Kenny Perry

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Perry wins in a canter

Kenny Perry won his second Champions Tour title at the ACE Group Classic on Sunday - and won it at a canter.

He did have a shaky moment on the final hole when hit his tee shot into trouble on the left, but his only danger at that stage was that he might not finish with a score of 20-under.

Losing at that stage hardly came into the equation.

He was six shots clear of his closest pursuer, Bernhard Langer, who he would eventually beat by five in closing with a 2-under 70 for the day and a 20-under 196 for the tournament

“I really wanted that (final) putt,” said Perry. “I really wanted to shoot 20 under. I didn’t want to fall back to 19 like I did at Colonial one year. I had a seven-stroke lead coming in and I double-bogeyed and I went from 21 to 19. I said, ‘I ain’t doing that this week.’ So, I was able to get that putt in. I’m ecstatic. It’s a great win for me.”

After opening with rounds of 64 and 62 to break the tour’s 36-hole record at 18-under 126, Perry closed with a tamer 2-under 70 on The Twin Eagles Club’s Talon Course to beat the 2011 winner here, Bernard Langer, by five strokes and Tom Lehman (72), Mike Goodes (69), Bill Glasson (68) by six

A 14-time winner on the regular PGA Tour, the seasoned Perry birdied three of his first eight holes on Sunday to surge into a four shot lead that grew larger, never smaller, as he marched to victory.

“He played very, very well,” said Tom Lehman, who played alongside Perry in the final round. “Two-under par today is a very good score. He was pretty much error-free throughout the day. So it was tough to put any pressure on him.”

“It was a good week,” said Langer who included an eagled at the 17th hole for the third successive day in his 70.

“I played well, it’s just that Perry ran off with it. I played well, but he put up a fantastic score again.”

After two calm sunny days and low scores, the wind got up to 20 mph with gusts of close on 30 mph on Sunday with higher scores..

Lehman was in second place for most of the day, but bogeyed 12 and 17 after hitting a pitch shot in the water..

First-round leader Larry Mize was tied for second on the last hole, but after hitting two balls into the water and he finished with a 75 to drop back into seventh place at 12 under.

“Much tougher day with the wind,” Mize said. “We had two ideal days to play and today was a tough day.”

Perry, who earned earned $240,000, fired 24 birdies in his three rounds to get within two of the tour record for a 54-hole event and tied Allen Doyle’s 1999 tournament mark for the largest margin of victory.

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