Kenny Perry could never quite seem to win a major on the PGA Tour, but he has it figured out now as a member of the Champions Tour.
Perry won the Senior Players Championship, as well as, the U.S. Senior Open last year and due to a scheduling conflict with the Greenbrier was not able to compete in the Senior Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
This year’s Regions Tradition was the first major of the year and Perry once again found the winners circle, giving him three consecutive major titles.
His final round of even-par 72 was good enough for a one-shot win over Mark Calcavecchia who posted a two-under par 70 on Sunday.
Calcavecchia began the final round three shots behind Perry in third place. He made a run of four birdies through his first eight holes. A bogey at No. 9 and another at No. 13 dropped him to six-under-par for the tournament just one stroke shy of Perry.
Tom Lehman, Jay Haas and Olin Browne finished at five-under-par and tied for third.
Ryder Cup Captain, Tom Watson fired a final round 67 and moved up 19 spots to tie for sixth with Rocco Mediate and John Cook at four-under-par.
There is no rest for the veterans, as they head north to Benton Harbor, Michigan for another major, the Senior PGA Championship.
Fred Couples was disqualified on Sunday at the Regions Tradition for missing his tee time. It was announced later in the day that his back would not allow him to play the final round at Shoal Creek and he also withdrew from the Senior PGA Championship this week.
Couples, always a fan favorite, was having one of his better years on the Champions Tour and was trying to win the Charles Schwab Cup for the first time.
Bernhard Langer has a commanding lead in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, but if Perry keeps winning majors, he will once again catch the stoic German.
If you remember Langer won the 2013 Champions Tour money title, had two wins and 18 top-10 finishes, but lost the Charles Schwab Cup’s $1 million bonus to Perry because of his two major championship wins.
Langer seems even more determinged this year. He already has two wins and three runners-up this season and has not finished outside the top 10 in eight starts.
With the win Perry moves into the third spot on the Charles Schwab Cup standings, but will need to finish high this week to gain ground on Langer.