Family tragedy mars Perry's maiden win
Home > News > October 2011 >Family tragedy mars Perry's maiden win
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Kenny Perry won the SAS Championship on Sunday for his first Champions
Tour Title at the Prestonwood Country Club in North California, but it
was a bittersweet victory after his sister’s death Saturday night.
Kay
Perry passed away after a long fight with breast cancer, two years to
the day after the death of their mother Mildred Perry, also to cancer.
''When I heard the news last night, it was a long night,'' Perry said.
''I
didn't sleep a lot, thought about just getting on a plane and heading
home. But Dad was great. He called me, he said, 'Son, you just need to
go out there and represent Kay today.'''
His sister would have
been proud, Perry made a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th on his way
to a 2-under 70 and a one stroke win over Jeff Sluman and John Huston.
Sluman finished with a 70, and Huston shot a 71, while Russ Cochran, the 2010 winner, had a 71 to finish fourth at 8 under.
The
51-year-old Perry, from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, had an 11-under 205
total the highest winning score recorded in the tournament’s history.
''I
really wasn't thinking a lot about winning. I just wanted to make her
proud and somehow, you know, the eagle fell in the bottom of the cup on
17, and I felt like I know they are watching.
I felt like I had some help up there. I'm excited to win, but I'd rather have my sister back.''
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