Perry makes it happen

Kenny Perry's sole purpose on the PGA Tour this year is to go home to Kentucky for the Ryder Cup. He took a big step Sunday by winning on a course that feels like home.

"Magic always happens for me here," Perry said after closing with a 3-under 69 to pull away from the pack for a 2-shot victory at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, joining Tiger Woods as the only three-time winners at the tournament Jack Nicklaus built.

This was more about good golf than any wizardry.

As his contenders were in full retreat on the back nine of Muirfield Village, Perry surged ahead with 2 clutch par saves, a 5-wood that set up an easy birdie and hardly any mistakes to win for the first time in three years.

It could not have come at a better time.

Perry squandered two good chances to win in the previous three weeks, closing with an 81 at The Players Championship and watching in utter shock as a fairway metal ricocheted off a tree and into the water to lose a playoff outside Atlanta.

And when he arrived at the Memorial, he heard Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger say that it would take nothing short of winning for a player to make the U.S. team at Valhalla. The message came through as clear as the blue skies over Muirfield Village.

"My time is running out," Perry said Sunday. "It's getting close to September. I said, 'You need to make it happen, and you need to make it happen fast.' And to be able to get the win here is huge."

The 47-year-old Perry became the oldest winner of the Memorial, meaningful for many reasons. As he walked off the 18th green with one final par, he received a warm handshake from Nicklaus and hugs from his wife and three children. It was the first time in his two decades on tour that his entire family was at a tournament he won.

Perry finished at 8-under 280, the highest score to win the Memorial in 23 years. He earned $1.08 million, which translates to 1,080 points toward the Ryder Cup. Tour officials brought him a chart showing Perry at No. 5 in the standings.

"Oh, sweet," Perry said.

"You're going to get there," Nicklaus reassured him.

Perry is so desperate to make the team that he won't even bother qualifying for the U.S. Open. He does not like Torrey Pines and figures he should devote his energy to tournaments where he has a better chance of earning points, such as Memphis next week and Hartford the week after the U.S. Open.

It felt like he won a U.S. Open at Muirfield -- not so much because of its slick greens and 6-inch rough, but the way par became such a prized possession for so many players.

Third-round leader Mathew Goggin stumbled to a 74 and tied for second with former Masters champion Mike Weir, Justin Rose and Jerry Kelly, all of whom closed with a 71. All of them had their chances until dropping shots somewhere along the back nine.

Perry took the lead with a birdie on the ninth hole and never gave it up, saving par from the back bunker on the par-3 12th and with a perfect flop shot from the rough above the 14th green.

Goggin's 3-shot margin was gone in three holes, and his lead vanished in four, courtesy of 2 bogeys as everyone else was moving forward. The only consolation was a birdie at No. 18 and a tie for second, matching his best PGA Tour result.

"It took me three, four holes to calm down," Goggin said. "And that was the difference."

Four players had a share of the lead on the front nine, all of them poised to take charge.

Rose was the first to 8 under when he holed a bunker shot for eagle on No. 7, but he retreated with a bogey from the bunker on the next hole and fell apart early on the back nine, not all by his own doing. Still in range of the lead, Rose watched an approach just left of the flag on No. 13 hit a sprinkler in the fringe and carom into the gallery, leading to bogey.

Weir, trying to become Canada's biggest PGA Tour winner with his ninth victory, chipped in for birdie from short of the ninth green to make the turn at 8 under and tied for the lead, but he also gave away shots early on the back nine. Weir came up short on the 10th and missed a 10-foot par putt, then went over the 11th green with a wedge into rough so deep he could barely see his ball.

Weir had the last chance, two shots behind until missing a 7-foot birdie on the 17th.

"When you win a tournament, you guess right a few times," Weir said. "Today, three times in a row I guessed wrong."

Kelly never had a share of the lead, but he felt as miserable as the rest of them. Perry made his lone bogey on the 17th to fall to 8 under, and Kelly was 3 feet away for birdie to pull within 1 shot. His putt caught the lip and spun 5 feet away.

Perry finished with a par, saluted the gallery and walked over to meet the tournament host.

"I hadn't seen you all week," he told Nicklaus walking off the 18th green. "It's nice to see you here."

Nicklaus, who played 43 consecutive U.S. Opens and won four of them, didn't flinch earlier Sunday when told that Perry was skipping the national championship.

"My goal was never to make the Ryder Cup. It was to win the U.S. Open," Nicklaus said. "But I understand. Being in Kentucky, it's a big thing for Kenny. He's looking at the big picture for him to do what he wants to do."

Ginn Tribute: Sophie Gustafson's stunning collapse, and Karrie Webb's short playoff miss opened the way for Seon Hwa Lee to come from 9 shots behind and win the Ginn Tribute at Mount Pleasant, S.C.

South Korea's Lee 2-putted from about 45 feet for par on the lone playoff hole, the 18th, then watched LPGA Hall of Famer Webb miss a 3-footer that would've extended things at RiverTowne Country Club.

Lee shot a 67 for her third LPGA title. She earned $390,000, one of the richest prizes in women's golf.

It wouldn't have happened without Gustafson's improbable fall. Holding a 6-shot lead when the day began, Gustafson had 5 bogeys and 2 double bogeys in her last 15 holes for a 7-over 79 that left her 3 shots from the playoff.

The comeback was the second-largest in LPGA Tour history, surpassed only by 10-stroke rallies from Mickey Wright in 1964 and Annika Sorenstam in 2001.

Champions Tour: Jay Haas shot a 6-under 65 to repeat as champion of the Principal Charity Classic and move into first place on the Champions Tour money list.

Haas, who won the Senior PGA Championship last week, shot 4-under on the back nine and finished at 10-under 203 total, 1 shot ahead of Andy Bean at West Des Moines, Iowa. Haas also passed Bernhard Langer for first in the points standings with the victory.

Second-round leader Nick Price bogeyed his final hole and finished third with a final-round 69 and 8-under 205 total. Joey Sindelar was fourth at 7-under, and seven players tied for fifth at 6-under 207.

Haas entered the final round 2 strokes behind Price, but 3 straight birdies down the stretch gave him the lead for good. He knocked down a 48-foot putt on No. 14, then dropped his tee shot on No. 16 two feet from the pin. A short putt there gave Haas a 1-shot lead, and he closed with 2 straight pars.