Kenny Perry

He started playing golf when he was 7, and his father first showed him the game. He played in his first competitive event at 11 and won the 1978 Kentucky State High School Championship. In 1995, Perry bought 142 acres of land and borrowed more than $2.5 million to design and build the only public course in his hometown, Country Creek. He created it for mid-to-high handicappers and has kept it affordable. Member of 1996, 2003, 2005, and 2009 Presidents Cup Teams and the 2004 and '08 Ryder Cup Teams. A PGA Tour member from 1987-2015, he played in 641 events and made 464 cuts, including 104 top-10 and 10 runner-up finishes. Has earned $32.1 million on just the PGA Tour, plus over $11 million on the PGA Tour Champions. Between 1987 and 2010, he was never out of the top-125 of the money list and only outside of the top 100 once, in 2006, when he had surgery on his right knee.
2011 Notes: Split time between the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, making 10 appearances on the senior circuit. He was among the top 10 seven times. He experienced a bittersweet first career win on the PGA Tour Champions when he won the SAS Championship one day after his sister, Kay, passed away from breast cancer. The victory in Cary, N.C., came in his 11th career PGA Tour Champions start and made him the fourth player in SAS history to claim his first title at the event. They also became the fifth of six first-time winners of the 2011 PGA Tour Champions. He made 13 PGA Tour appearances, making five cuts. Their best finish was a T-38th in the Viking Classic; they also finished T-39th at The Players Championship in May and was T-39th at The Greenbrier Classic.
2012 Notes: Finished in the top 10 in half of his 18 starts on the PGA Tour Champions but registered just one victory early in the season. He ran away from the field in The ACE Group Classic, claiming his second career Champions Tour title by five strokes over Bernhard Langer. He finished second to Michael Allen in the Encompass Insurance Pro-Am in Tampa. He closed with a 64 in TPC Twin Cities to finish T-3rd in the 3M Championship, three strokes back of Bernhard Langer. At Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich., set the 18-hole Senior PGA Championship scoring record with a 62 in the final round, finishing ninth. That sizzling score was tied in 2016 at Harbor Shores by the eventual champion, Rocco Mediate.
Perry made only five PGA Tour starts, the first time he had less than 13 appearances on that tour since 1987. Their best effort was a T-29th in the Transitions Championship. He was teamed with Sean O'Hair to win the Franklin Templeton Shootout by one shot over Charles Howell III and Rory Sabbatini. It was his third victory in the event. He was a 2005 winner with John Huston and a 2008 winner with Scott Hoch.
2013 Notes: It was a banner year that led him to win the PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year. He played in 20 events, winning three times, with two of them - the U.S. Senior Open and the Constellation Senior Players - being majors. His last win was at the end of the year in a playoff in the AT&T Championship. They also had three runner-up finishes and were second in earnings. He played three times on the PGA Tour, making two cuts, best finish T-33rd in the HP Byron Nelson. Making the year even more powerful was that after the ACE Group Classic in February, he underwent surgery on his left knee for a torn meniscus and was out of action until mid-April.
2014 Notes: He continued his streak of winning senior majors with a victory in the Regions Tradition. The streak was broken the following week when he finished T-13th in the Senior PGA Championship. He finished fourth in the Constellation Senior Players Championship, his sixth top-10 finish of the year. He won again at the 3M Championship. He ended the year with nine top-10s, 4th in the Schwab Rankings, and 5th on the money list.
2015 Notes: He played frequently on the PGA Tour in the first half of the year (a total of nine events), and his best finish came when he posted four rounds in the 60s to finish T-16th in the AT&T Byron Nelson. He said goodbye to his PGA Tour career at the Memorial Tournament, where he missed the cut, with rounds of 71-73 (he notched three career wins at the Memorial). He transitioned full-time to the PGA Tour Champions in early June and recorded his only victory when he successfully defended his 3M Championship, becoming the first player in its 23-year history to repeat as winner. Earlier in the year, they finished T-2nd at the Insperity Invitational, losing in a playoff, along with Tom Lehman, to Ian Woosnam, who birdied the first extra hole. He played the final 12 holes of Sunday's round with back problems but got into overtime at The Woodlands CC after posting a 66, the lowest round of the week. I also finished T-3rd at the SAS Championship. He was in the top 10 in seven of his 14 PGA Tour Champions starts, was 12th on the money list, and 12th in the Charles Schwab Cup rankings.
2016 Notes: Played in 19 events and had three top-10s. Started his year with a T-6th in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. He had his second top-10 of the year a month later with a T-3rd in the Chubb Classic. Was T-10th with partner Scott Hoch in the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf. He was 41st on the money list and 40th in the Charles Schwab Cup rankings.
2017 Notes: He had a terrific year; in 22 starts was in the top-three four times as he finished fourth on the money list with $1,728,070. His big prize was winning the U.S. Senior Open, his ninth career title, and fourth senior major. He did it, beating Kirk Triplett by two shots as his 72-hole total of 264 set a new U.S. Senior Open record for the lowest 72-hole score. He was T-2nd in the Allianz Championship and Insperity Invitational. He also finished T-3rd at the Dominion Energy Charity. Perry's year was even more remarkable because he played saddled with pain and, after the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, had rotator cuff surgery to clean up the bone spurs in his shoulder.
2018 Notes: After dealing with his injury, he didn't return to competitive golf until the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf in April, finishing T-26th with teammate Russ Cochran. He played in 18 PGA Tour Champions events and returned to the winner circle at the 3M Championship beating West Short, Jr. by 3 shots. Advanced to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the seventh time and finished 16th in the standings with $977,790 in winnings. In the playoffs was T-3rd at the Invesco QQQ.
He joined the "junior circuit" for the first time since playing in the Memorial in 2015 when he played in the Memorial Tournament and the U.S. Open, he missed the cut in both of them.
2019 Notes: Played in 16 PGA Tour Champions events with three top-ten finishes. He was 42nd on the final Schwab rankings. At the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, he made an eagle on his last hole in the final round to shoot 66 and finish T-6th, three shots back of winner Scott McCarron. He was T-7th at the Bridgestone Senior Players and T-9th at Dick's Sporting Goods Open.
2020 & 2021 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour Champions events with two top-ten finishes. It was 35th in the Schwab rankings and 36th on the money list with earnings of $936,061. Lost in a four-man playoff to Shane Bertsch and finished T-2nd at the 2020 Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge. He came to the final hole with a one-shot lead at 14-under par, but his tee shot wound up against a rock wall and led to a closing bogey and a playoff. Carded a final-round 8-under 64 at the 2020 Dominion Energy Charity Classic and finished T-6th. He ended the two-year season with a T-20th at the Charles Schwab Cup Classic.
2022 Notes: After playing a full schedule on both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions since 1987, Perry didn't play in any events during the year, taking a hiatus to take care of his ailing wife, Sandy, who is battling Alzheimer's. He is caring for his wife in the hope that the disease will be cured someday. Sandy struggles not so much with long-term memory, but with the here and now, along with simple tasks she once performed easily.
2023 Notes: With the help of family and friends, Perry decided to play in a small number of events with Sandy coming with him. Starting in Dallas at the Invited Celebrity Classic, he finished T-40th. He played at Insperity Invitational but withdrew after a first-round 74, citing back pain. He returned at the Regions Tradition and was T-28th.