KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) -For those who thought Kenny Perry set the bar too high last year when he said he wanted to make the Ryder Cup team at age 48, get a load of what he has in mind for an encore.
"Y'all may think I'm crazy," he said in his Kentucky drawl, "but I want to get to 20 wins."
That would seem like a reasonable goal, except that Perry's three PGA Tour victories last year brought his career total to 12. And he turns 50 toward the end of the 2010 season, making him eligible for the Champions Tour. And he has had only three seasons of multiple victories during his 22 years on tour.
"Somehow I've got to win eight more times," he said. "Is that a realistic goal? I think it is. I still think I can play well into my mid-50s and be successful out here."
At least he managed to find some motivation.
Perry was belting out bluegrass tunes for a swan song in 2008 because the Ryder Cup was being held in his old Kentucky home. Despite not having won in two years, and coming off surgery on his right knee that still throbs, he picked up victories in the Memorial, Buick Open and John Deere Classic to qualify for the Ryder Cup team for only the second time in his career.
"This is my last hurrah," he said in the weeks before the Ryder Cup. "This is the pinnacle of my career. I've got way too much at stake for me going out there and playing poorly. That will brand me for the rest of my life."
Then he played the best golf of his life, beating Henrik Stenson on the final day for a 2-1-1 record. No moment was as poignant as his 82-year-old father in overalls walking onto the 16th green to embrace Perry.
He has won nine times in his 40s. Now he's going to win eight more times to achieve lifetime membership on the PGA Tour?
Perry figures he still hits the ball long enough, and his short game is vastly improved. He plans to play as many as 30 times this year, an enormous schedule even for kids half his age. The toughest challenge might be his focus.
"We all have a lot going on," he said. "We have been struggling."
That's when Perry revealed just how large the scope of his most memorable season turned out to be.
Three months after his father ambled onto the 16th green at Valhalla, he had two stents put in his heart and has weight as doctors run a battery of tests to figure out what's wrong with him.
