Perry Has Fortune, but Fame Elusive

Chris Perry doesn’t worry much about autograph seekers stopping by his table in restaurants or fans casually walking past his airplane seat just to catch a glimpse.

He freely strolls through crowds at shopping malls, blending with the rest of the last-minute Christmas shoppers and offering no hint that he, at least in 1999, is the No. 5 golfer in the country.

Perry, who led the 1999 PGA Tour in birdies and has a current consecutive-cuts-made streak of 27, finished fifth on the 1999 PGA Tour money list.

Tiger Woods, David Duval, Davis Love III and Vijay Singh are the only ones ahead of him on the season’s money list.

But when you get to the No. 5 spot--Chris Perry, $2,145,707--the list of who’s who among professional golfers becomes a “who’s he?”

“Not the biggest name on the tour,” said Perry, who’s among the 24 professionals from the PGA, LPGA and Senior PGA tours teeing it up Saturday and Sunday at Pelican Hill Golf Club for the Diners Club Matches.

“But he’s working on it,” quipped fellow tour pro Skip Kendall, who will play as Perry’s partner this weekend.

His 1999 success should help raise his profile.

His cuts-made streak is second only to Woods’ among active streaks. The only cut he missed in 1999 was in January at the Phoenix Open, the fourth tournament of the year.

Of the 30 cuts he did make (he made all three before Phoenix), he had 14 top-10 finishes, including two seconds, one third and five fourths.

About the only thing missing was a victory, but nobody needs to remind Perry of that.

“It was a great year for me,” Perry said. “The money is great, but that’s not what I’m out here for. I want the crystal. Yes, I played fantastic and I got into contention, but with a little better bunker play, a little more luck, I think it could have been a better year.”

The most disappointing of his shoulda-coulda-woulda stories occurred at the MCI Classic April 18.

Holding a one-stroke lead on the 17th hole in the final round, Perry finished bogey-bogey and missed a three-way playoff by a stroke.

But in the two tournaments in which he finished second, he really didn’t have a chance. At the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, he finished his final round tied for the lead with Jeff Sluman, then watched from the clubhouse as Sluman birdied the 17th and 18th for a two-shot victory.

At the Reno-Tahoe Open in August, he trailed by seven entering the final round after eventual winner Notah Begay III dropped a 63 on the field in the third round. Begay beat Perry by three.

“I was in the hunt, and if you aren’t there, then you can’t win,” Perry said. “I could have won three or four times, and it’s a pretty good feeling to be in that position.”

Perry, who joined the tour full-time in 1985, posted his only PGA Tour victory at the 1998 B.C. Open. He also has a Nike Tour victory, the 1994 Utah Classic.

He won 14 times during his college career at Ohio State, including the 1983 Big 10 championship, was a three-time All-American and was a finalist in the 1983 U.S. Amateur.

Still, Perry, the son of 1970 American League Cy Young Award winner Jim Perry and nephew of Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, struggled when he turned professional in 1984.

He made it through PGA Tour qualifying school and played well enough to keep his card for eight years, but he didn’t finish higher than 56th on the money list during that time and lost his card after the 1992 season.

“That was kind of a wake-up call,” Perry said. “I got sent back to the minors. Maybe I set my goals too high coming out of school or maybe I didn’t set them high enough.

“I mean, I did just about everything I could as an amateur but nothing as a pro. When I went to the Nike Tour, I wanted to prove to myself that I could play.”

He did, and he proved it to everyone else by topping the Nike Tour money list that year. He had a win, two seconds and two thirds and made the cut in all 24 events he played. He was named the Nike Tour player of the year and rejoined the PGA Tour in 1995.

He’s improved on the money list each year since: 150th in 1995, 112th in 1996, 48th in 1997 and 39th in 1998.

“I don’t know how he’s done it,” Kendall joked. “But whatever it is, I wish he’d tell me.”

Most chalk it up to perseverance.

“I don’t think anybody is shocked about [his success],” said Kendall, who has known Perry since they went to qualifying school together in 1992. “He’s had some success before and it’s just taken a few tries for him to find the right method at this level.”

Perry credits a new fitness regimen, including aerobics and weight training, for helping him rekindle the confidence that made him a consistent winner as an amateur.

“If you’re not a confident person, you’re going to get run over out there,” he said. “You’ve got to know that you can play.”

Watching Perry play, you figure there’s no way he’s going to lose. He keeps a stern focus, looking as if he’s mad at the golf course, and attacks with a cool confidence.

He doesn’t say much, and the result, at least 468 times this season, has been a birdie. That total is 43 more than runner-up Fred Funk’s.

“I’m very serious when I play,” Perry said. “Out there, I’m in concentration mode. Off the course, I’m pretty light-hearted.”

Kendall, who was fourth with 402 birdies in 1999, sometimes wishes Perry would take on his tournament persona during friendly matches.

“He’s just real intense,” Kendall said. “But that’s not what he’s like away from tournaments. When we play golf at home we’re just goofing around, you can’t shut him up.”

Kendall expects the looser Perry to show up for the Diners Club Matches.

“This weekend,” he said, “we’re going to have fun.”

Fun, like Perry has while spending off-weeks with his wife, Katherine, and their three children, ages 6, 3 and 2.

And fun like he had in making a run at the Ryder Cup team this season.

Perry, who began the season off the map on the Ryder Cup points list, began toying with the idea of making the team after a fourth-place finish at the MCI Classic April 18 moved him into the top 25.

The top 10 on the points list automatically make the team.

“At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to make the top 30 on the money list,” Perry said. “But after that tournament, I thought the Ryder Cup was a realistic goal.”

Perry played in 12 tournaments over the next 17 weeks and finished out of the top 25 only once--42nd at the U.S. Open.

He had seven top-10 finishes during that run and twice was in the top five. In the final stretch toward the Ryder Cup--between the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship--he finished third, seventh, sixth, fifth, 15th and 10th.

Perry finished 16th on the Ryder Cup points list and captain Ben Crenshaw chose Tom Lehman (13th) and Steve Pate (14th) with his captain’s picks because of their experience.

“It was a little disappointing,” Perry said. “But at least I gave him something to think about.”

Perhaps Crenshaw just didn’t know who Perry was.

Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

Diners Club Notes

First-round LPGA pairings for the Diners Club Matches Saturday at Pelican Hill have been changed. Juli Inkster and Dottie Pepper will face Kelli Kuehne and Laura Davies, while Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane will play Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins.