OMAHA, Neb. - Kenny Perry completed his comeback from 10 shots down after the second round to win the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday.
Perry shot a final-round 63 at the Omaha Country Club and won his second consecutive senior major by five strokes over Fred Funk. He set two tournament records over the last 36 holes - for the 64-63 finish and for the size of deficit he overcame.
Perry, a 52-year-old Kentuckian, started Sunday two shots behind leader Michael Allen, but was in front to stay after he birdied the second and third holes and Allen bogeyed the third.
Perry’s 63 matched Allen’s Friday score for best round of the tournament and was the best in a U.S. Senior Open final round. He finished with a 13-under 267.
Rocco Mediate used three consecutive birdies on the back nine to get within two shots of Perry. But Perry birdied Nos. 14 and 15, Mediate bogeyed 16, and Perry’s lead was five shots.
Perry made par over the last three holes to lock up the $500,000 prize. He got a pat on the back from Allen as he walked off the 17th green. A wide smile crossed his face as he tapped in for par on 18.
“It all came together,” Perry said afterward. “Why, after all these years?”
Perry won 14 tournaments and more than $31.8 million on the regular tour, but he is also remembered for losing a two-shot lead with two holes to play in the 2009 Masters, eventually losing in a playoff to Angel Cabrera. He also lost a playoff in the 1996 PGA Championship. Those memories haunted him again in May when he squandered a threeshot lead with six holes to play in the Senior PGA Championship and lost by two to Kohki Idoki.
Just as he did two weeks ago in the Senior Players Championship at Fox Chapel, Pa., where he won by two shots over Fred Couples and Duffy Waldorf, Perry came from well behind to win in the hills and heat at the par-70 Omaha Country Club.
“This is by far the biggest tournament I ever won,” Perry said. “I lost the playoff at the Master’s and the PGA playoff. I didn’t get the job done. Now to have a USGA title, it’s an Open, it’s our Open, it’s what the players play for.
“To finally get it, even though it’s a Senior Open, I still regard it as a very high honor.”
The victory established Perry as the hottest thing going in senior golf. He’s the ninth player to win consecutive senior majors.
Perry found himself 10 shots down after he shot 73 on Friday. He was two back after his 64 on Saturday.
Allen, 54, needed acupuncture treatments for a pinched nerve in his neck to be able to play the last three rounds.
His five-shot lead through 36 holes was the largest the tournament has ever had. He followed his course-record 63 on Friday with a pair of 72s that left him in fifth place.
Sports, Pages 15 on 07/15/2013