Kenny Perry won the Constellation Senior Players Championship by two shots from Fred Couples and Duffy Waldorf at Fox Chapel Golf Club. It is his third title on the Champions Tour, and the first major championship in what has been a lucrative career over 30 years.
Having found himself two shots back of Couples after 54 holes, Perry overtook that deficit with a stunning final round of 64, to finish two ahead of the 1992 Masters champion. For Perry, it was a culmination of a sensational final three days.
Having opened with a 71 on Thursday, Perry found himself eight shots back of the lead during his second round on Friday. However, he completely turned it around, and shot a 63. Following up a great round with another is often a difficult task. But Perry achieved that, by shooting another 63 on Saturday to get to within touching distance of Couples.
In the past, a final round of a major championship hasn’t left happy memories for the likeable 52-year-old Kentuckian. At the 1996 PGA Championship, Perry bogeyed the 72nd hole to fall into a playoff with Mark Brooks, which he subsequently lost. Greater heartache was to follow in the 2009 Masters Tournament, where Perry, then 48 and on the verge of becoming the oldest ever champion at Augusta, dramatically lost to Angel Cabrera. He stood on the 17th tee, on Sunday, holding a two shot advantage, before yielding bogeys at his two closing holes to fall into a tie with Cabrera, and Chad Campbell. The Argentinean would ultimately triumph in the playoff.
Perry also failed to capture the Senior PGA Championship in May, after holding the 54-hole lead. Struggling with knee pain in the round, Perry was overtaken by the unheralded Kohki Idoki to lost out on yet another major.
However, Sunday at Fox Chapel was to be Kenny Perry’s day. It remained a three-way joust between Perry, Couples and Waldorf, who opened with front-nine of 29 to move right into contention. However, Waldorf’s run had come to a halt, after bogeys at the 12th and 15th. It all changed on the 15th, as Couples three-putted from a mere eight feet to move Perry into a one shot lead. The 14-time winner on the PGA Tour would solidify that advantage by making crucial birdies at the 16th and 17th to take a two shot lead to the 18th.
In the past, Perry has often lived to regret this position in a major championship, but he did all that he needed to do and finished with a closing par to complete a final round of 64, for a two shot win.
After winning the Senior Players, Perry will exempt to play in the Players Championship next year at TPC Sawgrass. However, it is the title that will matter most. A major title.
It will be a satisfying new chapter, in a career that has been endlessly fascinating. After many years in the wilderness, Perry capitulated himself into the winners circle multiple times in 2008 as he focused on a determined goal to qualify for the U.S. Ryder Cup team in his own state. He was successful in that target, and he has finally ticked off the goal of winning a major championship.
It’s taken longer than many observers expected, but Perry has finally become a force to be reckoned with on the Champions Tour.
Michael Allen and John Huston shared fourth, seven shots behind Perry, wile Bernhard Langer finished in eighth, as Colin Montgomerie, in his debut on the Champions Tour, finished in a tie for ninth after a final round of 65.
Montgomerie will be flying back to Scotland in an attempt to qualify for the Open Championship, before returning to the United States next week for the U.S. Senior Open. A bust schedule, and one that has left Monty suggesting that: “I need a season ticket on the airlines, I do. I'm going back and forth a lot over the next couple of months, but that's the way it is but I look forward to it.”
The Scot will have to wait a fortnight for another chance at major glory at the U.S. Senior Open. But this week belonged to Kenny Perry.
After much heartache in the biggest events, Kenny Perry is finally a major champion.