Surging Perry grabs John Deere for third his win in last five starts

7/14/2008

Kenny Perry beat Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson in a playoff to win the John Deere Classic and escape with his third victory in five starts after bogeying the 18th hole on Sunday.

Perry had a one-stroke lead at 17-under through 17 only to lose it thanks to some poor shots from the fringe on the final hole of regulation. He and Williamson then watched as Adamonis, the PGA Tour's oldest rookie at 35, missed an 18-foot putt for birdie that would have won it in regulation and given him his first victory.

The ball stopped three feet short and Adamonis was at 16-under 268 with the others.

While Adamonis and Williamson both hit approach shots into the pond on No. 18, Perry tapped in from 16 inches for par and the victory after his 24-footer stopped just short.

He picked the ball out of the cup and raised both arms, an ear-to-ear grin crossing his face.

He has reason to smile.

He's enjoying the best stretch of his career and collected $756,000 with his 12th victory. Perry (1-under 70), Adamonis (70) and Williamson (69) were one stroke ahead of Charlie Wi (69), Will MacKenzie (70) and Eric Axley (69) after 72 holes.

Leaderboard – Final:

1. Kenny Perry                 USA  65 66 67 70 268 -16
2. Brad Adamonis            USA  66 66 66 70 268 -16
    Jay Williamson            USA  69 68 62 69 268 -16
4. Charlie Wi                   KOR  64 67 69 69 269 -15
    Will MacKenzie             USA  65 64 70 70 269 -15
    Eric Axley                    USA  65 66 67 71 269 -15
7. Chad Campbell            USA  67 67 67 69 270 -14
8. Kevin Sutherland          USA  68 68 67 68 271 -13
9. Jeff Gove                     USA  66 68 70 68 272 -12
    Woody Austin               USA  66 71 66 69 272 -12
    J.P. Hayes                   USA  67 68 65 72 272 -12

Source: AP, PGA Tour