“This is a lifetime opportunity for him,” US captain Paul Azinger said on Monday.
Azinger is partly responsible for Perry essentially wrapping up a spot on the American team so soon. He revamped the qualifying process to put more emphasis on the current year, which was a good thing for Perry. He was 79th on the money list last year, but already this year he has two victories and a playoff loss and is No. 4 in the US standings.
Consider what happened the only other time Perry played in the Ryder Cup. He qualified for the 2004 team based almost entirely on his 2003 performance, when he won three times. Not surprisingly, he played only two matches at Oakland Hills and lost them both.
Clearly, those memories linger.
“I told [wife] Sandy, this might be the worst thing I’ve ever wished for,” Perry said. “I may play poorly and get drilled.”
No need to wait for the Ryder Cup to get hammered.
There are plenty of guys who make a Ryder Cup team without winning a major. Perry might be the first to clinch a spot without having played in a major that year.
He wasn’t eligible for the Masters. Then, he chose not to go through 36-hole qualifying for the US Open the day after he won the Memorial because he was worn out. Besides, Perry said he has never played well at Torrey Pines in San Diego and wanted to conserve his strength for tour events that would give him a better chance at winning, and making the Ryder Cup team.
With only five weeks remaining in the qualifying process, Perry is virtually a certainty to make the team. Along the way, his outstanding play earned him a spot at the British Open through a special money list.
This might be Perry’s best chance to win a major, considering his form and Tiger Woods’ knee.
But he turned it down.
The 47-year-old is committed to playing this week at the John Deere Classic, and next week at Milwaukee.
He risks the respect of his peers, however.
Why would anyone skip a chance to play one of four major tournaments that define a career? How does it look when one of the top Americans ducks a major to play against the also-rans in Milwaukee?
Then again, Perry isn’t the first player to skip a major at the top of his game.
RSS