By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Buried under the avalanche of Kenny Perry positives was a teensy doubt rooted in a decision he made on his 21st hole of The Masters.
On Friday, Perry’s second shot on the short par four spun back off the green and hung, one revolution from a 20-yard trip down a grassy slope. Faced with a straightforward bump-and-run, Perry immediately went for his putter and something he said months ago in a pre-tournament interview came to mind.
Back in January, Perry mentioned that he twice skulled chip shots at the John Deere in 2008.
“I had a little firing mechanism in my right hand and could not stop it,” Perry said.
He was talking about a version of the yips — an involuntary flinch that drives those afflicted to long putters — but with chip shots instead of putts, and he thought he had it under control, he said.
Back to Friday and two marvelous par-saving plops on Nos. 6 and 7, crisply struck with height and spin. Following Perry through his second-round 67, it was easy to find his supporters in the gallery, and one of his closest friends revealed that Perry had put a 64-degree wedge in his bag. Perry, the man said, embraced the club to the point that he thought it might help him win one of golf’s majors.
Fast forward to Sunday and Perry just behind the 17th green, needing a par on one of the final two holes to win The Masters. Out of nowhere, a skulled chip shot and a bogey. He flinched on the shot; he did not in the media center.
“I skulled two chips on 15 and 18 at John Deere to put me in the playoff, and I did the same thing on 17, I skulled it again,” he said. “I can’t stop my right hand, when I get a little nervous, it wants to shoot a little bit and I can’t calm it down.”
How many other PGA Tour players would have been so doggone honest about such a costly miss? Or said, “I’ve blown two” majors like Perry did.
Eventually, he was asked if he considered putting from off the green on No. 17 and he said no.
“Now I wish I had hit my 64-degree and just hit a spinner and just went on and whacked it, instead of trying to hit a bump-and-run, which is usually what gets me in trouble,” he said.
Once again, Perry must deal with stumbling at the end of a major.
In 1996, in front of his fellow Kentuckians, he shot 34 on the front nine to take the lead at the PGA Championship, but bogeyed the par-five 18th at Valhalla and lost in a playoff to Mark Brooks. Ever since, he has been asked about his decision to go to the television booth instead of the practice range to prepare for a possible playoff. Just last week, he explained one more time that he made the decision because of the intense heat.
That ‘96 tournament drove him to make the Ryder Cup in 2008 so that he could reshape his legacy at Valhalla.
Last week, he admitted that he still thinks about the one that got away.
“I’ve got two to think about now,” he said Sunday.
He needed a dozen years to reconcile his failure at the PGA, but he turns 49 in August and he is aware that Julius Boros was the oldest player to win a major at 48 years, four months, and 18 days.
Perry said Friday that he has great confidence in a new driver, that he has lost 5-7 yards, but that he is hitting it so straight, it might help him win the U.S. Open in June. Such an outcome would be most welcome.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
