First round: Wi, Duke share lead; Perry's at it again
SILVIS, Illinois (AP) -- Kenny Perry continued his best run in more than two decades on the PGA TOUR, firing a 6-under 65 Thursday in the first round of the John Deere Classic that put him one stroke off the lead.
The 47-year-old Perry is right behind Ken Duke and Charlie Wi in a tie for third after winning two events last month. Woody Austin was in a group at 5 under, with 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson five strokes behind the leaders.
Play was delayed briefly in the morning due to lightning in the area and again for 1 hour, 55 minutes in the afternoon. Perry was gone by then and, maybe, back in bed.
Unable to fall asleep after his hotel fire alarm went off at 3:30 a.m., a bleary-eyed Perry had enough energy to birdie his first three holes at TPC Deere Run. He started on the par-5 No. 10 and drove a sand wedge to 18 feet, then hit a 9-iron within 11 feet on the par-4 11th before driving a 5-iron to 10 feet on the par-3 12th.
"I just feel very comfortable here," he said. "It's kind of in my element here, in my wheelhouse."
He missed a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole that would have put him in a tie for first. Even so, it was another good round, one of many in recent weeks.
"Well, I've had runs," Perry said.
None like this, though.
Perry had a memorable four-tournament run in 2003, when he won at Colonial and the Memorial Tournament on back-to-back weeks and tied for third at the U.S. Open before taking first at the Greater Milwaukee Open a month later. This one is approaching the two-month mark. It started when he lost a playoff to Ryuji Imada at the AT&T Classic in May and continued with victories at the Memorial and Buick Open last month. He usually plays well on those courses, and he'll be at another favorite stop next week when he returns to Brown Deer Park Golf Course in Milwaukee next week.
"They're all lined up one after another, and I think that's the reason why," Perry said when asked to explain this run.
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
| TRIVIA QUESTION | ||
|
| Thursday's Best |
|
The par-4, 569-yard 17th was easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.519.
The par-4, 503-yard ninth was the toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.373.
|
David Duval's year is turning around. He made his first cut of '08 at the Stanford St. Jude and now he's tied for 46th after Thursday's first round, thanks to one of the day's prettiest shots, a chip-in for birdie at No. 8.
Even though Charlie Wi had the same score as co-leader Ken Duke, he went about it in a more exciting fashion. Wi's bogey-free 64 on Thursday featured five birdies and an eagle on the 17th hole.| QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
|
KELLY EXPERIENCES 'MIDWEST KATRINA'
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
Jerry Kelly saw what he calls the "Midwest Katrina" up-close-and-personal when he was driving back from the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship several weeks ago.
Kelly had just finished caddying for Kristina Merkle, a promising 16-year-old, at Erin Hills Golf Club, which is about two hours from his Madison, Wis., home. The 2002 Sony Open in Hawaii champion struck up a friendship and made the commitment when he met Merkle at a pro-junior event at Waialae three years ago.
As he drove, Kelly discovered that a portion of the interstate from Milwaukee to Madison was closed. He drove south and the next exit was closed, too. And when Kelly turned north, he encountered three county roads that had been washed out.
"Entire farms were under water," said Kelly, who is playing in the John Deere Classic this week. "I could see the house on an island and the entire farm completely under water, and people were parking about a mile away and having to basically boat and swim over to their house to get supplies. They couldn't get their car anywhere near it."
Kelly couldn't believe the amount of water the floods had unleashed. As he flew to the Travelers Championship the next day, the view from the airplane was nothing short of devastating. He made the decision on that flight to ask TOUR officials to aid the relief effort.
The timing was serendipitous. Zach Johnson, whose Iowa homeland had also been hard-hit, had talked just with TOUR officials about setting up what is now known as the PGA TOUR Flood Relief Fund, too.
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
HISTORY OF THE JOHN DEERE CLASSIC
By Cindy Elliott, Special to PGATOUR.com
A $4.2 million prize purse, an outstanding field of players and the unwavering support of title sponsor Deere & Company have propelled the John Deere Classic at the PGA TOUR's award-winning TPC Deere Run to great heights as the launching pad for the British Open. But the tournament's journey from small-town tournament to a favored spot on the PGA TOUR wasn't an easy one.
| 15 | Combined under par score of the Kenny Perry, Garrett Willis and Kirk Triplett. |
| 19 | Age of Philip Francis, who opened with a 67 at the John Deere Classic. |
| 2000 | The year in which Michael Bradley last finished inside the top 10. |
The tournament was established in 1971 by founding members of the Crow Valley Country Club as the Quad Cities Open, a satellite tournament sanctioned by the Chicago District Golf Association. That year, touring pro Deane Beman defeated Dow Finsterwald to claim the $5,000 first prize.
Buoyed by its inaugural success, the Quad Cities Open became an official PGA TOUR tournament in 1972 featuring a $20,000 first prize and a $100,000 purse. Beman returned to defend his title, beating Tom Watson by two strokes to claim the second of five tournaments he would win during his short six-year career as a PGA TOUR player.
In 1973, Beman ended his playing career and succeeded Joe Dey as PGA TOUR Commissioner. In need of a mid-July tournament to accommodate the many PGA TOUR players who weren't exempt for the British Open, Beman scheduled the Quad Cities Open for the same week -- a move that would prove to be the first of many challenges to come for the fledgling event.
By 1975, it appeared the tournament's fairytale ascension had come to an end. With Hardee's Restaurants unable to continue serving as a supporting sponsor and tournament organizers unable to afford the $125,000 purse mandated by the PGA TOUR, a press conference was called to announce the end of the tournament.
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
FROM SECOND FIDDLE TO SECOND PLACE
On Wednesday morning, Garrett Willis wasn't even in the field at the John Deere Classic. On Thursday morning, he found himself in a group with Kirk Triplett and Kenny Perry, the Willis-described "hottest player in golf right now."
By Thursday afternoon, however, Willis wasn't just relishing his opportunity to play or his inspiring playing partners. He was tied for third after a first-round 65 and thinking top-10 or even W-I-N.
What a difference a day makes.
"Typically I just stand there with my cell phone in my hand," Willis said, "and I'm either on the putting green or the driving range waiting for one of the rules officials to call me if somebody pulls out."
That's become the norm for Willis -- who's made three out of seven cuts this season and sits in the 159th spot in FedExCup points -- these days. Since he's playing out of the Past Champion exempt status, Willis' typical week goes like so: show up to a tournament site, wait around to see if his number is drawn, scramble to find a caddie if he makes it in, head home or to the next city if not.
"(When I don't get called) it's definitely a sinking feeling," Willis said. "I feel like I showed up for my free lunch and breakfast is the only consolation."
Don't feel too sorry for him just yet, though. At least he often has a caddie that he really, really likes.
"It's been very fortunate. My wife, we got married in 2001, and she's actually with me. She misses one or two tournaments a year, but other than that, we're pretty much inseparable. It's nice being able to have her out here week after week. She's actually done a lot of caddying these weeks for me," Willis said. "Being an alternate, not being able to pick up a caddie or not wanting to pay for a caddie that you're not going to use, so it's been nice having her out here."
And it will be especially nice -- for both of them, that is -- if Willis is still at the top on Sunday.
BRITISH OPEN UPDATE
The top player at the John Deere Classic who is not already eligible for the British Open who finishes among the top 10 and ties will gain entry into the field at the year's third major. The exemptions are NOT passed on to the next player if a player does not use the exemption.
Last week Fredrik Jacobson finished second at AT&T National and earned a trip across the pond next week. Here's a look at the current top 10 at the John Deere Classic and where they stand for the British Open.
| Who needs a British invite? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
HEY, IS THAT KENNY PERRY BEHIND THE COUNTER?
So what does two-time 2008 PGA TOUR winner Kenny Perry do in his spare time? (Hint: His off-weeks don't involve playing a lot of golf.)
His son, a senior on the golf team at Western Kentucky, occasionally talks Papa Perry into playing a round when he's not teeing it up on TOUR. But usually Perry likes to pop into Country Creek, the public course he built in Franklin, Ky., and help out in any way that he can.
That's what he did last week, when he wasn't celebrating the July 4th holiday on the lake with his family.
"I don't really practice and play a lot at home. I'll go to my golf course and end up working behind the counter a little bit or helping my sister and a good friend who runs it, get carts out, do whatever," he said.
"That kind of gets my mind away from golf, competitive golf. I did a lot of handshaking, a lot of autograph signing. She always brings me a big tub of balls I have to autograph so when people come in if they want to buy an autographed ball or whatever."
| What the leaders said... | ||||||||||||||||
|
| Read full interview transcripts | ||||||
|
SECOND WIND? MORE LIKE SECOND HONEYMOON
Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Paul Goydos, Kenny Perry, Rocco Mediate.
Those are just a handful of guys who've found the PGA TOUR Fountain of Youth. Call it a second wind or a second chance, most have played extremely well in their late 40s and Funk even won on the PGA TOUR after joining the Champions Tour.
In Perry's case, however, it wouldn't be fair to call it a "second wind". More like empty-nester, second-honeymoon syndrome.
"My youngest is a junior at SMU. So Sandy (his wife) has been traveling with me every week, and I told her, 'We're either going to get a divorce or we're going to fall in love again.' We've had a blast," Perry said. ".... I think for me, my kids are gone, I know they're doing great, and it's not like I'm worrying about them all the time now. There's nothing for us to do at home, so might as well go play golf."
The spotlight has been on Perry over the past few months but Perry's wife is also getting a second shot at life on the road. With the kids all grown up, she's set up tee-times emails for the TOUR wives, helped organize meetings and continued to be actively involved in the PGA TOUR Wives Association.
"For her whole life she raised the kids while I was out on the road trying to make a living for them. Now she's getting to enjoy life on the road, getting to go sightseeing, go shopping, whatever she wants to do," Perry said. "...She likes taking all the younger gals and kind of showing them around. She's like a little den mother, I guess."
THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY
1. Will MacKenzie. He hasn't made the cut in his two starts since returning from knee surgery. Granted there's only been one round this week, but Willy Mack is tied for third and looking to make the weekend. Can he do it?
2. Eric Axley. Just call him Eric "Iron Man" Axley. He's played in 20 events this season -- that's out of 27 weeks -- but only finished inside the top 10 once. After one round, he's close to the top at TPC Deere Run. Will his hard work pay off this week?
3. Woody Austin. In his last start, Austin tied for second at the Buick Open. Now he's just two strokes off the lead after starting with a 66. Will he earn a win this week and virtually lock up a spot on the Ryder Cup team? After all, what's a team competition without Aqua Man?
| TRIVIA ANSWER | ||
|
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
WATCH LIVE!
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network