1:03The numbers are staggering.
In five years at the 3M Championship, Kenny Perry has finished no worse than a tie for seventh. His scoring average at the par-72 TPC Twin Cities in Blaine is 66.47. He has a hole-in-one and has shot in the 70s only once in 15 rounds: a 1-under 71 in the second round of 2013.
"When you get to a certain place, you just seem to get comfortable," said Perry, who won three times at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village during his career. "It's like an old pair of shoes. That's what it feels like when I come here. I understand this course, I understand how to win here."
Two inches of early-morning rain Thursday means the golf course will play long with pillow-soft greens when the tournament begins Friday morning. That should be enough to cement a three-peat for Perry, right?
Don't bet on Perry betting on himself.
"You make hay out here in your early 50s," said Perry, now 55. "I can kind of see a little decline in my golf game. I saw the same thing on the regular tour and then my game matched up really well the first four, five years out here and now my game is slipping away, getting worse."
Perry actually sees that as a good thing.
He has three top-10 finishes this season but hasn't played since a 21st-place finish in the American Family Insurance Championship in late June. He's spent the past month chasing after his five grandkids and has a sixth on the way later this summer.
