Old Man Perry Keeps Winning
golf.about.com
By Brent Kelley
Sunday February 1, 2009
Not many players have taken advantage of Tiger Woods' absence to do something unexpected, to elevate their games. The other biggest names in the game - Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els - have (so far) failed to add any majors to their resumes. Sergio Garcia has played some great golf, but no majors for him, either.
Then there's Old Man Perry. Kenny Perry. Sportsmen don't usually have their best seasons at age 47. But that's what Perry did in 2008, when he won three times and played his way onto the Ryder Cup team.
And Perry, now 48, still isn't slowing down. Perry won the PGA Tour FBR Open on Sunday, sinking a 22-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to defeat Charley Hoffman.
For Perry, it was the fourth victory in his last 15 starts. The only other golfer to have a stretch like that in the past three or four seasons is ... Tiger Woods.
Perry stated before the 2009 season started that he wants to reach 20 career victories. That's a much loftier goal than making the Ryder Cup team, which was Perry's stated goal last year. Twenty career victories is a level never attained by some pretty great golfers, golfers such as Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange, Nick Price and Julius Boros.
Given his age, odds are Perry won't make it. But Sunday's victory was career win No. 13, and that's the same number of wins that Jim Furyk has. And that David Duval and Mark Calcavecchia have. So it ain't too shabby. And if Perry finishes his PGA Tour career with more wins than those three, well, it shouldn't be considered a big surprise.
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*Brent Kelley is a sports journalist who has covered golf for more than two decades, at newspapers, magazines and online. |
