Perry victorious in Connecticut

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June 29, 2009

Memories of his late slump at the Masters has spurred Kenny Perry to victory at the Travelers Championship.

Memories of relinquishing his Masters lead over the final holes two months ago spurred Kenny Perry to victory at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut on Sunday.
PGA Tour veteran Perry claimed his second victory of the year and jumped to the top of the FedEx Cup standings when he won the Travelers by three strokes from David Toms in Cromwell.
Perry, 48, shot a final-round, seven-under-par 63 at TPC River Highlands to reach 22 under par for the tournament, three shots clear of Toms, who closed with a 65, while Paul Goydos, the 54-hole leader, finished in third at 18 under following a 67.
Ryan Moore (64), Hunter Mahan (64) and Ben Curtis (65) tied for fourth.
Perry had Masters victory within his grasp at Augusta National in April as he led the major by two shots with two to play, only to fall into a play-off with Chad Campbell and eventual champion Angel Cabrera and having to settle for a tie for second.
Perry made no mistake this time as he won his 12th tournament since his 40th birthday in August 2000, his 14th in total and added to the FBR Open title he sealed at TPC Scottsdale, Arizona, back in February.
“I lipped out on a couple, made a nice birdie on 15 and I just kept focus,” Perry said.
“I just kept saying ‘if they catch me, great, I can live with that, but I’m not giving this one away’. So that was my idea.”
Perry, who had tied the course record with an opening 61 on Thursday, had started the day a shot behind Goydos but as the overnight leader got off to a steady start, his veteran playing partner in the final group managed birdies at the par-four second and par-five sixth.
Goydos grabbed his first birdie at the par-four seventh but the lead changed hands at the next hole, a par three, which Perry birdied after dialling in off the tee to inside three feet and Goydos bogeyed after missing the green.
The gap widened further at the par-four 10th when Perry birdied and Goydos bogeyed to slip to 15 under while David Toms in the penultimate group birdied the 11th and John Merrick birdied the 12th almost simultaneously to assume a tie for second at 16 under.
Toms added birdies at 13, 15 and 16 while Goydos finished eagle, birdie, par, birdie but Perry clinched the title with further birdies of his own at 11, 15 and 17.
“It started with the 61, right out of the gate,” Perry said. “I played beautifully the next two rounds, didn’t putt as well, but a little bit better yesterday and today it all kind of came together.”
Tag Ridings and Casey Wittenberg finished in a tie for seventh at 16 under while Scott Verplank shot an eight-under-par 62 to get to 15 under for a tie for ninth with Bo Van Pelt.
US Open champion Lucas Glover claimed a tie for 11th place six days after his Bethpage Black heroics with a final-round 65 to join Merrick (69) and Anthony Kim (67) at 14 under.
Bubba Watson posted a 63 to get to 13 under in a tie for 14th DJ Trahan, Boo Weekley and 50-year-old Michael Allen.
Greg Chalmers of Australia finished as the highest-placed international player after closing with a four-under 66 to end the week at 11 under in a tie 19th.
Sergio Garcia of Spain closed with a 66 to finish the event at seven under, tied for 43rd.
(USA unless stated, par 70):
258 Kenny Perry 61 68 66 63
261 Paul Goydos 63 68 63 67, David Toms 65 65 66 65
263 Hunter Mahan 66 70 63 64, Ben Curtis 68 64 66 65, Ryan Moore 66 65 68 64
264 Casey Wittenberg 67 65 65 67, Tag Ridings 64 69 65 66
265 Bo Van Pelt 66 68 64 67, Scott Verplank 67 68 68 62
266 Anthony Kim 66 66 67 67, John Merrick 65 67 65 69, Lucas Glover 65 71 65 65
267 Michael Allen 68 65 67 67, Boo Weekley 64 71 67 65, Bubba Watson 66 68 70 63, D.J. Trahan 66 68 68 65
268 Zach Johnson 67 68 66 67
269 Robert Garrigus 66 69 68 66, Kyle Stanley 66 67 70 66, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 64 71 68 66, Bryce Molder 67 66 67 69
270 Michael Letzig 70 66 65 69, Chris Riley 67 67 66 70, J J Henry 66 70 68 66
271 Will MacKenzie 68 68 66 69, Chris Stroud 71 65 68 67, Kris Blanks 68 66 70 67, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 65 69 70 67, Brian Gay 66 68 70 67, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 68 68 67 68, Johnson Wagner 66 68 70 67, Webb Simpson 67 69 70 65
272 Spencer Levin 64 69 67 72, Brendon De Jonge 70 66 70 66, Matt Bettencourt 67 67 69 69, James Driscoll 68 69 68 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 67 70 66 69, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 67 67 66 72, Nathan Green (Aus) 69 67 68 68, Justin Leonard 69 66 68 69, Jason Bohn 67 70 67 68
273 Aaron Watkins 65 67 70 71, Scott McCarron 70 67 70 66, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 69 71 66, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 67 70 66
274 Bill Lunde 67 68 70 69, Colt Knost 66 66 69 73, Mark Brooks 67 68 71 68, Brandt Snedeker 67 67 69 71
275 Charles Warren 63 72 69 71, Patrick Sheehan 67 70 67 71, Kevin Streelman 68 66 68 73, Charlie Wi (Kor) 66 68 71 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 66 70 70 69, Joe Durant 67 68 68 72, Jay Williamson 67 68 70 70, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 65 71 70 69
276 D.A. Points 65 72 69 70, Ricky Barnes 65 70 72 69, Aron Price (Aus) 67 68 70 71, Chad Campbell 67 69 69 71
277 Luke List 66 69 70 72, Tim Petrovic 68 69 71 69, Rich Beem 68 67 72 70, Gary Woodland 69 67 72 69, Bob Heintz 68 67 68 74
279 Chez Reavie 66 67 73 73, Jason Gore 68 68 73 70
280 Jerry Kelly 65 70 73 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 71 66 72 71
282 Vaughn Taylor 69 68 72 73