Perry on course for back to back wins

Kenny Perry will forever be the answer to the following trivia question: Who won the Colonial the year Annika Sorenstam played in it?

But the guy is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, a guy who knows how to handle a hot streak as well as some difficult golf courses.

He's half way toward becoming a two-time winner of the Memorial Tournament, something that's been done only five times in the 28-year history of the event.

And the majority of golf fans who see him walking the fairways on Tour have virtually no idea who he is.

"That's been the story of my life, though," he said Friday after following up his opening-round 65 with a 68 in the second round to sit at 11-under par heading into today's third round. "I've kind of come out here, done my deal, worked and I have flown under the radar. I have not been a media star. I have always said I was just a good golfer. I was never a superstar."

The last two weeks, the 42-year-old from Franklin, Ky. has bordered on superstar status. In his last six rounds (108 holes), he is 30-under par. That's right, 30. While the Colonial Country Club course played about as easy as it can play, 19-under par is still remarkable.

As is the 11-under he's crafted in two days at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

"Yes, it was a good round of golf for me," he said. "I was happy with the way I played today, kind of still in that same rhythm and same mode. I just wanted to shoot something in the 60s today and get in position for the weekend and I was able to do that."

And it was just good enough to put Perry in the lead, just as he was in 1991 when he won this tournament for the first time.

He carries a one-shot lead into today's third round over Retief Goosen and Lee Janzen and three shots over Vijay Singh and Spike McRoy. Chad Campbell is in at seven-under par and Tiger Woods is five back with Charles Howell III.

"Everything that can go my way is going my way," Perry said. "The four or five-footers I need to make for par, I'm making right now to keep the momentum and the swing going my way. Then I'll make a 20-footer for birdies. It just seems like the momentum holes you need to do something to keep your run going, I've been able to take advantage of."

And because this is the Memorial Tournament, which has been affected by weather 11 of the past 14 years, it will surprise no one that today's weather is supposed to be lousy.

And Woods has proven to be one of the Tour's best bad weather players, he's not out of the hunt.

"Oh yeah, with the weather coming, it will be a good challenge," he said after shooting 71 despite making a double-bogey on 8 and a bogey on 9 and a bad bogey on the 18th. "Certainly with the weather coming it, you've got to go out there and really hit the ball well and judge the wind correctly."

Goosen, who won the 2001 U.S. Open, has maintained for the last two days that he's not playing well, but there he is, playing in today's final group.

"It's a funny game," he said. "Sometimes you feel like you are really hitting the ball great. These last few days I missed a lot of fairways and greens but got it up and down and made everything that I looked at. So that's really grinding it out there."

"I don't think there's any doubt we had the tougher go of it today," said Janzen, the two-time U.S. Open champion, who has struggled to return to elite status. "I've had several instances recently where I've played well for two days and wondered why it was so easy and then struggled on some other rounds. I've actually played well on Sunday the last two weeks. I just want to put myself in position and hopefully finish one of these off."

For McRoy, his first appearance in the Memorial has been just that, memorable.

"Before this week, I've never seen it and I heard people rant and rave about it," he said after his second straight 68. "But it's so much fun to be able to put the ball in position, you don't have to hit it 400 yards."

Defending champion Jim Furyk is still in the hunt, shooting a two-under par round of 70 on Friday and is in at six-under par, five shots behind Perry.

The 36-hole cut came at two-over par, with 70 players making it for the final two rounds.

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