Avondale, La. ? Draped in purple and gold Mardi Gras beads and clutching his silver trophy, Tim Petrovic still was in shock.

Twelve years after he went broke, gave up golf and went to work making and delivering pizzas, he had his first PGA Tour victory.

Petrovic completed the long journey by holing a four-foot par putt to beat rookie James Driscoll on the first hole of a playoff in the Zurich Classic.

“That last putt seemed to take about 12 minutes to fall in,” Petrovic said. “I saw every dimple rolling over and over and over, and then it went in.”

The 38-year-old Petrovic set up the breakthrough victory with a 19-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation, then finished off Driscoll with a routine par on the par-5 closing hole on the year-old TPC of Louisiana.

“I was pretty calm over it,” Petrovic said. “We looked at it real quick, but I didn’t want to walk around it for about five minutes. I just wanted to get in there and hit it.”

Petrovic, a former pizza and newspaper deliverer whose 2002 entry on the PGA Tour came 14 years after he turned pro, shot a 4-under 68 to match Driscoll at 13-under 275.

Driscoll, playing in the final group with Masters runner-up Chris DiMarco, had a 70, missing a four-foot birdie try for the victory on No. 18.

“I can gain some confidence out of today for sure,” he said. “It’s kind of mixed emotions, because I know I can play. But to not finish it off just kills.”

Back in 1993, the odds of Petrovic winning a PGA Tour title looked slim.

The former University of Hartford player was out of tour golf until 1998, when the father of some friends helped him get back.

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