Perry still has his sights set on 20 wins as he nears age 50

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Kenny Perry will go for his 15th career win this week at the Travelers Championship.

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Kenny Perry is operating on borrowed time. He'll turn 50 in August and knows time is running out. Well, sort of.

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This was Perry at the start of the 2009 season: "Y'all may think I'm crazy, but I want to get to 20 wins."

At the time, Perry had just 12 wins. He went on to win twice more and could have easily had a third (not to mention his first major) at the Masters.

This was Perry on Wednesday at the Travelers Championship, where he's the defending champion: "It's still a goal. I said back then it was probably an unrealistic goal, but you have to have goals. You need something to keep you motivated, keep you going."

It was that motivation that sparked Perry to hire a trainer, shed 30 pounds and continue to pursue his own little magic number.

"When I came back from Christmas, I felt old, I felt tired, no power, no strength, I felt weak," Perry said. "I told myself that if I'm going to compete out here anymore, I need to change. We're going to fight through this year and see how it goes."

So far, it hasn't exactly gone as well as Perry would have liked. He has just one top-10 on the season and has struggled with his driving, or his ball-striking, or his putting. He's also battled knee and elbow issues and has had trouble adjusting to the new grooves rule.

How frustrating did things become for Perry? He said that even though he was "playing his heart out" earlier this season, the best he knew he would finish was 25th. Just as old age is creeping up on him, however, so have better results -- Perry has two finishes in the top 17 in his last four starts.

"My thinking is changing, my mental approach is changing and my golf game is changing," said Perry, who has his old TaylorMade r7 irons back in the bag after using different sets all year. "My irons were great last week. My ball flight was back, my distance was back."

Perry is also back, at a tournament it took him more than two decades to win but one that he said also gives him his best shot to successfully defend.

Perry is indeed a creature of habit. He's won three tournaments -- the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley, Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and the Buick Open -- multiple times in his career and feels the Travelers Championship would logically be next.

"[TPC River Highlands] is not an overly long golf course," Perry said. "You gotta be a great putter."

Though Perry has struggled with his putting this season -- he ranks 151st on TOUR in putting average -- this is a tournament in which he took just nine putts through his first nine holes of the final round last year. He also found another Ping Craz-E putter last week that he feels "very comfortable" with.

Perry is equally comfortable with the idea of turning 50, which doesn't sound like will slow him down anytime soon. He does plan to play the Champions Tour, but he said he'll continue to play his favorite events on the PGA TOUR, which includes the Travelers Championship, the Memorial tournament, HP Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and Waste Management Open, among others.

"I'm kind of enjoying the walk right now," Perry said. "The golf is still important to me and I still want to win. But if I don't, it's fine.

"My career has been awesome for where I've come from in life and what I've done and how long I've stayed out here and competed. Certain venues I can still be very competitive and that magic can still happen."

That career won't end anytime soon. Perry is exempt on TOUR through 2014.

Maybe 20 wins isn't so crazy after all.