Kenny Perry has 11 wins since turning 40.
Jun. 29, 2009
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What are our writers thinking about after the Travelers Championship? Kenny Perry's chances for 20 wins, Lucas Glover's wild week after Bethpage Black, Paul Goydos and a 2011 U.S. Open preview.
CLOSER TO 20: Maybe 20 career wins isn't so ridiculous after all. Kenny Perry just threw that number out there to watch people roll their eyes.
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This week, though, Perry was the one doing the rolling, taking 25 putts in the first and fourth rounds on his way to scores of 61 and 63 and his first victory in 21 trips to Hartford. For Perry, it's his second win of the season and 14th of his career.
That puts the 48-year-old fourth on the all-time list of players with the most wins north of 40 with 11, surpassing Julius Boros.
Just as importantly, it completely erases one very painful Masters memory. Though he'd gotten over it with an early-morning drive in the countryside, his wife, Sandy, admitted that it still hurt a little bit.
"I was looking an the leaderboard watching on the back side, so I knew I had to keep making birdies. So I wasn't going to let up," Perry said. "I wasn't going to play defensive golf, and I learned something from that mistake."
After Sunday, though, whatever feelings from that "Augusta deal," as Perry called it, were totally washed away. He'll celebrate this one, too, enjoying a corporate outing for Marquis Jet at Shinnecock Hills on Monday before heading to the family lake house to spend a week with the wife, kids and their kids.
Something tells me this won't be the last time Perry celebrates. He is going to win a major championship. -- Brian Wacker
MAN OF HONOR: Yes, he finished eight strokes behind Kenny Perry on Sunday. Lucas Glover honored his commitment, though, and played in the Travelers Championship just days after winning the U.S. Open.
On a good day, the U.S. Open is grueling. And trust us, there weren't too many good days at Bethpage State Park during the 109th edition of America's national championship. It rained and it rained and it rained -- stretching the U.S. Open to five stop-and-start days that culminated in Glover's two-stroke major breakthrough on the Black Course.
Anyone would have understood if he had decided to withdraw from the Travelers Championship given that life-changing experience. Not only did Glover play, though, he played well, shooting a trio of 65s, including back-to-back on the weekend, to tie for 11th. He's playing the next three weeks at the AT&T National, John Deere Classic and British Open, too. Don't be surprised to see more good things happen for this good man. -- Helen Ross
FANTASTIC FINISH: One of the things you learn about any TOUR regular: No matter how much they joke about how they short they hit it off the tee, they always -- always -- have power in reserve.
Paul Goydos, statistically, is one of the shortest hitters out there. Yet, when he needed it most on Sunday, he bombed a driver pin-high on the 302-yard 15th to set up a much-needed eagle, which he made.
"Standing on the 15th tee, I kind of regrouped," Goydos said. "Kenny [Perry's] ball didn't get there, and I thought he hit it OK, and I hit it a little left of his ball and said, OK, it's going to run down there next to his ball and I'll have a little chip.
"And all of a sudden rolled all the way up there and I heard cheering, and I'm like, what are they cheering for, and it rolled all the way up there 20 feet from the hole and made two."
On the 16th tee, with a 7-iron in his hand, Goydos made his best swing of the year, drilling the shot to 7 feet. Easy birdie. Two holes, four shots. It might be a while before we see another burst like from someone playing in the final group on a Sunday. -- Ryan Smithson
LAST PEEK: Besides being able to play in Tiger Woods' event on the most patriotic of weekends in our nation's capital, the players in this week's field at the AT&T National also can enjoy one other perk -- they get the last peek at Congressional Country Club before it hosts the 2011 U.S. Open.
After this week, the AT&T National will move to Philadelphia at Aronimink for the next two years, meaning this week will be the last time the TOUR pros will play Congressional in a competitive environment until 2011.
Who knows how different Congressional will be in two years after the USGA makes its usual modifications to bring it to U.S. Open standards. One thing seems certain, though -- the closing hole won't be a par-3 as it was when Congressional hosted the 1997 U.S. Open won by Ernie Els. After hearing the grumbling about our national championship finishing on a par-3 hole, the club adjusted its routing, with the original par-4 17th now the closing hole. -- Mike McAllister
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| Stock up |
Hunter Mahan: It's not often you shoot 63-64 on the weekend and fail to win, much less finish tied for fourth. That's what Mahan did for his second straight top-six in as many weeks and fourth of the season. Looks like Mahan might be fulfilling all that potential.
FedExCup rank: 23 (35 last week) |
David Toms: Save for the U.S. Open, Toms is a combined 32 under in his last two events, finishing T2 both times (and just one bogey in Hartford). That gives him seven top-10s this year, which ties him with Kenny Perry and Tiger Woods for most this year.
FedExCup rank: 11 (14 last week) |
Ryan Moore: The former U.S. Amateur champ was headed toward the Stock Down list after 33 putts in Round 3 -- especially since many of those were makeable. But he rebounded with 25 putts Sunday on his way to a 64 and a T4, his second top-10 in a row.
FedExCup rank: 73 (94 last week) |
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| Stock down |
Justin Rose: Is the rose long off the bloom for the kid who wowed us at the 1998 British Open? Friday was his third straight missed cut and seventh of a season in which his best results are a couple of T20s. If the Playoffs started today, he would not be in the field.
FedExCup rank: 129 (124 last week) |
John Merrick: He was in contention after his first 45 holes, but that's when the wheels pretty much came off with six bogeys and a double his last 27 holes. Included in that was a tee shot at 18 in Round 3 that didn't reach the fairway after hitting trees left of the tee.
FedExCup rank: 40 (42 last week) |
Brad Faxon: When Faxon misses the cut in Hartford, a tournament he can putt into submission and one that he won in 2005, you know he's having a tough year. The 47-year-old has now missed the cut in all but two events this year. Just three more years until the Champions Tour.
FedExCup rank: 226 (226 last week) |
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| A Quick 18 |
| Front Nine | Back Nine |
| Kenny Perry's 22-under 258 total was the lowest score in Travelers Championship history, beating Tim Norris' 1982 record by one. Perry's 7-under 63 Sunday was also the lowest final-round by a winner in tournament history. It was also Perry's first victory in a tournament he's been coming to for 21 years. | Scott Verplank's final-round 62 was the second-lowest number on the board last week, but not the lowest of his career. He's shot 61 in the final round four times in his career, most recently -- where else -- at the 2001 Travelers Championship. |
| TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest and easiest courses on the TOUR so those numbers aren't totally stunning. The average winning score of the last 10 Travelers is about 15 under. The last single digits under par winner there was Nick Price in 1993. | For the fourth time in six weeks, a defending champion either missed the cut or didn't play. Stewart Cink was the latest victim, missing the cut in Hartford with nine bogeys and back-to-back 71s. In those two rounds, Cink hit just 50 percent of his greens in regulation. |
| Paul Goydos half-seriously said that you could be five shots back with four holes to play and still win. Well, he was that many back after 12 holes, but he's right. Though it was only one stroke going into Sunday, Perry's come-from-behind victory was the 30th in tournament history. | The Travelers Championship couldn't have asked for a better field and you have to give a lot of guys credit for showing up after a long week at the U.S. Open. The task might be a bit tougher next year with the U.S. Open being held across the country at Pebble Beach. |
| More on those comebacks in Hartford: When Faxon won there, he came from seven back in the final round. Mac O'Grady in '86 is one of six players to come from five back in the final round and seven times a player has come from three shots back.
| Quote of the week I: "They have a lot of experience winning. I have a lot of experience playing." -- Goydos on playing against Perry and Toms last week. Funny line, though last we checked Perry and Toms have been out there a while.
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| For Goydos, this was his first second-place finish since last year's PLAYERS Championship, though there was no bugaboo 17th hole this time. His 261 total in Hartford was also a career-best 72-hole total and it marked his third top-four finish in his last four events. | Quote of the week II: "I like these par-70 courses, let's start with that. It's easier to shoot in the 60s." -- Goydos on playing at TPC River Highlands. Seriously, the man is a quote machine, on top of being one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet anywhere. |
| More eye-popping numbers on TPC River Highlands, where it might be time to grow the rough, pinch in some fairways and speed up the greens. Toms' 261 total matched his career-best 72-hole total, while the driveable par-4 15th played to a stroke average of just 3.66. | Note posted in locker room last week regarding Chris Smith's children: Abigail could be released this weekend, while Cameron is still in the ICU and will be transferred to a burn center. That is good news to a bad situation, one that has many players shaken up.
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| The 15th is a fun hole for players and fans, but there needs to be more risk associated with it. One solution: cut the rough down that edges the water left of the green. More balls would have deservedly found the water instead of being easy up-and-downs. | One of those players was Jerry Kelly, who would have withdrawn from the Travelers had he been able to get a flight out to see Smith. Everyone from Goydos to Glover had Smith and his family on their mind, too. These guys really are one big, hurting family. |
| Bubba Watson's final-round 63 was the lowest final round of his career, beating his previous mark of 65 at the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii and last year's BMW Championship. As a result, Watson finished T14, his best result since a T2 at Quail Hollow.
| Tweet of the week: "I've been sorting balls on the driving range for the past 11 tournaments, by now, I think I've earned a round here!" -- David Ceder's reason why he should get the free round of golf at TPC River Highlands I was offering up after winning it in a raffle at the media party. |
| How big must the hole have looked to former Clemson standout Kyle Stanley, who, in his first event as a professional, shot 11 under to finish T19? He was a combined 22 over in his previous two events this year -- the U.S. Open and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. |
For the month of June, Connecticut had about double its normal amount of rainfall at 8 inches and on Saturday, hail fell at TPC River Highlands. There was a lightning strike on the old driving range and a tornado touched down in nearby Weathersfield. |
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| The Forward Spin |
There are few places to celebrate the Fourth of July than in the nations capital, which is where the PGA TOUR heads for this week's AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods.
The good news: Woods gets to play in his own tournament after being forced to miss last year's event because of season-ending knee surgery. The bad news: Thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday, though the weather does look good (fingers crossed) for the remainder of the week.
As for the field, it's strong, with a number of major winners, including of course Woods, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Mike Weir, Davis Love III, among others.
One of the more interesting things about the field, though, is that Anthony Kim will be defending -- both of his wins have come in events with Tiger not in the field. And Kim is playing almost as well now, finally, as he was then. |
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PGATOUR.COM'S Brian Wacker wrote the Quick 18, Stock up/Stock Down and Forward Spin.
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