Profile / Editor / 08 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

There aren't too many golfers who can take a massive 9 & 8 pounding when going head-to-head with world number one Tiger Woods yet still manage to bounce back and win a tournament less than a month later.

But that's exactly what Stephen Ames did in March last year as he finally announced himself as a player capable of beating the very best in the world - at the age of 41.

Ames had made the mistake of riling Woods on the eve of their first-round clash at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship by telling reporters his opponent was capable of hitting the ball anywhere.

The result was an emphatic defeat for Ames by the maximum number possible but he gained his revenge in emphatic style at The Players' Championship by beating 48 of the top 50 players in the world to romp to victory by six shots.

It wasn't just the winning margin of his second PGA Tour that was impressive, it was the manner in which he did it at golf's unofficial 'fifth Major'.

Ames, who grew up in Trinidad & Tobago but now has dual citizenship with Canada, simply obliterated the field on the final day to shoot a five-under round of 67 when the average score was 75.378.

The Players' Championship's Sawgrass venue has undergone major changes since his win 15 months ago, but Ames will still arrive this week with many happy memories of his biggest career success to date and he can be backed at 85 to win and 15.5 to place in the first five.

With a grandmother who was twice national champion of Trinidad & Tobago, it was somewhat inevitable that Ames would follow a career in golf and he announced himself as a player of some ability by shooting a course record 66 on Barbados' Sandy Lane lay-out at the age of 16.

After five years of playing on the European Tour, the 43-year-old decided to try his luck in America and he has been a part of the PGA Tour since 1998.

While it may have taken Ames until 2004 to record his first win in America - at the Cialis Western Open - like his contemporary, Vijay Singh, he appears to be a player who is getting better with age and is capable of producing some brilliant golf in the most trying conditions.

One of the most accurate drivers of the ball and a wizard from the bunkers - he ranks fourth in sand saves in 2007 - Ames looks at his best when courses are playing at their tightest and toughest.

He has achieved three top 10 finishes in Majors in his career and, after reaching the quarter-finals of this year's WGC Accenture Match Play Championships, was not disgraced in finishing tied for 24th at last month's US Masters that suggests a good finish could be just around the corner.