Journeyman Perry’s sweet story turns bitter at the end

Published 10:52 pm Sunday, April 12, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The thing is, he almost made it.

Improbable as Kenny Perry’s story was, it almost had the sweetest ending you could come up with.

A golfer doesn’t scuffle when he’s young just to make the tour, struggle to hold his place throughout the middle of his career and then, at an age when most pros begin mapping out plans for the senior circuit, suddenly discover there’s magic in those thick, calloused hands. Perry did.

And for the better part of Sunday afternoon and on into early evening at the Masters, he was using it to weave himself a green jacket. Then, in the span of four holes, it all came apart.

“You know, it was a good day,” Perry said moments after losing to Angel Cabrera on the second playoff hole, “I played great all the way through 16. I did OK on 17 and 18. It wasn’t like I hit lousy shots. And I had a putt to win.

“I had that putt on 18 (to win in regulation) that I’ve seen Tiger make. I’ve seen so many people make that putt. I knew exactly what it was. That was probably the most disappointing putt of the day because I hit it too easy.

“I mean,” Perry paused, “how many chances do you have to win the Masters?”

The thing is, he never expected to get that far.

Perry was a journeyman who blew a chance to win a major in 1996 at Valhalla Golf Club in his home state of Kentucky, figured another one might never come around again, and quietly melted back into the PGA Tour pack.

But then, he won three times in 2003, twice more in 2005, and when his home state was awarded the Ryder Cup, he set the bar a lot higher at the start of 2008. He won three times and not only made the U.S. team, but he and fellow Kentuckian J.B. Holmes became the emotional engine for a squad that won the gold trophy for the first time in nine years.

He kept playing as well as he had before — maybe better than ever through the first 16 holes of the Masters on Sunday.

Then came 17. Perry was 14-under, ahead by two strokes and he hadn’t made a bogey in his last 42 holes, but Perry developed a case of the “lefts” at the wrong time. He started pulling irons, then his driver in that direction. Campbell fell out of the three-way playoff at the first extra hole, but when Cabrera completed a scrambling par to force a second, he walked off the green to see Perry leading the applause.

“I’m not going to feel sorry,” Perry said. “I’ve said if this is the worst thing that happens to me, I can live with it. I really can.

“Great players get it done, and Angel got it done. This is the second major he won. I’ve blown two, but that’s the only two I’ve had chances of winning.”