One of the strangest seasons the PGA Tour has seen arguably came back in 2008 when Kenny Perry made it his mission to make the Ryder Cup team in his home state of Kentucky.
Kenny Perry won three times in the 2008 season. Only Tiger Woods won more often on the PGA Tour. Nevertheless, the then-48-year-old only played one round of major championship golf all year.
He shot a 79 on Thursday at the PGA Championship before withdrawing due to an eye injury.
Perry decided to build his schedule around making Paul Azinger‘s team for Valhalla. He ended up winning The Memorial for a third time, as well as the Buick Open and the John Deere Classic.
Despite not teeing it up at The Masters, the US Open and The Open Championship in 2007 or 2008, Perry finished fourth in the qualification standings.
He went on to win 2.5 points from four matches as the USA won the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1999.
Unfortunately, the PGA Tour took some of the shine off of Perry’s second and final appearance in the event with a move which was scrapped after 2008.
The PGA Tour schedule decision which never happened again after the 2008 Ryder Cup
The introduction of the FedEx Cup in 2007 proved to be a huge moment for the tour. Four playoff events were played in successive weeks across August and September, culminating in the Tour Championship at East Lake.
The problem was the Ryder Cup tended to occupy a similar spot in the calendar. So a change was made in 2008, with the event taking place between the BMW Championship and the season finale in Atlanta.
While players had the week off after the BMW, the Tour Championship began just a handful of days after Azinger’s men had triumphed in Kentucky.
And Perry made it clear just how much he disliked the decision after arriving at East Lake.
“That was a depressing drive,” Perry said, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “This is a great tournament, but it’s bad timing. Playing before my home folks last week in the Ryder Cup was the ultimate. It was hard for me to get motivated for this.
“It’s like winning the Super Bowl on Sunday, and then you have to play the Pro Bowl the next day. Coming here ruined the greatest week in my life. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to go home and celebrate.”
Perry ended up finishing the week tied for 24th at 10 over par. In fairness, not everyone involved at the Ryder Cup struggled. Sergio García lost in a playoff with Camilo Villegas. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Ben Curtis and Jim Furyk finished in the top six.
The PGA Tour continues to search for the ideal FedEx Cup playoff formula
Unsurprisingly, the PGA Tour have moved away from the idea of holding the Tour Championship the week after the Ryder Cup. But it is fair to say that they are yet to find the perfect balance.
Tiger Woods won the 2018 Tour Championship before losing all four matches he played the following week at Le Golf National.
Meanwhile, it did the American team no favours at all to wait more than a month after the Tour Championship for the start of the Ryder Cup in Rome in 2023.
It is not exactly the PGA Tour’s priority to do what is best for the Ryder Cup. And they do deserve a bit of leeway given that the 2008 Ryder Cup was the first since the FedEx Cup playoffs started.
However, it seems to be a particularly baffling move in hindsight. It is little surprise that Perry felt a little cheated that he did not get the opportunity to immediately savour his Ryder Cup triumph.
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