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While it's not a Major, it's not filled with headlining golfers that always pull in the ratings, it IS a great event and the John Deere Classic is already proving that without those big-name golfers, some very great golf is being played.  We've yet to see the defending champion, Kenny Perry, tee-off, but as of right now we've already seen a 66 posted, and we have other golfers still on the course sitting on a first round -6.  Impressive.

Dicky Pride Shoots First Round 66

Kicking things off with an absolute bang is a guy that has had arguably the toughest run on the PGA Tour we can think of.  His run with the PGA Tour has already included losing his TOUR card, multiple injuries and never seeming to play up to the potential he knew he had in him.  Could this first round at the John Deere Classic be the turnaround point for all that?  I guess we'll see, but his 66 has him locked into second place right now, with the current leader still facing 3 holes until he can rest comfortably in the locker room.

Duval's Woe's Continue

Another golfer that all eyes had been firmly locked-in on, was David Duval.  After his extremely impressive play at the U.S. Open, rumblings started to spread that maybe, just maybe, the David Duval we all used to know and love was back and his caliber of play would do nothing but get better, and better.  Unfortunately for all you Duval fans, he's struggling yet again and is currently on the 17th hole sitting on a disappointing 4-over-par.  Yikes.

Kenny Perry Waits to Defend

We're still waiting on ol' Kenny Perry to hit the links and try to defend his title here.  Will it happen, or will the wave of excitement he's been riding on fizzle out into whitewash?  Not sure yet, but if you're not tuning in, you're missing out!

(image via David Cannon/Getty Images)

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Kenny Perry took home top honors Sunday at the Travelers Champion and it looks like some of the changes he made during the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black carried over into this tournament, obviously to great success.  At Bethpage, Perry dropped his 3 iron and replaced it with something that's gaining a lot of popularity on the PGA Tour, a prototype hybrid.  During his Open play, he used that club to great success and decided to bring it along to the Travelers at the TPC River Highlands.  Looks like that was an extremely wise decision as he blasted the course record and the competition.

Perry Destroys Record

It's quite obvious that Perry is a TaylorMade sponsored golfer, and after looking at his performance I can imagine quite a few people are going to be looking into not only their hybrids, but their entire line.  They are seeing quite a bit of success this PGA season and it will be interesting to see what happens to their product success over the next few months.  Nevertheless, here are all of the clubs Kenny Perry used to set a new course record at the Travelers Championship:

DRVIER: TaylorMade R9 460 (9.5°) with Fujikura Motore F1 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Burner (14.5°) with Fujikura Re AX TP75 shaft
HYBRID: TaylorMade Raylor prototpye (18°) with Fujikura Rombax TP 75 shaft
IRONS: TaylorMade r7 (4-PW) with FST KB Tour shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade rac (54°, 64°), Cleveland CG14 (60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
PUTTER: Ping G2i Craz-E
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Hybrids on the Rise

Once again Titleist notches a victory in the ball category, but the thing of note here is the use of hybrids by PGA tour players.  I will be curious to see how much the popularity of hybrids increase over the next few years as their benefits are becoming abundantly clear.

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If someone told you, going into a golf tournament, that you'd shoot the following scores over four days:  61, 68, 66, 63, you'd probably call them a liar, laugh and walk away.  For Kenny Perry, however, those four scores were his reality and they also meant the reality of setting a brand new tournament record for lowest score.  Impressive?  We think so.

Kenny Perry Sets New Record

That's right, the Travelers Championship is over and we know who came out on top, who was chasing and just how impressive the entire field of golfers really was.  Word was that the conditions on the course at the TPC River Highlands were so good for scoring that someone, somehwere was going to break some records, but nevertheless, it takes an amazing amount of skill and even stamina to post a final score of -22.  While I'm sure Kenny Perry is beyond excited for this victoy, and for the 500 Fed Ex Cup Points he received for winning it, thereby catapulting him to the top of the Fed Ex leaderboard, I'm sure he is just as excited that he didn't melt down like he did a few months back at the Masters.

No Masters Meltdown at Travelers

Back in April, when Kenny Perry was about to close out the Masters and take home the Green Jacket, he had a meltdown that led to a bogey-bogey finish and ended up costing him the tournament.  It was smooth sailing for Perry this weekend, despite coming into the final round a stroke behind Paul Goydos.  When asked about both the Masters, and his mindset for finishing this tournament, Perry said:

"Everyone kind of asks about the Augusta hangover deal.  I guess I kind of shoved that aside a little bit. So that makes me feel pretty good....I knew that I had to keep making birdies," he said. "I wasn't going to let up. I wasn't going to play defensive golf. I learned something from that mistake."

Well Played Kenny

Staying on the offensive was exactly what it took.  Congratulations Kenny Perry, well played.

(Image via Rogash/Getty Images)

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Want a pretty rock-solid indication that the play going on currently at The Travelers Championship is intense, amazing and very impressive?  How about trying this on for size:  Right now, the projected cut-line for the tournament is sitting at -3.  Yes, three-under-par.  Considering the fact that the current leader is sitting at -11 and there are people staggered from there all the way down to -3, I'd say the play is pretty top-notch this week at the TPC River Highlands.

Kenny Perry Blasts The Course

Speaking about Top-Notch play, how about checking out what Kenny Perry has done thus far in the tournament.  We all were focused on Boo Weekley yesterday, opening his round with 6 straight birdies, but unfortunately for Boo, he didn't finish as strong as he started and while he still shot a beautiful opening round 64, it couldn't touch the opening round 61 that Kenny Perry posted.  What's even more impressive, is that while Weekley followed up his first round 64 with a second round 71, Kenny stayed on track and followed his round up with another under-par round at 68.  No wonder he's sitting in the lead at -11 right now, with the closest competitor in the clubhouse two strokes behind him.

Michael Allen Strives To Join Oldest Winners

Another interesting story we highly recommend you following as Round 3 and 4 approach is that of Michael Allen, who is right now sitting tied for sixth place and four strokes off the lead at -7.  In case you didn't know, Allen is 50 years old and most recently took home the top spot at the Senior PGA Championship.  Instead of staying on that circuit and continuing to win events, he re-entered this event, wanting to notch a PGA Tour win before he makes the final transition to the Champions Tour.  In the event that he DOES win this, he'll join some lofty territory that includes Sam Snead, Fred Funk, Ray Floyd and others as oldest winners in PGA Tour History.  He's worth cheering for.

Tune In...Now!

Tune in, cheer them on...it's getting good!

(Image via Rogash/Getty Images)

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The countdown has officially begun for finally seeing Tiger Woods return to tournament play!  I'm sure golf fans, and golf ratings everywhere have been absolutely holding their breath for when he's finally going to enter his name into the mix for another upcoming tournament, and reports are saying we only have to wait about another week before it finally comes true.  That's right, Tiger Woods is slated to play at the Memorial from June 4 - June 7.

Woods is Three Time Winner

As you might already know, Woods has performed well at the Memorial in the past, but has not won it since 2001.  He IS a three-time winner at the Memorial however, and he looks to make it an even 4 this time around.  Two of the last three seasons Woods has been unable to play the great tournament, either from having to take time off due to knee surgery, or family matters including the death of his father.  Nevertheless, it will be great to see him back in action and I'm sure golf fans everywhere will agree:  The PGA NEEDS Tiger Woods.

Kenny Perry Looks To Defend

This year, coming into the tournament he'll be battling against Kenny Perry, who in addition to being the defending champion of the tourney, is also on a hot streak and has been hitting the ball extremely well as of late and been making some decent moves on leaderboards in the tournaments he's making appearances in.

Tiger...Back In Action

The bottom line is, Tiger has been missed and the news that we'll be seeing him back in action in only a week is just about the best news we've heard in awhile.  Now we just need Phil back in the mix and the season will be complete.

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Apparently all it took was one brief practice session for Kenny Perry to be completely impressed with the new TaylorMade R9 460 driver.  It's only been out 2 weeks, but he's completely sold and after that brief practice session Kenny Perry put the club into his bag, smiled, and officially added it to his Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

R9 460 Has Tricks Up It's Sleeve

We've mentioned it before here, but once again, the R9 460 has a few changes over the original R9, most noticeably that it doesn't feature the moveable weight system that the R9 has.  What it does allow, however, is the complete adjustment of the face angle and the lie angle just by putting the head into one of 8 different positions.  When it comes to Kenny Perry's new R9 460, he'll be playing it at 9.5 degrees and he'll be throwing on the Matrix Ozik F7M2 X shaft.  When asked why these changes, he had one thing to say:  power.

Perry Needs Power, Not Accuracy

Perry, when asked about the R9 460 explained why he was switching, as well as why he played the original R9 to take home top honors at this year's FBR Open in Scottsdale:

"I jumped up five miles per hour in ball speed immediately...because it is really straight. But now I've switched to this one because it's really long."

U.S. Open Needs Power & Accuracy

We'll see how the driver change affect his overall performance as play is getting ready to kick off at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.  Considering the fact that the U.S. Open at Bethpage is looming in the distance, and that's a course where both distance and pinpoint accuracy is key, Perry better get the hang of this new driver fairly quick.  Looks like he'll be taking both R9's to Bethpage, one for distance and one for accuracy.  Time will tell just how well both work.

(image via golf.com)

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"I went from hitting the greatest shot of my life to the poorest shot of my life within 20 minutes"

Gotta feel sorry for the guy, he almost had one arm in what was supposed to be his new green jacket until he missed his chip on the first hole of the playoff. Kenny Perry might have gained more fans by losing The Masters than he would have by winning it. "I've received hundreds of cards and letters from people who genuinely care about me," Perry said

This Week he makes his return at Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Kenny Perry answered some questions at the Zurich Classic press confrence this week, Keep Reading for transcripts from the Interview that day:

Q. How was it when you got back to see your dad? Any story there when you got back to Kentucky?

KENNY PERRY: He just felt sorry for me. He just wanted to give me a hug. He's such a competitor just like me. He actually was speechless. There wasn't a lot said.

You know, we just kind of hung on out and we sat there for a while. Then he started opening up a little bit, not a lot. He just didn't want to go back there, I don't think. He just wanted to tell me how proud he was of me, and it was a good time.

Q. I know you just said you ran the gamut of emotions, you know, from one extreme to the next. Can you share with us a personal moment when you just kind of finally got to yourself and was just by yourself and kind of, wow. And what went through your mind at that time?

KENNY PERRY: The personal moment was I drove home from Augusta. Got home about 4 in the afternoon on Monday afternoon. And I didn't sleep at all Monday night, and I got in my car about 5 a.m., and I just drove for about three hours. Just drove out to the countryside. You know, being thankful for everything after that that's happened to me. It really was.

I wasn't sorrowful, but I just contemplated for three hours just driving around in the country. I live in a small, rural town, it's a farming community, lot of cattle. Lot of horses, very peaceful, very serene. It was just kind of my time to just kind of reflect, and it was all very positive. It was good.

I mean, I still relived those last, you know, here I am for four days, you know, for hour upon hour, just playing beautiful golf. And then it all boils down to one little chip shot on the 71st hole. You know, I had it all all the way up to the last half hour of the tournament. You know, to be in control.

So, you know, but that's OK. I mean, I've relived that chip over and over again. And I wouldn't have done it any different. I just need to get better at that shot.

You know, the moments I had were the cards I was reading, the letters I was reading that would just bring tears to my eyes. You know, that was more emotional to me than me just sitting and reflecting on what went on, what was happening. It was the outpouring of love and support from everybody that was really more emotional to me than anything.

Q. Will it be difficult for you during the first round on Thursday to put all of that behind you and focus exclusively on the round at hand?

KENNY PERRY: Very difficult. I thought about not coming this week, but that wouldn't have been right for this tournament. You know, I really love coming here. I love the people here, and this is a great run event. And it's very relaxed and very peaceful place.

I think if it had been a high-stressed atmosphere, more of a major world event, I would have seriously considered kind of, you know, not coming. But this event to me, I love supporting it. They do such a great job.

They've had a lot of pain and heartache here with Katrina hitting, and I just want to support this event and make it better, and they do a wonderful job. So Thursday morning or afternoon whenever I tee off it's going to be very difficult. It's going to be one of the hardest things I'm ever going to do. But for me the sooner I get back into it and get over it, the better it's going to be for me. So that's another way to look at it.

I need to throw myself back out there and get ready. We've got the Players coming and Bethpage coming and Turnberry and PGA. You know what, I just need to get over it. Somehow I've got to get through it better than I did the '96 PGA. I didn't get over that very well.

I think I'm better prepared and better equipped than I have been in the past. We'll see how the front nine goes, and the back nine goes, wherever I start on Thursday. Hopefully I'll have enough energy. I've been very tired. It's like a lot of weight on on my chest, shoulders. I just have muscle fatigue. I just feel very drained.

And hopefully I can get another good rest here tonight, and tomorrow, and come Thursday I can just get out to a nice, even-keeled start. I just hope I don't get off to a poor start. I hope somehow I don't have to start battling and fighting early. If I can get off to an average start and just kind of cruise it along and work my way into the round, I think I'll be OK. If I get off struggling early, it's going to be a tough deal.

Q. How did Sandy handle it?

KENNY PERRY: Sandy is great. My oldest daughter is the one who struggled. She was crying, she couldn't contain herself she was crying so hard. She didn't stop all night. She's so tender-hearted and so sweet. She just wanted it. It's tough when people are hurting for you. It's not for themselves, it's nothing involved for themselves, that was tougher for me than losing the tournament. I looked at her and said, I'm the one that should be crying here.

She's a sweetheart. Even when she was a little child, she's always been very tender-hearted and always cried. So that was sweet. I knew what she meant.

Q. Can you talk about the course here at TPC Louisiana and how it plays for you?

KENNY PERRY: Terrific golf course. You know, it's the dead opposite of Hilton Head. I don't feel claustrophobic out there. I love the beauty of it. And the holes and all, it's very generous off the tees with the fairways. I always feel comfortable when I come here. I love golf courses that set up like this.
The greens are great. They're always in good shape here. And to me it's just a fun course to play. You've got those parallel par 3s - 17 and 9 - with the boards and all, very difficult, demanding shot. They'll test every shot you've got out there.

And I love a golf course when it challenges you like that. To me it's a joy to come here and play.

Q. Good morning. I don't know that I would ask this question of any other guy, but you've been around the block, and you've been so brutally honest about the way you've played in the past. But when you were driving around out among the horses and the cows, were you -- did you feel like you had choked the tournament away? Was that some of the stuff that was running through your mind?

KENNY PERRY: No, I wouldn't consider it a choke. By far, that is the last thing that entered my mind. You know what, I just kind of, you know, I think winning and losing is a lot about decision making. It's about the process you go through out there.

And what I was always contemplating was the chip shot on 17, or the first putt on 13, those are the two main things that stuck out in my mind. When I was banging around, and on a bump and run from 20 feet away on a flat surface, should you hit a 64-degree sand wedge? Probably for me at the time, that was probably the shot I should have hit.

But when I was driving around, I was just to me, it was a special time for me to kind of reflect. People said I blew the '96 PGA, and I thought that was wrong. I thought the media was totally wrong. You don't get stiff. I was a lot on younger at that time, too.

I actually hit the drive and the playoff was very similar to the drive on the 72nd hole. They both felt beautiful to me. They were both on good lines, and they both ended up in poor spots. The drive on the 72nd hole started in the middle of the fairway, and I couldn't pick it up once it started drawing. And to me, I thought it was going to be perfect. Just crawled into the back right portion of the bunker. I hit a good drive on the 71st hole, and hit a beautiful 6-iron. It just carried a little far and went over the green.

So, you know what, I wouldn't consider it choking. I was nervous, yes. But I was enjoying it. I enjoyed the moment. I enjoyed being in it. I was actually thriving on it more than I ever have in the past.

You know, so, I haven't beaten myself up much about this deal. I really haven't. I've enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the majors coming you up. I feel like I can be competitive in all of them. To me it's given me a shot of confidence more than it has deterred me from getting after it more.

Q. Can you talk about among all the cards and letters and emails and stuff you got, what did they say?

KENNY PERRY: Greg Norman called me. Phil Mickelson called me. Scott Hoch called me. George W. Bush wrote me a letter. It was just incredible the outpouring of support. I had so many people just, you know, proud of the way I handled the loss.

Hated how the outcome was for me but were rooting for me. Scott Hoch called me. He's a guy that missed a little putt to win the Masters. So, people who have been there, done that. It's always encouraging to me to listen to words of encouragement. They've been there, they've experienced it, and to me that was very special.

Q. When was the first time after the Masters that you picked up a club? Is that difficult at all? How did that go?

KENNY PERRY: I didn't pick up a golf club until Thursday. I actually played with two club pros, at Old Stone in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Two kids who are playing the Hooters Tour and who are struggling. We had a great day. We had a lot of laughs, lot of fun.

Like I said before, I was totally out of energy and whipped. The golf club just felt heavy. I was tired. But I knew I needed to get back into it. I needed to start swinging that club a little bit.

I have a weighted club that I'll swing at night in my room. But that was the only day I really played and hit balls. Then I showed up here on Monday, and yesterday hit a few balls yesterday afternoon. So I really haven't done much since the Masters has ended.

Q. You just referred to the confidence you took out of it, and you put away the loss, and you have been playing great the past year. I'm just wondering how you feel about sustaining that, and are you you playing next week also?

KENNY PERRY: I am not. I am the grand marshall, my dad and I are the grand marshals at the Kentucky Derby parade next Thursday, the Derby week in Louisville, Kentucky. So that's pretty neat. Something I will enjoy with my dad. So I couldn't play Wachovia. But I'll play the Players the week following.

Q. The crying that you said you did, how much of it was there, and what prompted it whether it was thinking about the chip or the whole thing?

KENNY PERRY: No, all the tears and emotions were from other people when they were coming up, congratulating me, consoling me. They would be crying. Then it was mostly from the cards, and letters and emails I received.

When I would get off by myself and start reading all this stuff, it was mind boggling how I was receiving letters from New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Canada. I received letters from pretty much all over the world saying, I don't know you. But I am a true Kenny Perry fan now.

So I touched a lot of hearts in defeat. So to me that was pretty neat. They've up lifted me and made me feel a lot better. To me, I was OK with it.

I fell apart, I did everything I could do. I threw it all out there. I stuck my neck out, thought I was going to win, but I just came up a little bit short. As an athlete, or a player, that's all you can ask of yourself.

Q. What did you learn from it? And if there's anything that you would do differently now, because you're making all those split decisions under the heat coming down the stretch. If there's anything you'd do different, what would it be? What would you do differently?

KENNY PERRY: I would learn not to quite get ahead of myself so fast. When I got two up with two to play, my thought was, all right, two pars and you win the Masters. Well, to me, I hadn't been playing like that all week. To me I was playing, let's hit it here, put it on this part of the green, get an uphill putt here for birdie.

I was playing, I guess you could say conservatively aggressive, if there is such a word. And I was playing great golf. When I knew I had to make two pars, I got defensive. To me that was probably the biggest thing. Instead of being aggressive, I started to hang on. And that's the worst thing to do in golf. When you you try to hang on on, bad things start happening.

Q. Among those emails and cards and letters, did you hear anything from Jack?

KENNY PERRY: I did not. No, nothing from Jack.

Q. Obviously you've closed out a lot of tournaments successfully in your career. Three of them here at Muirfield. I wondered if you could just talk about the nerves factor coming down the last few holes of the masters, compared to what you felt at other venues where you won?

KENNY PERRY: To me, it was a lot similar to my Ryder Cup. Every hole of the Ryder Cup to me felt like the 17th and 19th hole at the Masters. I was under it seemed like intense pressure. Every hole in Match Play felt like sudden death. It was very similar. That kind of prepared me for what I was going to get into at Augusta.

I was nervous, but it wasn't to the point I was shaking violently. It seemed like everything sped up on me a little bit. Normally when I get in the lead like that, everything slows down. But it seemed like when all that happened, it was all happening pretty fast my heart rate got up and my blood pressure got up a little bit and my golf swing got a little fast.

When my golf swing gets a little faster and out of rhythm and out of tempo, I tend to pull shots to the left. So I knew right then I was feeling a little differently than I had the previous 16 holes.

You know, that iron shot I hit on 16 was the greatest iron shot I ever hit. Right when I hit it, I felt like Gary Player. I was chasing it immediately. I took a step toward the ball, I saw it in flight and I started running, almost running down the fairway off the tee box.

So I went from hitting the greatest shot of my life, to hitting the poorest shot of my life all within a matter of 20 minutes.

I turn 50 next year, so I'm doing stuff probably most people shouldn't be doing. I'm very thankful for it. My health is good. I'm hitting it 300-plus yards. I'm doing neat stuff. But it's a shame I figured it out so late in my career. I wish I could roll back 20 years and have my mindset now and my golf swing.
I hit it beautifully 20 years ago, I didn't have the short game and didn't have the head where I have it now. I'm just a slow learner, I guess.

You know, I think when I get in that situation again, hopefully, I can draw from this. I'll calm down. Hopefully, I'll have that shot at the U.S. Open or at Turnberry or maybe not when I roll around back at Augusta next year. I don't know.

Q. I hope so. Looking forward to having you back. That's my question. How does this experience -- you talked about carrying some extra weight right now and not feeling like you're ready to play. How does that play into your title defenses? You've got a few of those coming up, and then again early part of next year.

KENNY PERRY: Busy schedule. Actually, it's good. It will keep me motivated, keep me focused, keep me grinded. I'm glad I've got those defenses coming up, and I'm looking forward to it.

The John Deere was very similar. You watched me last year, I skulled on 15, my chip shot, and I skulled on 18 coming in, and then I win the playoff. I thought after I skull that chip on 17 at Augusta and got that three-way playoff like John Deere, it was like you know what, I'm going to win this playoff because it's already happened. That was kind of funny how I was thinking about that deal.

But, yeah, it's going to be great. I look forward to try to get in there and defend. I love the John Deere. I love that golf course. It sets up good to my game. So I look forward to getting in there and being successful.

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“This moment and Oakmont triumph were the happiest moments of my life”, said Master Tournament winner, wearing the traditional Green Jacket which is given only to winners of one of the most traditional Golf Tournaments.

After a sudden death playoff with Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell, Cordoba’s man won Master in Augusta National and went down in history as the first Argentinean who won two Major Tournaments; 2009 Augusta National and 2007 US Open.

Cabrera finished four rounds with 276 shots, twelve under par; and won playoff game one shot ahead.

Cabrera and Perry were co leaders together with American Chad Campbell who, during the first distressing playoff in hole 18, was eliminated with one shot above par.

Cabrera beat American Kenny Perry in the second playoff hole.

Cabrera finished first on Saturday but did not have a good start in the fourth round. He made bogeys in holes 4, 5 and 10 and a birdie in hole 3.

Also, Cabrera had to face World number one Tiger Woods’ and Phil Mickelson’s recovery in fourth round.

However, Augusta’s Champion was not discouraged by players' pressure or game’s difficulties. He was determined win.