Heartbreak for Perry is par for the course
AT THE MASTERS
AUGUSTA, Ga.—All Kenny Perry had to do was make one more par, just one more par, and the green jacket goes into his closet. With one more par Perry becomes, at 48, the oldest player ever to win a major championship and slays the demons that have haunted him ever since he bogeyed the 72nd hole and lost the PGA Championship in a playoff at Valhalla 13 years ago. Make one par and Perry secures the major title that has eluded him throughout a distinguished career highlighted by 13 career victories and last September’s U. S. win in the Ryder Cup.
A par. What’s so hard about making par? Perry began Sunday’s final round by stringing a Nick Faldo-like 11 of them, his composure never wavering while the resounding cheers for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods cascaded throughout the hills and valleys of Augusta National, signaling the charge was on.
What’s so difficult about making one par over two holes when you’ve gone 22 straight without a bogey, when you’ve played the two closing holes at Augusta National a combined 1 under through the first three rounds? Fairway. Green. One putt. Two putts. And then they ask, “Jacket size?”
What’s so hard is that there’s no way of simulating the situation, no way to prep for the moment in advance. This isn’t a round with the buddies where you go, “This putt’s to win the Masters.” This is the real deal. And, as a result, one minute you have everything under control and then one errant shot leads to a second, and a third, until your confidence is threadbare and all kinds of disconcerting thoughts start creeping into your head.
For 13 years Perry wondered if he’d handle the situation with a steadier hand than the one and only other time he challenged for a major title, when he left the door open and Mark Brooks walked through with a birdie and won on the first playoff hole.
“Two different situations,” Perry said. “I was young at Valhalla. Here, I thought I had enough—I thought I had enough experience. I thought I had enough to hang in there, I really did.”
But he didn’t and that led him to conclude, “I’ve got two to think about now.”
Yeah, the nerves got to him, chewed him up. He clipped a tree with his drive on 17, put an atypically long approach on the fringe and skulled the chip.
“I can’t stop my right hand, when I get a little nervous,” he explained. “It wants to shoot a little bit and I can’t calm it down.”
He drove the bunker on 18, missed the green, hit a delicate chip to put him 15 feet away from par and the victory his 85- year-old father craved.
“I had that putt on 18 that I’ve seen Tiger make it; I’ve seen so many people make that putt,” Perry said. “I knew exactly what it was. That was probably the most disappointing putt of the day because I hit it too easy. You know what? You’ve got to give that putt a run. I mean, how many chances do you have to win the Masters?”
Yeah, the last thing you want to do on the 72nd green is go conservative, risk throwing the outcome into fate’s hands. Angel Cabrera survived the first hole of the playoff after his approach from deep in the pines careened off a tree and into the fairway, from where he made 4. Perry was banished on the second playoff hole when his drive picked up a glob of mud, throwing uncertainty into the approach.
“We got mud on the right side of the ball,” he told his caddie. “It’s going left. I just hope it don’t go too far left.”
Far, far left it went. Maybe it was fate’s way of making amends for 1968, the year another Argentine, Roberto De Vicenzo, advanced to a playoff but was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
“If this is the worst thing that happens to me, I can live with it,” Perry insisted. “I really can. Great players get it done, and Angel got it done. This is his second major he won. I’ve blown two, but that’s the only two I’ve had chances of winning.”
He planned on calling home when he left the media center, touching base with his father Ken, who remained in Franklin, Ky., to run the family golf course and care for his cancer-stricken wife, Mildred. How the tenor of that conversation changed when par turned elusive.
“Well, I hope they are not too sad,” Perry said. “You know, Dad, he will try to pump me up if I know my dad. You know what? He just feels sorry for me. He just wanted me to win. I know it with all his heart, he wants the best for me just like I want the best for my kids. We’ll have a good conversation tonight.”
And then he left, never likely to pass this way again in a major, not at his age, not with all this baggage.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments
Learn more about our moderation system.