By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — Buried under the avalanche of Kenny Perry positives was a teensy doubt rooted in a decision he made on his 21st hole of The Masters.

On Friday, Perry’s second shot on the short par 4 spun back off the green and hung, one revolution from a 20-yard trip down a grassy slope. Faced with a straightforward bump-and-run, Perry immediately went for his putter and something he said months ago in a pre-tournament interview came to mind.

Back in January, Perry mentioned that he twice skulled chip shots at the John Deere in 2008.

“I had a little firing mechanism in my right hand and could not stop it,” Perry said.

He was talking about a version of the yips — an involuntary flinch that drives those afflicted to long putters — but with chip shots instead of putts, and he thought he had it under control, he said.

Back to Friday and two marvelous par-saving plops on Nos. 6 and 7, crisply struck with height and spin. Following Perry through his second-round 67, it was easy to find his supporters in the gallery, and one of his closest friends revealed that Perry had put a 64-degree wedge in his bag.

Perry, the man said, embraced the club to the point that he thought it might help him win one of golf’s majors.

Fast forward to Sunday and Perry just behind the 17th green, needing a par on one of the final two holes to win The Masters. Out of nowhere, a skulled chip shot and a bogey. He flinched on the shot; he did not in the media center.

“I skulled two chips on 15 and 18 at John Deere to put me in the playoff, and I did the same thing on 17; I skulled it again,” he said. “I can’t stop my right hand. When I get a little nervous, it wants to shoot a little bit and I can’t calm it down.”

How many other PGA Tour players would have been so doggone honest about such a costly miss? Or said, “I’ve blown two” majors like Perry did.

Eventually, he was asked if he considered putting from off the green on No. 17 and he said no.

“Now I wish I had hit my 64-degree and just hit a spinner and just went on and whacked it, instead of trying to hit a bump-and-run, which is usually what gets me in trouble,” he said.

Once again, Perry must deal with stumbling at the end of a major.

In 1996, in front of his fellow Kentuckians, he shot 34 on the front nine to take the lead at the PGA Championship, but bogeyed the par-5 18th at Valhalla and lost in a playoff to Mark Brooks. Ever since, he has been asked about his decision to go to the television booth instead of the practice range to prepare for a possible playoff.

Just last week, he explained one more time that he made the decision because of the intense heat.

That ‘96 tournament drove him to make the Ryder Cup in 2008 so that he could reshape his legacy at Valhalla.

Last week, he admitted that he still thinks about the one that got away.

“I’ve got two to think about now,” he said Sunday.

He needed a dozen years to reconcile his failure at the PGA, but he turns 49 in August and he is aware that Julius Boros was the oldest player to win a major at 48 years, four months, and 18 days.

Perry said Friday that he has great confidence in a new driver, that he has lost 5 to 7 yards, but that he is hitting it so straight, it might help him win the U.S. Open in June. Such an outcome would be most welcome.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The spectator in the teal shirt departed the fourth green with two par putts pending, a silent signal that she was there to watch only Kenny Perry.

Walking a few holes with Martha Kirsche of Wethersfield, Conn., cemented the good-guy perception of Perry developed from afar.

Perry was admirably steadfast last year, publicly ignoring critics of his plan to pass the majors and pursue a PGA Tour schedule that would give him the best chance to compete in the Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky. On Thursday, a friend who gathered quotes after the U.S. victory in September recalled Perry’s tears and his words about country, family and career. For that reason, Perry’s 10:23 threesome was the target on Friday at The Masters.

Following any group other than the one including Tiger Woods is a crapshoot. This walk was twice a winner — great golf and anecdotal insight into the golfer. Perry shot a no-sweat 67 that could have been better and was tied for the 36-hole lead.

His distance control was so precise and his irons so pure that his only negative reaction occurred when he turned away from a too-strong tee shot that carried over the flag on No. 16 and made a left turn to the bottom of the green. The five-foot par putt was his longest of the day and it was dead center, slowly and smoothly coming off the cushioned insert of a putter that was a gift from a doctor friend in Vero Beach, Fla.

Perry mentioned the putter months ago, saying he had not done well at The Masters because of his putting, but that he was looking forward to the tournament because he thought the flat stick would help his speed control on the greens at Augusta National.

Kirsche and her husband met Perry in 1987 when he was a tour rookie. They had purchased a home that backed up to the first tee of the course that then was the site of the Hartford Open and agreed to open their doors to a tournament participant. They asked for Jay Haas because of a previous encounter, but he was taken and Perry has been there guest every year since.

One Saturday, Mrs. Kirsche came home and found Perry sitting on their lawn tractor, cutting the front lawn, waiting on his tee time. “I just miss it,” he said, when she asked him what he was doing.

This week, the Kirsches are staying in a house rented by Perry. More than a dozen people might have bedded down there Friday night.

The contingent that followed Perry on Friday included his sister, Lydia, who filled in some blanks about the Country Creek course that Perry built so home folks in Franklin, Ky., could enjoy the game. The fairways are wide and much of the trouble is on the left because high handicappers tend to slice the ball.

Just recently, Perry raised the daily green fee $1 to $30, $35 on weekends, including cart. He considered a $2 bump, she said, but backed off, citing the bad economy.

It was Mrs. Kirsche who thanked a spectator who unwittingly bailed out Perry on his only close call of the day. Headed left toward some bushes and other trouble, Perry’s tee shot on the par-five eighth negotiated the 2-inch round limbs of a tall pine and then smacked the white top of the man’s two-tone shoes. The ball bounced straight up and back and Perry easily made par.

Pursuing a stellar approach to No. 14, Perry was striding down the fairway when a portly gentleman wearing a blue-and-white UK cap hollered, “Bring it back to Kentucky, Kenny.”

At the age of 48, he just might.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.