ShareThisThis time, Argentina got its playoff. This time, Argentina got its green jacket.
It has been 41 years since Roberto de Vicenzo uttered those famous words, "What a stupid I am."
It was Kenny Perry's turn Sunday.
On the verge of one of those great American success stories, Perry did what neither Phil Mickelson nor Tiger Woods could do with their rousing play earlier in the day.
Kenny Perry beat Kenny Perry.
So it is an Argentine success story that was written instead on yet another spectacular Easter Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club.
Angel Cabrera won the Masters. He was two strokes down with two holes to play. His ball was rattling around the woods to the right of the 18th fairway on the first sudden-death playoff hole. And there he was, a hole later, tapping in for the title.
His famous countryman, de Vicenzo, seemed headed for a playoff with Bob Goalby here in 1968, until he signed an in correct scorecard (kept by his playing partner Tommy Aaron) and Goalby was declared the winner.
Don't cry for Kenny Perry, Argentina. You've waited plenty long.
But feel a little sorry for him, if you don't mind. He is 48, his career in that twilight stage, and this has happened to him twice now in major championships. It is all his resume is lacking. And it was right there, so deliciously, tantalizingly there.
"The tournament was mine to win and I lost it," Perry said. "I don't know if I'll ever have this opportunity again. I know I can do it. I was there. I was having fun out there in the moment. I was good enough to win. But I didn't win.
"Great players find ways to win and that's what Angel did. He's won two majors. I've had two chances and I've blown two majors."
No one can be any harsher on Perry than he was on himself. That's the case now and it was the case in 1996 when he lost to Mark Brooks on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff in the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
"But I was young at Valhalla," he said. "Here, I thought I had the experience, I thought I had enough to hang in there. Instead, I guess I've got two to think about now."
As he strode from the 16th tee, his eyes locked on the flight of the most perfect iron shot he'd ever hit, it was hard to imagine Perry having to swallow such heartbreak. He almost aced the par-3 hole, ending up with a kick-in birdie, and was two up with two to play.
But he blocked his drive just a tad on No. 17, then his approach shot carried about 10 feet too far and rolled over the back of the green. He skulled the chip and two-putted for bogey. Up one on 18, he drove into the fairway bunker and pull-hooked his next shot. With almost no room to work and the edge of a bunker to deal with, Perry actually hit about as good a shot as possible and stared down a 15-foot par putt to win.
"You know, I played great all week, but I never read the greens well enough. I three-putted No. 13 and that really hurt. I barely got it going from the top shelf up there and it ran way past. I had a four-footer at the seventh hole for birdie and I pushed that one.
"But the one on 18, I hit it too easy and that's the biggest disappointment of all. I know you have to be aggressive with that putt. How many chances do you get to win the Masters? And I go and hit it too easy. Think of the great players who have had that putt to win the Masters. Mark O'Meara made that putt. Tiger has made that putt. I didn't make it.
"And that's what it comes down to. The great players get the job done. The average players don't. I'm not going pity-party on myself. All I know is the big stars make it happen. They are where they are and we're down here."
One of golf's truly good guys, Perry beat himself up pretty good after this one, his wife and kids listening in the back and blinking back tears.
His 85-year-old father, Ken, the man he hugged and cried with after that stirring Ryder Cup win last fall, was behind the counter at Country Creek, the course Kenny built in his hometown of Franklin, Ky., watching on the big screen. His mom, Mildred, has multiple myeloma cancer and has really been down of late.
"I hope they're not too sad," Perry said.
So this wasn't merely about his legacy as a golfer. It was about being a son, a husband and father, about letting people down. It was a bitter pill.
Don't cry for Kenny Perry, Argentina.
But keep a kind thought.
(Contact Dave Hackenberg at dhack@theblade.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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