Kenny Perry is haunted by losing a major at Valhalla. J.B. Holmes helped the US to a Ryder Cup triumph at the course in 2008, then was tested by brain surgery.
However, both Kentucky heroes are to tee off today at the 96th PGA Championship seeking an unlikely home-state victory, although Holmes won his first title since 2011 brain surgery this season at Charlotte, while Perry, who turns 54 on Sunday, has won twice on the Champions Tour this year.
The course where Tiger Woods beat Bob May in a playoff for the 2000 PGA Championship and the third leg of the “Tiger Slam” of four major wins in a row saw its first major four years earlier when Perry lost to Mark Brooks in a PGA Championship playoff.
Perry watched his rival finish from the television commentary booth, not feeling the need to prepare for the playoff eventually forced upon him.
“It took me a year, year-and-a-half, to get over that loss,” Perry said. “It taught me a lot about finishing and not getting ahead of yourself. It made me grow a little bit.”
In 2009, Perry led the Masters by two strokes with two holes to play, but a bogey-bogey finish set up a playoff and he lost to Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.
“They were two blows in my career,” Perry said. “You can either fold up and kick the dog, feel sorry about yourself or go on. Once I got through it, the loss at the Masters really didn’t bother me that bad. I won two weeks later at Hartford. I guess it just made me tougher more than anything. I’ve had way more ups than I’ve had downs and not a lot of guys can really say that playing golf.”
Holmes had malformations in the brain that led to a 2011 operation that sidelined him for six months.
“When you go through anything like that, it’s going to change you,” Holmes said. “I’ve tried to really focus on more just appreciating the opportunities I have and if you have a bad week or miss the cut, doesn’t really matter. It’s just a golf game. It’s not always easy to do. I still get frustrated with myself sometimes and not always react the way I would like to, but I’m working on it and doing the best I can and I’ve improved on it and it’s definitely helped me a whole lot this year.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB