In his fourth season on the PGA Tour, Ryuji Imada outlasted Kenny Perry to win the AT&T Classic in a one hole playoff.

Many figured the tournament would belong to either Charles Howell III who held the 54 hole lead, or Kenny Perry who was just one shot behind at the start of the final round. However, Howell struggled throughout the round, finishing with a 74 that left him tied for eighth.

While Howell slipped down the leaderboard, Imada was flying up it. His final round 67 with six birdies and one bogey he found himself tied with Kenny Perry at the end of regulation. " Kenny birdies 14 and 15, or 15 and 16 and, I was on the top of the leader board and now I’m chasing him. On the 18, the second shot, I knew I had to make a birdie or eagle to just tie him. So I didn’t have a very good lie, but I got a practice in last year in the playoff so I knew what to do," said Imada.

In an incredible twist of fate, it was Imada who lost the AT&T Classic in a playoff last year when he hit is approach shot in the water on 18. This time however, it was Kenny Perry whom fate accosted during the first playoff hole. Perry lost his five wood approach right - and right into a tree trunk. The ball ricocheted off the tree, and sped across the green into the water hazard.

"I had it hooking in there from right to left and it hit the — I never dreamed it — I must have been pumped up cause it hit the tree trunk over there and shot it across the green into the water. So what are you going to do?" said Perry.

For Imada, his first PGA Tour victory comes after five years of hard work and constant improvement. With just four top ten finishes in his first three years, Imada has already had four top 10’s in 2008. Imada said, "I’m just going to cherish this one and know I’m going to try to do my best in two weeks at Memorial. But nobody can take this one away from me."