Major Disappointment

Angel Cabrera wins the 2009 Masters, and Kenny Perry is left to wonder: How many more chances will there be?

OPPORtUNITY LOST: Despite bogeys on the final two holes of regulation, Perry gamely bid to end the playoff on the first hole, narrowly missing this pitch for a birdie from 40 feet.

By John Hawkins

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

April 20, 2009

The father of three grown children hopped off the back of a golf cart and strode directly toward an outdoor podium, where the bright lights awaited, literally and figuratively. There were a few questions, nothing heavy, followed by long-winded answers full of insight and honesty.

Darkness had all but fallen, a major championship had been won and lost, and as the man explained why the biggest moment of his 22-year career had ended with a string of poor shots and uncharacteristic mistakes, a young woman stood crying in a far corner of the interview area, her heart shattered, her sunglasses unable to conceal tears she didn't want her daddy to see.

When Kenny Perry's oldest daughter, Lesslye, was born in May 1984, he was a mini-tour miner making $800 a month and living with his wife, Sandy, in his uncle's apartment. Two piles of sponsor's donations had come and gone. It took Perry three more years to make the PGA Tour and nine more after that to contend at a major championship.

Yet another 13 years would pass before a second chance arrived. A beautiful Sunday afternoon, a golf course for the taking, a back-nine lead to himself despite furious rallies by the world's two best players and the surreal atmosphere generated by galleries witnessing something special.

"I was in awe of what they were doing," Perry would say of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, both of whom were mounting potentially historic comebacks while paired six groups ahead. "I saw they got to 10 under, and I was like, 'Wow, they must be having a lot of fun up there,' but I knew they had to do something spectacular to catch me."

Both rallies died one hole short of the finish line, which meant Perry had the 73rd Masters and all its glorious spoils firmly in his grasp. Two pars is all he would need. Two bogeys is what he made, and when Angel Cabrera beat Kentucky's finest on the second hole of sudden death with the routine par Perry found so elusive, the effects of that bitter end were hard to miss as thousands of patrons formed a forlorn procession from the 10th green to the front gate.

Up one big hill, then down another, only much faster. From the roar of the crowd to the route of the throng's departure, this Masters and the people who attended it followed an identical path. Few final rounds at this magical ballpark have produced such sharp competitive mood swings. Perry, who at 48 would have become the game's oldest major champion, is also one of its purest ball-strikers, but after stuffing an 8-iron inside a foot at the par-3 16th, which provided him with a two-stroke advantage, the big fella seemingly forgot how to play.

Asked during his post-round news conference to identify the one shot he would like to play again, Perry immediately chose his first putt at the par-5 13th, a 30-footer that trickled six feet past and helped turn a no-brainer birdie into a par. It seemed like a strange answer given that KP missed his final four approach shots, the last three by considerable margins.

Many media stops later, one of pro golf's gentlest souls could be found alone in the Augusta National locker room. Clearly, the medley of mistakes he had made with a Masters in his pocket was weighing on his mind. "All I had to do was pull this one out," he said, removing a 64-degree wedge from his bag. "Hit something up in the air, something with a little spin that would check up right near the hole."

It was a lament with legs. After his dazzling birdie at the 16th, Perry got a huge break when his drive at the 17th caromed off a tree and bounced back into the fairway. From 180 yards he hit the first of those four poor irons, leaving him a relatively simple third from just off the green's back-left edge. That's where everything started going wrong, where Perry opened the door for Cabrera and Chad Campbell, who burned the right edge from 15 feet on the final hole of regulation and tied the others at 12-under 276, then whiffed a four-footer on his return to the 18th in the playoff.

Instead of pitching or even putting his ball at the 17th, Perry's bump-and-run roared past the flagstick, made a sharp right turn and tumbled off the front of the green. He would confess that an overactive right hand has given him problems with that shot since last summer, which only makes the ensuing bogey a mental error as much as a physical one. Why try something you can't trust, especially at the most pressure-packed point of your life?

As was the case at the 2007 U.S. Open, Cabrera capitalized on the deficiencies of others to claim his second major title in 22 months, but the sight of the strapping Argentine in an emerald blazer should hardly come as a shock. He'll turn 40 this September, but Cabrera remains one of the longest hitters on earth. Without his ultra-resourceful par on the first playoff hole, however, Perry would have won despite himself right there at the 18th.