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FLINT, Michigan: Kenny Perry outlasted fellow Americans Woody Austin
and Bubba Watson to capture the $5-million PGA Buick Open on
Saturday.
“I still can’t believe I won. I feel like I
need to go make a birdie out there to go win this tournament,”
Perry said.
Perry, 47, shot a final round 6-under 66 to take
his second title of the season by one shot.
“I had multiple wins in 2003, 2005 and 2008.
My forties have been pretty good for me,” Perry said.
Perry, who also won the Memorial and is now
making a march toward a berth on the US Ryder Cup team, which will
take on Europe in September at Valhalla in Perry’s home state of
Kentucky.
“I’ve been hitting great bunker shots this
week and I was very comfortable with the sand,” Perry said of his
shot on 14. “I knew I could get it up there within 10 feet of the
hole. I wasn’t trying to make it. I was just trying to get it up
there to have a realistic birdie chance at it.”
Perry finished at 19-under 269 while Austin and
Watson were still on the course. Watson missed a 12-foot birdie putt
on 18 that would have forced a playoff but it was Austin who really
let this one get away.
“I threw it away. I didn’t hit the ball
close enough to the hole the last two holes to counteract my yips
that I have when it comes to putting,” Austin said.
The winner here back in 1995, Austin made a move
with three straight birdies starting on No. 12 and then got to
20-under with a birdie at the 16th.
Nursing a one-stroke lead with two holes to
play, Austin finished bogey-bogey and in a tie for second with
Watson at 18-under.
-- AFP
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