Any other week, and Ted Purdy might have received the acclaim he deserved last Sunday by winning his first PGA Tour event, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Instead, he gets upstaged in Texas by Tiger Woods missing his first cut in 143 consecutive tournaments.

It figures. Purdy, a long-time Phoenix resident, and Woods go way back to their days at the University of Arizona and Stanford, respectively. And even when Purdy beat Woods as a Wildcat, Tiger losing always seemed to be the bigger deal.

“Yeah, I got him a couple of times back then,’’ said Purdy of the two years he and Woods matched up against each other in college ball (1995-96), his biggest “upset’’ being a six-shot win over Tiger at the 1996 PING Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson.

“At the same time, Tiger has been one of my biggest supporters. He’s always said to me, with my swing, I should be winning out here.’’

Turns out Purdy finally did, and Woods missing the cut actually helped.

“Yeah, the whole focus was on Tiger,’’ Purdy said of the way he slipped under the media radar for much of the tournament. “But I kind of lucked out, because if Tiger had made the cut on the number, he could easily have shot 15-under (Purdy’s winning score) on the weekend. . . .

“Really, all week all the talk was about the Fab Five (Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen) . . . and so the player ranked No. 177 gets the trophy from Byron Nelson.’’

Actually, Purdy was No. 173 in the world last week, which was no big deal. Especially, when he pole-vaulted over 100 spots to No. 69 this week. After 82 starts on the PGA Tour that included two heart-breaking, runner-up finishes at the MCI Heritage and BC Open last year, the former next-door neighbor of PING CEO John Solheim seemingly has arrived.

“This is sweet, but I don’t think I could have pulled it off without having those previous failures,’’ admitted Purdy, 31, who was a standout at Brophy Prep and once won the Arizona Amateur at age 19.

Intelligent and down-to-earth describes the laidback Purdy. That’s why every member at Moon Valley Country Club, where he lives on the fourth hole, was tuned into Sunday’s surprising showdown between Purdy and rookie Sean O’Hair. As those who know him best might expect, Purdy kept the victory light-hearted.

“Golf is a crazy game,’’ he said after accepting the $1.1 million winner’s check, which moved him to 13th on the money list this year with $1,348,840. “I don’t think most people know how difficult it is to win out here.

“But I finally learned how to win: You (ital)don’t(nonital) aim at the pins.’’

That tip came from his part-time caddie, Paul Jungman. And if missing his regular caddie, Bobby Conlon, wasn’t strange enough in this equation, Purdy also credited a switch to an older ball (the Titlelist Pro V1, circa 2004).

“I don’t know if my ball sponsor wants me to bring it up, (but) Titlelist had a couple of different ball options this year, and I went back to the ball I played with last year that made me $1.6 million,’’ he said. “I was controlling my iron shots better, and I was able to shape the driver much better with the old ball.’’

There is another reason Purdy has finally proved he can do it. He has matured from his wild party days, when he admittedly blew his rookie season in 1999 by finishing 230th on the money list.

“Yeah, I kept missing cuts, so every Friday night I’d end up in the Bird’s Nest of whatever tournament I was at,’’ he said in reference to the FBR Open’s party tent.

These days Purdy is a much different player and person. Some of that comes from grinding three years on the Nationwide, and some from seven lean and mean years on the Asian Tour.

Purdy also has put in place a strong support system that includes his instructor since childhood, Pam Barnett at Moon Valley, and his strength coach, Mac Newton of Phoenix. He also is married and has one child, Sam, while his wife, Arlene, is expecting a second.

The new baby also provides insight into the person Purdy has become.

“If I can make it fly with my wife, I definitely want to name the baby Bryon if it’s a boy,’’ he said. “But it will probably be a girl, so we’ll name it Peggy (after Nelson’s wife).’’

What, not “Jimmy” after Purdy’s favorite entertainer, Jimmy Buffett?

“Jimmy had a lot of great songs, but I think I need to modify that press package from Jimmy Buffett being my idol to Bryron Nelson,’’ he countered. “I filled out that press package at a different time in my life.’’