Frank Nobilo has won golf tournaments all around the world, but America had been anything but the land of opportunity for him this season.
The 36-year-old New Zealander decided, like so many foreign players in the '90s, that the United States was the place to take his game to the next level.Nobilo didn't count on back problems and a circulatory condition that lead to arthritic-like symptoms in both arms for the better part of the last 10 months, sending him to doctor-after-doctor and into a deep golfing slump.
But Nobilo put all his ailments aside Sunday during a miserable day for golf when he birdied six of his final 11 holes and made a scrambling par on the first playoff hole of the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic to beat Brad Faxon.
"Given the nature of what has happened to me the last six or seven months, and the state of mind, this is the one I'll probably always remember," said Nobilo. "When you become uncompetitive for a length of time, you really miss it and you want it to come back.
"To come through this week and in this weather, I think this will go to the top of the tree."
Nobilo, who started the day five shots off the lead, tied Faxon at 14-under-par 274 through 72 holes, forcing the fourth playoff in the last 10 years at a sopping wet Forest Oaks Country Club course.
"It hasn't sunk in," Nobilo said of his first PGA Tour win. "I knew last year it was difficult coming to America, nothing seemed to be easy. But I was determined I wanted to play here because I thought my best golf was ahead of me.
"A lot of other players have done it. I like playing around the world, but some of the tournaments here have very strong fields, and if you want to improve your game, you have to play against the best. I stuck with it, so it makes me the happiest guy in the world today."
The rain was pelting down on the pair, temperatures were in the low 50s and No. 18 was close to unplayable for the first sudden-death playoff hole. Faxon appeared to have the edge when Nobilo - who had to wait 45 minutes for Faxon to finish - drove into the left rough off the tee and could advance his second shot only within 75 yards of the green.
But Faxon, now 1-5 in playoffs, caught a bad break when his approach shot landed in a section of the green that would necessitate a putt through the fringe. Faxon chose to take a drop in the light rough under the clean and place rules being used in the inclement weather.
He then chipped toward the hole instead of putting, but his third shot sailed 12 feet past the hole and he missed the putt.
"I would like to play (the hole) again, but I don't think I want to go out there again," Faxon said.
Nobilo hit his third shot within eight feet and drilled his par-saving putt to claim the win and the $342,000 check.
"I panicked," Nobilo said when asked what his reaction was when he found out there would be a playoff. "Sometimes you do silly things with your mind - if you feel there is going to be a playoff, then there isn't. I was trying all those sorts of tricks. When there was 10 or 15 minutes to go, I just said, `Well, you better accept the inevitable.' "
Nobilo is considered a tour rookie despite winning eight events around the world over the last 12 years. He caught Faxon with a final-round 67 as Faxon could manage just a 72. Faxon had gone 45 holes without a bogey, but bogeyed two of his final five holes of regulation, forcing the playoff.
"That was as hard of conditions that we've had to play in a long time," Faxon said of the weather. "The last five holes we couldn't find places to drop, there was casual water everywhere. It was really hard."
Kirk Triplett finished third at 13-under, one shot back of Faxon and Nobilo.