Good Guys Can Finish First

ATLANTA -- As the folks who know him back home in Franklin, Ky., might say, "Attaboy, Kenny."

A good guy had a good day Saturday at East Lake Golf Club. Kenny Perry shot 64 and is 8 under through 54 holes of the Tour Championship. He owns a two-shot lead over Tiger Woods.

If that is not enough to make your windmill turn, then you do not know enough about Kenny Perry.

If Tiger Woods is the face of golf -- and most certainly he is -- then Kenny Perry is its heart.

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The PGA Tour said as much earlier in the week, honoring Perry with its Payne Stewart Award. In the simplest of explanations, the PSA goes annually to a player you wish lived next door.

The official criteria for consideration is respect for the traditions of golf, a commitment to uphold the game's heritage of charitable support and conduct becoming a professional.

Perry could give away two shots a side and still retire the trophy.

The man is Southern as sweet tea. Good days and bad, he never meets a stranger. He gives five percent of his earnings to a pair of annual scholarships at David Lipscomb University, a small Christian college in Nashville, Tenn., 40 miles south of his old Kentucky home.

That's not all. Some years ago it bothered Perry that no public golf was available in his community. So in 1995 he bought 142 acres and borrowed more than $2.5 million to design and build Country Creek GC, now operating as an affordable public facility that caters to mid and high handicappers.

That's why on Wednesday night the PGA Tour gave Perry its Payne Stewart Award.

"That was so humbling," Perry said. "That was one of the greatest honors I've had bestowed on me. I was flattered. I was shocked."

If you believe in karma, you might also have handed Perry the Tour Championship right then. If good things do happen to good people, who better?

It would not have been a reach. Although Perry turned 49 in August, 11 of his 14 career victories have come in the past nine years.

He has two wins this year and five titles in the past 16 months.

The man has been hot, hot, hot.

The only problem was during Thursday's first-round at East Lake, it was the wrong kind of heat.

"I was sick," he said. "I was heat sick. I wanted to throw up the first five holes. I was sweating. I sweated through my pants. It was terrible. I've never been like that. I felt like my arms were rubber bands."

Somehow Perry limped in with a 2-over par 72. It was like dodging a line drive to the forehead.

"I bet I made eight putts outside maybe eight feet for par," he said. "That 72 saved me."

Friday he was back to normal. Perry shot a second-round 66, and on Saturday came back to avenge his overheated opening day by torching East Lake.

Perry started with four straight birdies. He finished with seven birdies and just one bogey. His 64 equaled the week's low round.

"Four birdies in a row puts you in a good mood is all I can say," Perry offered.

Everybody smile along. Perry goes into today's final round not only with a two-shot lead, but very much in play for the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.

A Perry victory and a three-way tie for third or worse by Woods and the David Lipscomb University scholarship fund will never have looked better.

"There's a lot of scenarios out there," Perry said. "That will be neat to talk about if it happens. But I'll tell you what. It's not going to change my life if I win the $10 million. My life will stay the same. It will definitely give me some opportunities to help people. I want to start a foundation. There are some things I want to do for charities.

"That's why it would not change my life. I'll probably end up giving it away more than I'll keep it. I've got everything I need."

Hey, golf. Give it up for Kenny Perry.