Insider: Lack of focus has Perry looking for answers
Motivation comes in different shapes and from different places.
Kenny Perry knows that only too well.
Perry is a goal-setter and, as history tells us, he's reached the objective more often than not in his 24 years on the PGA TOUR.
Perhaps the best example was Perry's ambition to be a part of the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team in his home state of Kentucky. We know what happened. Perry, facing long odds, not only made the team comfortably but became a leader on Captain Paul Azinger's winning side.
Perry celebrated his 50th birthday Tuesday while preparing for the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. It is a milestone that means Perry will have to make some important decisions about his life and career, and exactly where the Champions Tour fits into the picture.
The immediate priority is trying to raise his game to standards he expects, which have become considerable in recent years. Perry has made the cut in 15 of 18 events this year on the PGA TOUR but, with only one top-10, has labeled his game as "struggling."
"I have less club head speed," he said. "I'm putting less spin on the golf ball and consequently if you've got less clubhead speed and less spin, the ball is not going to rise and get altitude when it seemed like I could generate more club head speed. I'm starting to look for 7- and 9-woods now."
Good line but, of course, there's more to it and it has to do with expectations.
"It's been a combination of a lot of things," Perry said. "It just seems like my focus -- you know, I'm usually a goal-setter, and I kind of achieved all my goals.
"The Ryder Cup was over the top for me. It's pretty ironic how that turned out. Everything, I've just achieved everything, and everything has been great for me. And so I just am really having trouble kind of putting my nose (to the grindstone) and working at it a little bit. I guess I've been a little lazy is probably the best word."
As he approached 50, Perry found his desire to practice waning and his desire to spend more time with Sandy, his wife of 26 years, family and friends growing.
"Sandy and I are doing a lot more together," he said. "We're traveling a lot. It just seems like I don't want to get after it like I used to. I don't want to just try to kill myself like I did, and it's showing. I don't seem like I hit the golf shots I used to hit.
"I don't know if I want it anymore, that's the question I need to answer."
The directness with which Perry is addressing the future is the best thing he has going for himself. It means there will be no ambiguity in the decisions.
There was no ambiguity about his desire to qualify for the 2008 Ryder Cup. We know what happened on that occasion. He won three times that summer.
Once past this week's PGA Championship, Perry is "looking forward" to playing some Champions Tour events this year.
First, he's looking at the FedEx Cup playoffs. He'll get into the first two events but will have to do well to advance.
"If I don't, you'll probably see me sneak over and play two or three events on the Champions Tour just to see what that's all about," Perry said.
Then he'll return home to Kentucky to "do other things" and assess the 2011 season.
Sandy Perry will have considerable say on what shape next season takes for her husband.
"I'm still exempt through 2014 on this TOUR, so you'll see me play all my favorite events," Perry said. "I'll play all the events that I love, I enjoy the courses, the tournament chairmen, all the people I've come to love over the years.
"(Sandy) has a lot of great friends out here and she loves it. And she should have fun because she stayed home and raised the kids while I was traveling. Now she's getting to travel every week. It's just me and her traveling.
"If she enjoys the Champions Tour, we'll spend more time over there, but if she still likes it over here better, you'll see me playing over here more. It's not going to be a money thing or anything like that. It'll just be where Sandy and I enjoy spending our week. That's kind of how we're going to approach, I think, the Champions Tour."
For now, Perry is looking for another of his streaks. He finished T15 at the John Deere Classic and T19 last week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, with five rounds out of eight in the 60s in those tournaments. In Akron, he opened with a 66.
"I'm a streaky player, and when I win once, I can win two or three times," he said. "It's happened. I've done it two or three times out here."
Champions Tour Insider notes:
• Bernhard Langer, despite a T25 finish at the 3M Championship where he was defending champion, remains in first place in the Charles Schwab Cup race with 2,390 points, followed by Fred Couples (1,993) and Tom Lehman (1,134).
• Jim Rutledge is Mr. Monday on the Champions Tour. For the fourth time this season he Monday qualified and tied for 21st at the 3M.
• The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship will participate in the Tickets Fore Charity initiative, which designates participating charities to receive contributions based on tickets sold in their name.
Champions Tour Insider Vartan Kupelian is a freelance contributor for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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