Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.
Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Another week of golf in the books, led by Kenny Perry's impressive win at the Travelers Championship and Jiyai Shin's continued assault on Lorena Ochoa's No. 1 ranking, thanks to her seven-stroke win at the Wegman's. Let's start with KP, who two months ago coughed up a green jacket in Augusta but responded nicely in Cromwell, Conn. This is 14 PGA Tour wins for 48-year-old Kenny. On the over/under of 20, I'm thinking hard about the over.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Oh, no question in my mind that he gets to 22 or more. He should keep winning into his early 50s. He doesn't need the gym to be super long, his swing has no glitchy anything in it, and Tour courses are made for his game. He can play on any type of grass and he'll play fall events with weak fields. He should be good for one or two a year for the next three or four years.
Jim Herre, editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: Kenny certainly is showing no signs of age, particularly with the putter, usually the first thing to go.
Hack: I like 20, too, one of them a major, maybe a PGA. In this era, that would put him in the Hall.
Herre: Not sure that one major would make him HOF-worthy.
Hack: He needs to be in the 20-wins, one-major, Davis-Lanny ballpark.
Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I'm not sure how many wins he'd have to pile up to get in the Hall of Fame without a major. Monty won the Euro money title eight times, a record, and isn't in. Davis Love has 20 wins, including a major, and he hasn't gotten in yet, although he probably will. Is Kenny Perry a Hall of Famer? Not yet, I'd say.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: It's hard not to enjoy a Kenny Perry victory. At the Masters this year I was watching him play, and one of my favorite Tour wives, Sandy Perry, introduced me to Steve and Martha Kirsche, the couple that has hosted the Perrys in Hartford every year since Kenny's rookie year. Martha told me some hilarious stories about Kenny, my favorite being from a recent GHO, when she returned to her house and Kenny was out front mowing her lawn. "That's just Kenny," she said.
Van Sickle: Wonder if Tiger has ever mowed a lawn? I'd like to know.
Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: For years I thought Raymond Floyd was the best 48-year-old Tour player I had ever seen, but Floyd is no match for Perry, who has the length and the putting touch to play another five years on the regular tour.
Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: Why would Perry hit his prime now? The only thing I can think of is he's peaked with his kids growing up and becoming pretty much independent. Golf's such an odd, unpredictable game. I only hope I peak at 48.
Hack: Kenny's talked about feeling freer in his game with his kids grown up. He doesn't exactly remind me of (limber) Sam Snead, but I guess he can win into his 50s just the same.
Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: What about the chip yips he admitted to after the Augusta meltdown? That can't bode well. Quite a finish though — it's been a while since David Toms was the young hotshot coming down the stretch.
Herre: Everybody has the chip yips at Augusta.
Bamberger: The chip yips won't kill him at ordinary Tour events, where you can putt from off the green and the pressure is off anyhow.
Hack: You can make the argument that beyond Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Ernie, Retief, Furyk and Paddy, Kenny Perry has been the best player, week to week, over the last five years or so. Not bad for a guy who re-routes his club at the top. Says something for sticking with what you do, and not changing it up.
Bamberger: Some of the best Tour players have been in that tradition of stick-with-what-works swings: Raymond Floyd, Mark McCumber, Bruce Lietzke, Scott Hoch, Craig Stadler — and Perry.
Gorant: Guess the only question left is, Will Kenny go to the British? Seems like he's already a lock for the Presidents Cup team, so he can't use that as an excuse.
Bamberger: ANYBODY who gets into the British Open at Turnberry and doesn't play is out of his mind. It's one of the most beautiful places in all of golf, no matter what you shoot.
Herre: Don't mean to threadjack, but in case you're all not aware, Mike Van Sickle has received sponsors' exemptions into Quad Cities and Milwaukee. Go Mike!
Bamberger: Will he have Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle (his father) caddie for him, or will he get good help?
Gorant: Michael, I heard he was going to try to lure you out of retirement.
Herre: Not sure Dad can go 72.
Van Sickle: Barring a better offer, Dad will be on the bag at John Deere, and a college teammate on the bag in Milwaukee. Undecided on who's looping at the Nationwide event in Columbus.
Shipnuck: In that case, I like Mike's odds a lot more in Milwaukee!
