with a total of 285.

He finished a stroke ahead of Jerry Kelly, who closed with a 67.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington is three shots further back after a closing 70, with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn on the same score after carding a 68.

Veteran German Bernhard Langer finished one-over-par after shooting a 71, while South African Ernie Els fired a final round of 68 to finish four over for the tournament.

Results: (US unless stated)
280 Craig Perks (New Zealand) 71 68 69 72
282 Stephen Ames (Canada) 74 69 72 67
283 Rocco Mediate 71 70 69 73
284 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70 72 71 71, Scott Hoch 67 77 68 72, Billy Andrade 73 69 70 72, Jeff Sluman 69 69 72 74, Carl Paulson 69 69 69 77
285 Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 74 71 71 69, John Huston 73 69 73 70
286 Jerry Kelly 69 76 74 67, Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 72 68 74 72, Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 73 72 72
287 Jeff Maggert 72 72 71 72, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 71 71 72 73, Jim Furyk 71 72 71 73, Tiger Woods 71 72 70 74, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 72 72 69 74 288 Steve Stricker 69 74 71 74, Mike Weir (Canada) 70 73 68 77, David Toms 69 72 70 77
Selected others:
289 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 74 72 75 68, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 70 72 77 70, Bernhard Langer (Germany) 75 71 72 71
291 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 74 72 71 74
292 Ernie Els (South Africa) 76 69 79 68
293 Nick Faldo (England) 68 73 72 80
296 Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) 70 76 72 78