Challenges met, goals realized for Perry
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Yes, he'd hoisted the unique silver trophy with that Flying Goddess of a hood ornament on top. He'd posed for pictures and acknowledged the cheers of the crowd.
When Kenny Perry finally settled into the leather chair in the interview room, though, he was having trouble accepting the fact that he had just won the Buick Open for the second time in his career.
"I still can't believe it," he said, shaking his head. "I feel like I need to go make a birdie out there to win this tournament."
Perry didn't have that luxury, though. He had put the finishing touches on a round of 66 that left him tied for the lead at 19 under and retreated to the range. What would happen next was out of his control.
Turns out his second victory of the season rested on the putters of Woody Austin and Bubba Watson, playing in the final two groups of the day. And when Austin three-putted for bogey and Watson couldn't birdie the 72nd hole to tie, Perry could start the celebration, albeit slightly delayed.
The victory was the 11th of Perry's workmanlike career. And as important as the $900,000 he earned were the Ryder Cup points that came with the title and lifted him to fourth in the standings for the U.S. Team.
Everything for Perry this year has been about making Paul Azinger's squad to play in his native Kentucky. Every hour he spent on the range. Every minute on the putting green. All the birdies and bogeys he'd made and scorecards he'd signed.
Perry wants to play for America at Valhalla because the course owes him one. He had the opportunity for a Cinderfella story, but he lost the 1996 PGA Championship there in a playoff to Mark Brooks. He wants another chance to play at home.
"(I) just feel like I needed to go back there," Perry said. "I want to go back, end of my career; it's the icing on the cake for me to be able to play at my age. I'll be 48 when it comes, and just in front of my home folks, just something I wanted to do."
If he had a hard time believing he won the Buick Open on Sunday, what about locking up that Ryder Cup berth? Perry says it may not sink in that he'll be playing on his second team until he puts on the Stars and Stripes in September.
After all, the last two months have been nothing if not a whirlwind ride for the man who will turn 48 on the Sunday of the PGA Championship.
Perry had a chance to win THE PLAYERS Championship before he faltered with an 81 in the final round. He came back the next week and lost to Ryuji Imada in a playoff at the AT&T Classic, then won his third Memorial Tournament two weeks later.
And what about Sunday's heroics? Perry came from three strokes off the pace to win for the eighth time since turning 40. He came up with the defining shot of the tournament when he slam-dunked a bunker shot for eagle at the par-4 14th hole.
When he reflected over the events of the last two months, the challenges met and goals realized, Perry admitted to being somewhat speechless.
"It's just all happened so fast," he said. "I've just been on a roller coaster ride from shooting 81 Sunday at TPC when I was in the last group at THE PLAYERS and then (I) hit it off a tree the next week, bounce it back in the water; and lose to Ryuji Imada in a playoff; and then to win the Memorial and finishing sixth in the Travelers; it's been an incredible run.
"We've been on the leaderboard every week that I've been playing; I've seen my name up on the board, and you know, I've been a streaky player. That has just kind of been the history of my career, when I get hot, I get hot."
And now that he's made the Ryder Cup team -- after what Perry called the best stretch of golf in his career -- what's next?
Well, among other things, Perry has his eye on the FedExCup and its $10 million bonus. That money could buy a lot of rounds at the public course he's built in his native Franklin, Ky.
The 4,500 FedExCup points he earned on Sunday boosted him to third in the standings, just seven points behind Phil Mickelson. Perry, Mickelson and the idle leader, Tiger Woods, are the season's only multiple winners.
"I've got a lot of confidence and I love my game the way I'm playing right now," Perry said. "And, you know what, with Tiger out, you know, it's just a great opportunity for an old guy here to actually steal some money in that FedExCup, so that's what we're after now."
Perry doesn't plan to alter the schedule he set at the beginning of the season, the one that was designed to bring him closer and closer to his Ryder Cup dream.
He will honor his commitment to play in the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee rather than the British Open. He's a former champ at Brown Deer Park, so who knows what might happen there as well as Perry is playing.
"I just think with my maturity and my experience, it's really going to help me through these next few months," Perry said. "I look forward now to playing the FedExCup tournaments and seeing what I have for those events. I look forward to the PGA. I look forward to the Ryder Cup.
"I mean, how nervous am I going to be in the Ryder Cup? All these people this week were pulling for me. I've never heard my name called out so many times on the golf course ... For some reason this week the fans were really behind me.
"That was a neat feeling, and that's what I'm going to feel at Valhalla and it's definitely something I can draw on for sure for that week."
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FAN ZONE
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network