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Kenny Perry defends absence

American Kenny Perry, winner of three of his last five PGA events, on Wednesday defended his decision to skip the British Open.

The 47-year-old said he was honoring a commitment to play in the Milwaukee Championship and also fighting for his Ryder Cup place being held this year in his home state of Kentucky while a win in a major was “unrealistic” at his age.

Perry, who picked up his third victory of the season in the John Deere Classic on Sunday, chose Milwaukee instead of the British Open starting at Royal Birkdale in England on Thursday.

Perry told a tournament media conference that even after his recent rich run of form he had not considered changing his plans and cited his poor record over the years on links courses.

“(I) played seven of those and my stroke average is like 76 or whatever,” he said. “I think I’ve only made one cut, maybe two. My only goal this year was to make the Ryder Cup team.

“Winning a major would be the greatest thing I could ever accomplish, but I fought that for 22 years. I’ve been trying to win majors and looking at the stats nobody has ever won a major at my age.”

He added: “I thought I had an opportunity to make the Ryder Cup team if I got hot, and it’s in Valhalla in my home state and I wanted to go there and end my career there and celebrate with my friends and my fans and my family and that’s kind of the way I set my schedule up.”

Perry felt it was unfair to criticize him for honoring a commitment.

“I made this commitment early in the year and then all of a sudden now I’m supposed to dump you guys and go to the British Open,” he said.