Determined Perry not ready to give up on majors yet

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Just because Kenny Perry was 48 when he handed a major away doesn't mean he won't get another chance.

Kenny Perry didn't have to worry about experiencing a major letdown last year. That was one of the few benefits of his unique decision to concentrate on making the U.S. Ryder Cup team at the expense of building his schedule around golf's four major championships.

You can't experience heartbreak in a major if you don't play in them.

But that's exactly what Perry is dealing with these days after he lost a two-shot lead with two holes to play in the Masters, eventually falling to Angel Cabrera in a two-hole playoff. Instead of becoming the oldest player to win a major, the 48-year-old Kentuckian suffered his second excruciating near miss in a major (he lost to Mark Brooks in a playoff at the 1996 PGA Championship).

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Just don't expect Perry to mope around TPC Louisiana in this week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans after taking last week off. That wouldn't be Kenny being Kenny. This is a player, after all, who recently said he doesn't need a sports psychologist because "my faith is my psychologist."

"You know what, everything is a bonus now, it really is," Perry said during the Masters. "I'm just going through each and every day enjoying life a little bit."

Perry has had plenty to enjoy lately. He has more victories on the PGA TOUR in the last 12 months (four) than anyone else on the planet. And those wins all paled to the euphoria he experienced while being on the victorious Ryder Cup team last fall in his home state.

Yet it seemed as though Perry had one arm in the Green Jacket when he almost holed his tee shot at the par-3 16th at Augusta National to take a two-shot lead -- only to bogey the last two holes, as well as the second hole of the playoff. It was a bitter finish to what was shaping up to be a storybook week for Perry, who has a mom fighting cancer and a father with a history of heart problems.

To understand how difficult it is to come that close to your first major at that advanced age, all you have to do is ask the guy who has won 14 majors.

"Well, of course you feel bad for Kenny," Tiger Woods said Monday. "He's 48 years old, and (we) don't know how much more chances he's going to get. Kenny's situation is very similar to what Raymond Floyd dealt with at the (1990) Masters (when he) lost in a playoff to (Nick) Faldo and didn't know how many more chances he's going to get to get back there again. Your time is running out, and I think that's one of the reasons why Raymond took it hard and one of the reasons why if Kenny takes it hard."

But Woods pointed out one important thing: Two years after Floyd lost in a playoff to Faldo, at 49, he almost won the 1992 Masters, finishing in second, two shots behind Fred Couples.

As heartbreaking as that playoff loss was to Faldo, Floyd recovered to almost win a second Green Jacket two years later. Other top golfers expect Perry to duplicate that kind of perseverance.

"If Kenny Perry wants to win a major, he's going the right way about it," three-time major champion Padraig Harrington said. "Because he's going to sit back and figure out why he lost. And when it becomes sufficiently painful, he will take steps not to make those mistakes again.

"Is there still time? Absolutely. If you go through all the stats, he was comfortably the best player in the Masters. This tells me that talent-wise, he has more than enough to, as he put it, close the deal."

Perry took plenty of criticism for his scheduling last year. (He played in only one major, the PGA Championship, having to withdraw after one round because of an eye injury; he wasn't eligible for the Masters, didn't try to qualify for the U.S. Open and skipped the British Open.) But it was hard to argue with Perry's results after he won three tournaments and the Americans won the Ryder Cup.

Most thought Perry's run would end this year, and he would start concentrating on joining the Champions Tour next summer. Most were wrong, however.

Not only did Perry win the FBR Open in a playoff this year, he has a TOUR-high, six top-10 finishes, he ranks third in the FedExCup standings and his Official World Golf Ranking is a career-best fifth.

So maybe you can teach an old pro some new tricks. Instead of avoiding the majors this year, he's concentrating on them. That became clear when he was asked about a new TaylorMade driver he recently put in his bag.

"I put this new driver in play, and I told my caddie, 'I think I can win a U.S. Open with this driver, because I'm driving it so straight,' " Perry said.

Imagine that. A guy in his late 40s who admits he neither works out nor watches what he eats is talking about winning perhaps the most difficult major. Why not? Vijay Singh has played his best golf in his 40s and Couples, 49, has had two good chances to this year at Riviera and the Shell Houston Open.

"I think technology has helped us," Perry said. "I think the golf ball goes a long way now, and the driver. There are quite a few guys in their mid 40s still playing very good out here. In the long run, I'd take a guy with more experience and know-how."

Experience does help, but Perry made two key mental mistakes down the stretch in the Masters: He tried a bump-and-run chip at the 17th that led to a bogey (he later admitted he should have tried a flop shot), and he hit a driver into a bunker on the 72nd hole when a 3-wood short of the bunker would have been the more prudent play.

But look at what we're doing: We're analyzing Perry's play in a major.

Couldn't do that last year.

Perry will never second-guess his scheduling in 2008. But he admits the four majors best define a player's career.

Now, you know, everybody looks at winning majors as very important, and I would agree," he said. "They are going to say, you need to win majors if you are going to be the upper echelon of the PGA TOUR players out there."

Perry will be grinding away this week as he continues another unique quest: Trying to win seven more PGA TOUR events so he can earn lifetime status with 20 career wins. That's quite a goal for someone who had to borrow money from his church to keep his struggling career alive two decades ago. But that's not the main item on his radar.

"You know what?" he said. "I'm looking forward to Bethpage Black (where the U.S. Open is being held). I'm looking forward to the British, to the PGA. I know I can do it now, because it was fun. I was actually having fun in the moment out there."

The Champions Tour can wait.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.