Perry (63) keeps his dad in the game

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. —  In the routine horror of golf, 63s always seem sort of miraculous, but a 63 that went up here Friday trumps even most 63s.

It came not from Phoenix’s adopted son Phil Mickelson, who in two days hit eight of 28 fairways, shot seven over par, tied or beat only 11 of 132 golfers and missed the FBR Open cut. It came not from the onrushing 23-year-old Anthony Kim, who missed his first cut since last April in Houston. It came not even from Billy Mayfair, who played the raucous No. 16 stadium hole in an Arizona Cardinals Tim Hightower No. 34 jersey.

(He made par and thousands of friends.)

No, it came from a 48-year-old Kentuckian whose mother, father and mother-in-law all went hospitalized simultaneously lately with, respectively, myeloma cancer, two new heart stents and a broken kneecap/fractured vertebrae.

So Kenny Perry’s 63 to reach seven under left him two shots behind leader Nick Watney in the golf standings but behind nobody in the stress-surviving standings. He trailed the second-place trio of Charley Hoffman, Matt Kuchar and James Nitties by one, but he trailed nobody in intent. And he might trail only 14 players in the world rankings, but nowadays he’s trying to play well to curb his 85-year-old father’s bedridden depression and, as Perry put it, “somehow get him to the summer.”

That’s one serious 63.

He hopes it and others like it might yield his father another summer at the son’s public golf course in Franklin, Ky., where the elder Ken Perry drives the practice-range tractor, wears bib overalls and serves as ambassador.

“He’s on antidepressants; they’ve got him on a lot of drugs,” Kenny Perry said. “He probably takes 20 pills a day. I saw his little pillbox, and it’s nasty.

“I just need to play well for him. I’ve got to somehow stay up there, just where he’ll get out of bed maybe and go sit down by the TV and watch TV and just get up. I always say if you lie in bed too long, you can get pneumonia, your kidneys start messing up. There’s a lot of problems with staying in bed for three months, four months now, whatever.”

It made sense, then, that Perry reached No. 15 on Thursday at four over, saw the exit door looming in the desert, said what-the-heck and asked his caddy for a three-wood from 275 yards. And it made less sense, then, that the next shot snuggled amid the green and ushered in 10 birdies and one eagle across the ensuing 22 holes.

And it made it worthwhile, then, that it might brighten a certain countenance along the southern edge of Kentucky.

Lydia Petersen, Perry’s sister, had taken their mother to nearby Nashville for a twice-weekly infusion and finally had seen the 63 flash across her XM radio screen on the ride home. “I couldn’t wait to go home to tell Dad as soon as I got back to Franklin,” she said by telephone, but her great aunt Ruby, 93, had beaten her to the news reporting. Had he perked up?

“Yeah, yeah, he had,” she said.

He’d relished his son’s Ryder Cup success last September in Louisville -- it salved the durable sting of the 1996 PGA Championship playoff loss at the same Valhalla course -- but he’d struggled thereafter. As evidence, he declined Lydia’s invitation the other night to “go out in the garage and smoke a cigar” with her. Said Kenny Perry, “He hasn’t had one cigar. He’s smoked cigars his whole life. When I know he’s not smoking cigars, I know something is up.”

So on another sunny day with a slight chill-in-the-shade on the Stadium Course, golfers tried to solve golf. Mickelson’s year had begun with an errant first tee shot, three penalty shots Thursday, excessive canoodling with cacti and a Thursday chat on No. 15 with former President George H.W. Bush. Asked if any wintertime tinkering with gurus had left him grappling with adjustment, Mickelson said, “I wouldn’t think so,” and made off to San Diego to prep for Torrey Pines.

Tenth-ranked Camilo Villegas bogeyed No. 18 to sit one over and occupy the cut zone pending the completion of two rounds suspended by darkness. Kim, who withdrew from the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic citing a testy shoulder, missed 17 of 36 greens and 21 of 28 fairways for a clunky 73-73.

Leader Watney matched Perry’s 63 Friday and noted the FBR has “pinched through in a little bit and the greens are definitely firmer, so it’s definitely an advantage to come out of the fairway.”

Hoffman, making his first cut in three tries here, mulled contention and said, “Hopefully by the time I get to 16 maybe they’ve had too much to drink and they’ve fallen asleep.” David Berganio Jr., shot 71 and remained close enough at four shots behind.

And Perry, after solving the beast for a day yet again, could cast his thoughts 1,400 miles east and hope a cigar lit up.

--

[email protected]