Tears of sadness and joy for Kenny Perry in 2009

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Kenny Perry suffered the agony of defeat at the Masters before tasting the thrill of victory at the Travelers Championship.

What will you remember about the 2009 season? That was the simple question we asked PGATOUR.COM staffers and writers, who responded with a series of short essays. As we finish up November, we'll post several each day. Click here for next essay

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Kenny Perry's family staggered into the back of the interview room at Augusta National teary-eyed and solemn, gracefully thanking everyone for their condolences as if they were at a funeral. They were, only it was Perry himself who dug his own grave.

Perry had just lost the Masters, stumbling in with two bogeys on the final two holes of regulation before failing to make par on the second hole of a playoff with Angel Cabrera. Afterwards, in the flash interview area outside the Augusta National press building, Perry told members of the electronic and print media that great players get the job done and average ones don't. Harsh, and amazingly frank, words, I thought.

In the larger press conference that followed, he reiterated those thoughts and gracefully and politely answered every question. There might not be cheering from the press box, but there was a lot of collective disappointment in the room that day and not just from Perry's family.

Two months later, Perry was in a similar position at the Travelers Championship, where he was once again trying to hold onto the lead late in a tournament. There was no green jacket, but there was no mistake either. He birdied the 17th hole this time -- "One of the sweetest shots I've hit in a long time," Perry said -- and finally won a tournament he's been playing in for more than 20 years, staying with the same family outside Hartford every one of those years.

"Probably one of the greatest rounds of golf I've ever played," said Perry, who shot a final-round 63 to win by three strokes. "That 7-iron I hit on 17 was one of the sweetest shots I've hit in a long time to give me birdie, give me a three-shot cushion, to make the 18th hole, where I didn't have to stress out."

Three-shot cushions are a great stress reliever. So are drives in the country in the middle of the night. The latter is how Perry got over his loss at the Masters, hopping in his car in the wee hours of a Kentucky morning and blasting down back roads in the week that followed.

"Everybody asked about the Augusta hangover deal," Perry said in Hartford. "I made peace about three days after that was over, I really did. I really haven't reflected too much on it. I was determined to get back into the winner's circle. I wasn't going to play defensive golf, and I learned something from that mistake."

I ran into Perry's wife, Sandy, after the win and she again had tears in her eyes. Only they were tears of joy this time.

PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker, a diehard Cubs fan, had mostly just tears of sadness in 2009 after another disappointing season in Chicago.