T.J.'s Take: Take that!

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Ask any PGA TOUR pro and he'll tell you -- aside from winning a major championship, there's nothing like getting that first win.

Take that fact, multiply it by 100 and you have the TOUR's latest victor, Ryuji Imada.

T.J. Auclair

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In 2007, Imada was on the losing end of a playoff to Zach Johnson at the AT&T Classic. The playoff lasted just one hole, as Imada's second shot on the par-5 18th decided to take an untimely swim in the lake that guards the green on the dramatic closing hole at TPC Sugarloaf.

Fast forward one year later. Imada played with the weeklong mentality of, "this course owes me one."

Typically the Golf Gods frown upon players who feel the game owes them anything. But, Golf Gods be damned, Imada converted a special up-and-down for birdie on the 72nd hole to post 15 under. He then had to wait to see whether Perry would dash his hopes of a maiden win with a birdie of his own, or make par for another playoff at the AT&T Classic.

When Perry's birdie bid narrowly slipped past the cup, it was déjà vu all over again for Imada and back to the scene of the 2007 crime -- No. 18 at TPC Sugarloaf, the winding, downhill par-5, for the first hole of a playoff.

Playoffs are every bit exciting as they are cruel. Imada can attest to that and so can Perry. This, after all, was the same Kenny Perry who lost a heartbreaker to Mark Brooks in the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla in Perry's home state of Kentucky.

On Sunday, Perry felt that heartbreak yet again. Even though it's the number of strokes that define a champion on the PGA TOUR, a playoff becomes a match-play situation. Suddenly instead of trying to whip the course, you're dialed in on you're playing partner.

When Perry's drive came to rest a few yards behind Imada on that 73rd hole, playing it safe and laying up wasn't an option. If you want a win on the TOUR, you have to go and grab it.

With that thinking, Perry unleashed a 5-wood. Off the mark? Yes. Harsh fate? Oh yes. Perry missed it where he was supposed to -- wide right of the lake. However, his little white ball found the bark of the only tree at the bottom of that hill and ricocheted hard left, across the green, past the hole, through the fringe and into the drink.

Perry, one of the most composed professionals on TOUR, couldn't help but holler to his caddie twice from the fairway, "Where did it go?"

Surely, Perry knew where it wound up from the reaction of the spectators, but was in disbelief. Imada may have been in disbelief too -- he had seen this movie before, only this time he wasn't the victim in the supporting role.

Again, a playoff means match play. With that in mind, Imada's decision was a no-brainer -- no need to go for the blue chips here, just lay up, hope to get up and down for par and see what happens.

After Perry just missed his par on a fine putt, Imada had two putts for redemption and his first trophy.

By the looks of things, Imada didn't have "par" on the mind. He was looking for birdie, which was evident after his birdie bid slipped four feet past the hole. Nothing like a must-make knee-knocker for your first TOUR win.

Regardless, Imada knocked it in center cut, picked the ball out of the hole and let out an emphatic fist pump. He settled his score with the 18th hole at TPC Sugarloaf and the AT&T Classic.

To say that Imada was a surprise winner wouldn't be fair. He was a runner-up on TOUR twice in 2008 until Sunday.

"Well I never really believed in destiny, but I'm starting to believe it," Imada said after his win.

Take that, Golf Gods.