Kenny Perry wins 2009 Payne Stewart Award

Kenny Perry is the 2009 winner of the Payne Stewart Award, given annually to a "player sharing Stewart's respect for the traditions of the game, his commitment to uphold the game's heritage of charitable support and his professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct."

In other words, the award goes each year to one of the PGA Tour's good guys. Stewart was killed 10 years ago in a plane crash on the week of the Tour Championship, and since then the winners have been Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (2000), Ben Crenshaw (2001), Nick Price (2002), Tom Watson (2003), Jay Haas (2004), Brad Faxon (2005) Gary Player (2006), Hal Sutton (2007) and Davis Love III (2008).

For more on Perry, read Alan Shipnuck's profile from Sports Illustrated. For more on Stewart's tragic death, read this story from Sports Illustrated.

The complete text of the press release from the PGA Tour is below:

Did Kenny Perry improve his lie at FBR? You be the judge

Kenny Perry has been cleared of any wrongdoing for his pre-shot actions during his playoff victory at the FBR Open in February, but the debate continues in golf circles. (For the definitive dissection of the incident, see Lawrence Donegan's article in The Observer.) The question at hand is whether Perry improved his lie, and, if so, whether he intended to.

It seems most agree on the first point, that Perry's lie did get better. The second question, of intent, is thornier because of its subjectivity. Was he trying to improve his lie, or was the improvement incidental? John Paramor, chief referee of the European Tour, said in Donegan's article that he agreed with the PGA Tour's ruling, that Perry was not guilty of an infraction:

"The fact is the player is allowed to put his club behind the ball, otherwise he would never be allowed to address his ball in any circumstance. As soon as any player puts his club on the grass behind the ball, then the grass will be flattened," he says. "The issue is, is there excessive pressing down with the club?" In other words, was there intent? "Looking at this, I don't think Kenny Perry did use excessive pressure when he put his club behind the ball. It does look bad, it does look like the lie was improved but, as long as there was no intent to do so, and I don't think there was, then it is not a penalty."

After watching the video below, tell us what you think of the incident in our comments section, and see what our experts had to say in this week's PGA Tour Confidential.

What to Watch For Saturday at the Zurich Classic: Jerry Kelly, Kenny Perry and Jamabalaya

By Gary Van Sickle
Senior writer, Sports Illustrated

Jerry Kelly, the Wisconsin native who hasn’t won on tour since 2002. His game has been coming around this year. He’s got the lead going into the third round, he’s a guy who likes to shape shots and that’s the kind of player who does well at the TPC at Louisiana.

Kenny Perry, of the Masters saga. He rallied to play two decent rounds, including an eagle at the par-5 18th hole Friday. He’s not out of it here, just five shots behind Kelly, although a bunched leaderboard means he’s part of a pretty big posse. A good round today could bounce him right back near the lead. Can he summon one up after that Masters letdown? We’ll see.

Jamabalaya. You can get it at a concession stand near the clubhouse. Not your everyday concession stand food. And it’s New Orleans. They don’t know how to make anything that’s not tasty. You can wash it down with a drink and a benet. Nice.

Two takes from the first tee

While watching golf coverage online this afternoon, I saw just how tough being a starter on the first tee can be, especially in a World Golf Championship. There are players from all over the globe with a million different pronunciations.

On Saturday, though, the starter stumbled over the seemingly simple introduction of Rory McIlroy and Kenny Perry.

As McIlroy stuck a tee in the ground, the starter began: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third round of the 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship. From......from.......

"Northern Ireland," somebody said as the crowd laughed.

The starter caught himself. "Mr. Perry has the honor," he said.

"Oh, I thought I did," McIlroy said.

McIlroy scooped up his ball, and Perry stepped to the box.

"Age before beauty," Perry said as the gallery laughed.

After Perry teed off, McIlroy placed his ball down again.

"From Northern Ireland," the starter said, bringing a new round of chuckles.

Sunday at the FBR

The first thing I’ll be checking on is Pat Perez’s spot in the player parking lot. The Scottsdale resident is commuting from home and has been arriving at the TPC in some serious heavy metal.

On Friday he went vato style with a cherry low-rider with multi-colored metallic paint and blinding chrome dubs. On Saturday he roared up in a customized black-on-black Ferrari F430. Assuming neither car was acquired in the last few days, imagine how Perez might splurge now that he’s actually won a freakin’ tournament!

As for the golf at hand, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Scott Piercy plays in the final group alongside that cagey veteran, Kenny Perry. Piercy has an outrageous amount of swagger for a rookie but almost enough game to back it up. He’s spent his whole career on various mini-tours trying to claw his way out here and now he’s got the opportunity of a lifetime. I don’t think he’ll shrink from the enormity of it.

Saturday at the FBR

I can’t wait to watch Kenny Perry during the FBR’s third round. On Friday he shot a smooth 63 to surge into a tie for fifth, and no one plays a more entertaining brand of smash-mouth golf than Perry when he’s on one of his trademark tears.

At this year’s Mercedes Championship he admitted to woofing to other players that he never works out yet they still can’t hit it past this 48-year old country boy with a largely homemade swing.

Last summer, for a Ryder Cup preview story, I journeyed to Perry’s tiny hometown of Franklin, Kentucky. I was happy to play a round at Country Creek, the course Perry designed and built with his own money. The man himself was too busy to show me around but I did even better, as his 84-year-old dad acted as my caddie and chauffeur.

Mr. Perry and I roared around in his pimped-out red golf cart, a Christmas present from his son, and on the couple of occasions when I made decent-length putts the old man tooted the horn and gave me a thumbs-up.

On every tee box Mr. Perry would point to a faraway tree and say, "Just hit a high draw over that tree."

Eventually I had to break the news to him that, unlike his son, I didn’t have a high draw I can carry 290 yards. There aren’t many trees on TPC Scottsdale but on Saturday I’ll be thinking of Mr. Perry every time Kenny blasts a tee shot.

Here come the old guys

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- For all the talk of young guns Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas heading into the season-opening Mercedes Championship, the leaderboard after round one was more notable for its familiar, veteran names.

There's Kenny Perry, 48, who had three wins last year and says he's liable to run off another two or three in a row. He shot a 5-under-par 68 despite two loose front-nine bogeys and lurks a shot behind leader Geoff Ogilvy.   

"You know what, y'all may think I'm crazy," Perry said before the tournament began, "but I want to get 20 wins. I've got 12. Somehow I've got to win eight more times. I turn 50 in a year and a half. And is that a realistic goal? I think it is. I still think I can play well up into my mid-50s and be successful out here."

Tied with Perry was his playing partner Ernie Els, who is only 39 but already answering questions about the impending "big 4-0" next October. Els looked like his old self Thursday, the guy who won his first major back in 1994.

Then there's Davis Love III a shot back. He's 44. Joining Love at 4-under was Steve Lowery, 48. Ronald Reagan was in the White House when Love turned pro in 1985. The now pathetic San Francisco 49ers actually ruled the NFL. (It's true. Look it up.)

"I want to make Freddie's Presidents Cup team and get back to being competitive in the majors," Love said. "I had a taste of it at the British where I felt like I was close. And then, you know, I want to make it to the Tour Championship. I didn't make it to the Tour Championship the last couple of years, and I want to play for the FedExCup. Been kind of boring watching other guys play for it (laughter)."

When it comes to his career outlook, Love sounds a whole lot like Perry, who caught fire in his 40s and, not surprisingly, says he takes inspiration from Vijay Singh (46 next month).

"Somebody, I guess in the pro-am [Wednesday], said, 'The way you are hitting it, you could play out here for ten more years,'" Love said. "I said, 'Yeah, exactly.' That's what I want to do. I want to stay on this Tour competitive longer than anybody of my generation. I want to keep on playing."

And from whom does Love take inspiration? That would be his mother Penta, who followed him on foot for every shot of his round Thursday, despite the fact that Kapalua's Plantation Course, built into the side of the West Maui Mountains, is the undisputed hilliest, hardest walk on the PGA Tour. She's 83.

Kenny Perry: Hero of the couch potatoes

Vijay Singh keeps defying age with a storied fitness regime that keeps him as strong and as flexible at age 45 as any twentysomething. So what does Kenny Perry, the Tour's other ageless wonder, do to stay in championship form at 48?

Not much more than you or me, except for all the golf.

"I don't work out," Perry said Wednesday at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Maui, Hawaii, where he earned an invitation with his three Tour wins in 2008. "I don't really watch what I eat. I just play a lot of golf."

He credits genetics for his success late in his pro career, and a short game that, like some say about life, began at 40.

"For whatever reason my game came more to me [after 40]," Perry said. "My short game came to me. Usually you lose your short game at 40. My chipping is still not great, but the putter is what has really turned my career around, I think, these last few years. I mean, I feel very confident, very comfortable over the putts now."

Perry says he feels healthy and strong despite a trying offseason during which both his parents and his mother-in-law were hospitalized. His mother's fighting cancer, his father has heart problems and his mother-in-law hurt herself in a fall. You might remember his father, Ken, during last year's Ryder Cup at Valhalla, wearing overalls and a no-nonsense mien that told you everything you needed to know about the hardscrabble roots of the victorious American team. Guys like Perry, J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley are more spittoon than silver spoon.

"If I can get my head back in the game and focus on my golf I'll be OK," Perry said. "There's a lot of issues right now."

Another reason for Perry's middle-age renaissance could be his optimism. At an age where some guys are waiting for the easy money on the Champions Tour, Perry is still hungry for more Tour wins. How many? Well, he has 12 now and 20 sounds like a nice number.

"Somehow I've got to win eight more times," Perry said. "I turn 50 in a year and a half. And is that a realistic goal? I think it is. I still think I can play well up into my mid-50s and be successful out here."

Perry's also staying young at heart. Did you know he has a myspace page? One of is friends his a guy from Lake Mary, Fla., named Camilo. Another is a singer named Justin. Maybe 40 is the new 20 after all.

Ryder Cup disappointment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Disappointing is the only way I can describe the scene on the first tee Friday morning. I remember what it was like two years ago at the K Club. The roar of the crowd when local hero Darren Clarke, whose wife had recently passed away, walked from the putting green to the first tee was deafening, like nothing I've ever heard on a golf course anywhere. I get goose bumps just recalling it.

So I guess I was expecting too much when Kenny Perry finally appeared before his fellow Kentuckians. The front nine at Valhalla is wide open, and the area around the first tee is devoid of trees. Plus, the grandstand behind the tee is Lilliputian compared to the monsters the Euros erect on their courses. So it was a smaller crowd.

They were enthusiastic, yes, and as loud as they could be. But it wasn't deafening. And if I were a European player, I wouldn't have felt remotely intimidated. As Perry approached the tee ground, fans were chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" They quickly switched to singing their hero's name in a high-note-low-note singsong--"Ken-nee Pair-ree! Ken-nee Pair-ree!" Jim Furyk, his partner, began waving his hands with his index fingers stretched out, like he was conducting the choir.

Perhaps the cheers would've been even louder if Perry had hit the opening tee ball in the alternate shot match, but that honor went to Lee Westwood for the Euros, and then Furyk for the Americans.
It was a nice moment, it was a memorable moment. But it was far from deafening. A surprising number of European followers were in the stands, too, and they seemed more vocal. Give them points for originality, too. In the crowds milling about the hillside right of the tee and the first fairway, a half dozen Euro followers appeared in full matador costumes of bright red and black with the little black hats. Impressive. Another fan I talk to said I'd just missed an earlier group (probably following Padraig Harrington) dressed as leprechauns.

Maybe I set the bar too high after the K Club. I really thought the Kentuckians would blow the roof off this place, but they didn't. Whether it was the volume  or how the Americans played the easy opening hole (three of the four groups missed the green in regulations), it felt the same--disappointing.

Valhalla's 18th ready to provide more drama

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The 547-yard, par-5 18th hole at Valhalla Golf Club is tailor made for drama. Bob May made a miraculous 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th Sunday during the 2000 PGA Championship, only to see Tiger Woods force a playoff by making his six-foot birdie putt.

Reachable in two shots for nearly every player in the field, eagles can certainly be made this week. But train wrecks are possible too — just ask Kenny Perry.

In the 1996 PGA Championship, Perry headed to the 18th tee Sunday with a two-shot lead over Mark Brooks. After he hooked his drive left and made bogey, Brooks made birdie and then won in a playoff.

While the tee shot is downhill, the second shot on this dogleg-right is uphill to a green that is shaped like an upside down U. The center section is perched on a shelf and flanked by ridges. Everything tilts sharply from back to front, and there is a deep bunker that separates the left front from the right front. (Click on the image for a better look.)

Any player whose ball stops in the middle faces a lightning-fast, heavily-breaking putt down a ridge. So controlling approach shots will be the key to success on the hole called Gahm Over. (Dwight Gahm is the founder of Valhalla.)

Boo Weekley tried his hand at making one of those rollercoaster putts Thursday. The Floridian hit six putts to the front-right hole location. Several almost stopped as they inched toward the ridge, but all six then gathered speed and rolled at least six feet past the hole.

Perry, who practiced once again Thursday with J.B. Holmes and has played the course countless times, knows how to use those slopes to his advantage. From 225 yards out, he hit his approach shot into the right ridge and then watched his ball roll back to within three feet of the hole.

Shots that go through the green will get snared in some of the juiciest rough on the course. Perry tried a few chip shots from there, and while he floated his ball into the fringe, he couldn't make anything stop near the hole.

The match play format of the Ryder Cup does not ensure that the 18th will see a lot of action this weekend; some matches will be decided before they reach the final hole. But any match that reaches the 18th could end spectacularly. And for Perry, winning on the 18th might even exorcise some demons.

(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)