- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 7,547
PGATOUR.com Contributor
LEMONT, Ill. -- One of the 35 players who played at the BMW Championship but failed to advance to Atlanta is OK with that.
Sure, he would have liked to have played better and earned a return trip to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. After all, he played in five consecutive TOUR Championships from 2001-2005. But the last few years have been frustrating for Kenny Perry, and he is ready for a break.
"For the first time in 22 years I am actually going to take a vacation," Kenny had said when we talked on Friday. In previous years, Kenny has traveled abroad to play in exotic locales like Sun City and Japan in the winter months. He has also lined his pockets in the Challenge Season events.
Not this year, though. Kenny is going to spend the fall and winter at home in Franklin, Ky., working on those hot rods he collects and running the public golf course that he designed and built in 1991.
At 47, Kenny has done it all in this game. Well, almost. Although he has won nine times on the PGA TOUR, played on three Presidents Cup teams and in a Ryder Cup, Kenny has never won a major championship.
He had his best opportunity at the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla in his home state of Kentucky, when Mark Brooks edged him out in a playoff.
The last couple of years have been tough. At the 2006 Mercedes Benz Championship Kenny injured his right knee. An MRI a month later showed a tear in the ACL that would require surgery.
Kenny was unable to defend his title at Bay Hill later that year. He forced himself to come back early to defend his title at Colonial, but now says, "It was way too soon."
| Video: Shot of the Day |
Aug. 4, 2007: Kenny Perry
Feb. 3, 2007: Kenny Perry
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Forced to compensate for the injury and unable to push off his right side on his down swing, Kenny's game suffered in 2006. At the end of his 2007 season, Perry said the knee was "as strong as it is going to get." And in typical, aw-shucks Kenny fashion, he showed some displeasure with his golf swing.
Like many of the players on TOUR, Kenny utilizes the latest technology -- a laptop and cameras -- to do swing analysis. He said that he can split screen his computer and look at how he was swinging when he won three times in 2003 and how he is swinging today. He laughed when he said that the contrast made him want to "puke."
It wasn't exactly a terrible season for Kenny, though. His final-round 63 at the Memorial, a tournament that he has won twice in his career, vaulted him into third place.
And even though he didn't contend many times after that, his play showed improvement. He made every cut the rest of the summer and logged nine top-25 finishes.
"I am just not as deadly as I was a couple of years," Perry said.
Kenny will tell you, though, that he is still long enough to play with the "kids" on the PGA TOUR. He is looking forward to one last run at glory.
"I am going to try to make a run at Zinger's (Ryder Cup) team. It's back at Valhalla and I feel like that place owes me one," Perry said. In his only Ryder Cup appearance, three years ago with Hal Sutton, "We got thumped," Kenny says.
He goes on to say that he has a gut feeling that the U.S. Team, under Captain Paul Azinger, will prevail on U.S. soil this time.
Of course, Kenny is the eternal optimist. His attitude and general nature have made him one of the most well-liked players in the locker room for more than two decades.
When I asked Kenny if he thought that he could have won more tournaments in his career if he wasn't such nice guy, he laughed and acknowledged that it was possible.
"I want to laugh and have fun, shake the guys hand and may the best man win," Perry said.
Often on the PGA TOUR, the best player does win. But when you look at the professionalism with which Kenny has conducted himself over the years and when you consider his generosity and philanthropy, it is hard to imagine a better man.
Enjoy your vacation Kenny. You have certainly earned it.
