MARK BROOKS grabbed his first major title last night when he beat fellow American Kenny Perry at the first hole of a play-off for the United States PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 35-year-old Texan, third and fifth in the last two Opens in Britain, birdied the 540-yard 18th to force sudden death and then did the same to claim the biggest success of his career.

Perry, two shots ahead with two to play, handed the trophy - and a cheque for over £280,000 - to Brooks on a plate almost by first bogeying the 18th in regulation play and then making a similar bash of it when they returned to the tee.

The pair finished on the 11 under par total of 277, with Brooks shooting 70 and Perry 68 as overnight leader Russ Cochran crashed to a 77.

It was a day when a whole host of players had an opportunity to win. Left-hander Cochran, like Perry a home state player, took a two-shot lead into the round, but never recovered from a bogey at the fifth and double bogey seven on the seventh.

Fijian Vijay Singh took over top spot at that moment, but then Brooks came racing past with a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth.

The pressure got to him as well when he bogeyed the 11th and 12th and at that moment Perry moved into the hot seat. finishing the outward half with two birdies and picking up further strokes on the 11th, 12th and 14th.

"I thought Man, this is unbelievable - this is my day," he said later, but after a scrambling par at the 15th and another chip and single putt on the 17th had kept him two in front he hooked his drive badly on the last.

His second did not make the fairway and his third was left of the green. After that he hit a good pitch to seven feet, but missing it meant a bogey six and gave those left in the title race a chance.

It came down to Singh, defending champion Steve Elkington and Brooks all needing a birdie at the last to tie - or an eagle to win.

Singh, who birdied the 17th to revive his hopes of a first major, and Elkington were playing together and both found sand at the last, Singh off the tee and the Australian with his second.

Singh went left of the green from the bunker, then pitched far too strongly.

The ball ran into the rough and meant he had to chip in to tie with Perry, but it was not to be and he ended up bogeying the hole as well to fall back alongside Swede Jesper Parnevik and American Justin Leonard.

From a plugged lie, Elkington came out to 12 feet, but pulled it left and his hopes of keeping the trophy were over. He finished joint third with another American, Tommy Tolles, who had set the early clubhouse target at 10 under with a 67.

Brooks went into the same bunker as Elkington, but had a better lie. He came out superbly to under four feet and holed it to force a play-off. A play-off which brought him his first major title. After they returned to the tee Brooks hit the fairway, while Perry drove into the left rough. And this time it was four more shots before Perry was on the green.

Brooks, meanwhile, had smashed a fairway wood on to the putting surface and had three for the title. He did not need them, sinking a five-foot birdie putt.