June 21, 2009

     Kenny Perry lost the Masters this year to Angel Cabrera in a two-hole playoff. But you would never know it.
     Just ask Steve and Martha Kirsche of Wethersfield, guests at Perry's rented home during the Masters. They followed Perry around the Augusta National Golf Club course and were a part of his emotional journey.
     "He's family," Steve and Martha say.
     And this week, for the 21st time, Perry will stay with the Kirsche family during the Travelers Championship.
     After Perry lost at the Masters, Steve and Martha returned to the rented house and turned on the Golf Channel. But they shut the television off before Perry returned because they thought replays of what had transpired would upset him.
     "He got home, and the first thing he did was turn it back on," Steve said. "After dinner, KP wanted to eat into my gin [rummy] winnings. Here's a guy, arguably the most disappointed man on the face of the earth, playing a penny-a-point game of gin."
     The card game has been important to Perry since he played it with his father, Ken, who traveled with him during his early years on the PGA Tour.
     "You bet. Dad was a great pool player, too; could beat me one-handed," Perry said last week as he was preparing to play in the U.S. Open in Farmingdale, N.Y. "He loved to play cards, still does."
     As the cards were being dealt that evening, the television remained on.
     "A few times when the announcers would say something insightful about KP's character, we all would break out in applause and cheers," Steve said. "He never made excuses and said he didn't lose the Masters, 'Cabrera won it.'"
     Perry's sportsmanship and grace in defeat weren't surprising to the Kirsches.
     "Things have changed, of course, in that he's a world-ranked player [No. 7] and can live anywhere he wants in any style he wants," Steve said. "But his core values of family and God remain the same. He's the same man today as he was the first time we met him."
     Joining The Family
     The Perry-Kirsche relationship started after Steve played in the pro-am in 1983 at the last Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open at Wethersfield Country Club. The pro in his group was Jay Haas.
     "I had such a great time, I told Teddy May [the tournament's longtime liaison to the tour] we'd like maybe to help Jay on hotel costs by having him stay at our house," Steve said. "Teddy said Jay was living with a family in West Hartford."
     A few years later, May asked Steve, "Will you take a rookie?"
     Kirsche, who is senior vice president of Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, in Hartford, said yes.
     "When I was told 'Perry', I thought Chris, Gaylord Perry's son," Steve said. "When I got back home from work, I saw this stranger shooting baskets with our oldest son, Steve Jr. By 8 o'clock, Kenny was like an old shoe."
     That was 1987, when Perry first stayed in the Kirsche's Colonial home near Wethersfield CC, and he's been staying there every year since.
     Perry, 48, lived with 25 other families in '87, his first full year on the tour. Beyond trying to save a few dollars on hotel expenses, he enjoyed the experience of living with families rather than in a hotel room.
     "Some families put Kenny on a pedestal and showed him off at cocktail parties," Steve said. "That's not Kenny. He doesn't want anything special. He just wants to be regular, family guy because that's who he is."
     This year, Perry lived with families at just two other tournaments, the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
     He has won the Memorial three times and the FBR Open once (this year).
     "Steve and Kenny tease each other all the time, so naturally Steve has mentioned to him we're the only family that he hasn't won their tournament yet," said Martha, owner of Wethersfield Travel.
     Perry's best finish at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell is a fourth-place tie in 2003. In his past seven appearances, he has finished in the top seven four times, including a tie for sixth last year.
     "Maybe this year," said Perry, No. 7 in tour earnings with $2,776,705. "Listen, I love being there. I've seen their children grow up, get married. Steve and Martha have done a fabulous job raising their family."
     The Kirsches return the compliment to Perry and his wife, Sandy.
     Perry's three children — Lesslye, 25; Justin, 23; and Lindsay, 21 — are close in age to the Kirsche's children: Stephen Jr., 31; Melissa, 30; Rebecca, 27; and Laura, 22.
     "Seeing them grow up has been like seeing my children grow up," Perry said.
     In a few of the early years, Kenny, Sandy and their kids stayed with the Kirsches during tournament week. This week, just Kenny and Sandy will be them.
     Genuine And Generous
     Both families have been active in a variety of sports.
     "Laura, the best three-point shooter in Wethersfield High history, and Kenny are out playing Horse at 11 at night," Steve said.
     Martha nodded. She knows of the competitiveness of her husband, 56, and Perry, 48.
     "After dinner we always play bocce," she said. "[Perry] had never heard of it, but he learned fast. He'd throw the ball over the shed, under car tires; anything to try to get an edge."
     Perry laughs. "No rules; I play to win, and I've brought that game to my home," he said.
     Perry also threw some batting practices to Stephen Jr. at baseball fields in Wethersfield.
     Then there was that football-throwing contest in the front yard between Kenny and Steve in 1998. Perry won it with a 60-yard toss.
     "The next day in the tournament he's pulling his putts and can't figure out why," Steve said. "I told him, 'You've got a sore shoulder from being a quarterback.' He never used that as an excuse, though. That's KP."
     There are other examples of Perry being just a regular guy.
     "He missed the cut in '95, and it's Saturday morning," Martha said. "I just drove back to the house from somewhere. Kenny was on the lawn tractor mowing the yard. I said, 'Kenny what are you doing?' He said, 'I missed it.'"
     Perry doesn't forget. In 1985, a businessman from his hometown of Franklin, Ky., lent him $5,000 for maybe his last shot at tour qualifying school. He didn't have to repay the loan but was asked to give a percentage of his tour earnings to Lipscomb University in Nashville if he qualified. He qualified in '86. Since then he has donated 5 percent of his winnings, about $1.5 million to Lipscomb.
     He also built the Country Creek public course so people in and around his hometown could play. Most of the trouble is on the left side of each hole because most amateurs get in trouble on the right side.
     "It costs $32 to play there with a cart," Steve said. "And he agonized this past year in going up $2 on the rate."
     The Kirsches have been guests of the Perrys in Franklin, too. And Steve has played Country Creek as a guest.
     Emotions Run High
     Last year when Perry was in Wethersfield, he invited the Kirsches to be his guests at this year's Masters.
     Perry also selected Steve to be his caddie for the par-3 tournament. Steve wore his green caddie hat all week.
     "He was a kid in heaven," Perry said.
     Steve and Martha stayed with Perry and Sandy in the five-bedroom home he had rented for the week for about $12,000. Children, spouses, family and friends all gathered.
     "The maximum number was 13," Martha said. "There were sleeping bags sometimes, but it was great. One big happy family."
     Perry agrees.
     "Steve beat me in gin and keeps texting me I owe him 23 dollars and something," Perry said. "And when I get to Wethersfield they all gang up on me in Texas Hold 'Em. And I taught them the game.
     "But hey, that's what it's all about. I remember a few years back I had played three, four or so weeks in a row, and I was beat," he said. "When I get to the Kirsches, I dropped my bag inside the door and said, 'I'm home.' True story."
     And then there was Perry's loyalty to the United States last year in the Ryder Cup. Perry did not play in the U.S. Open and the British Open so that he could focus on making the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He took some heat for it.
     "He stood for what he believed in and didn't waver," Steve said. "So what happens? Kenny's a key in the Americans winning the Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky."
     Steve and Martha said they cried when Perry hugged his dad, the man he looks up to and admires the most, after the Americans had won.
     "The focus of how important this was to our country and to everyone on that team was all Kenny," Steve said.
     So there is no surprise in how he handled the Masters disappointment.
     "When Kenny birdied 16 and led by two shots, I was crying," Steve said. "We thought KP had won. It didn't happen. Still, they were the most memorable eight days of our lives. Even though Kenny lost, he won big. For us, the week was heartbreaking and inspirational because it just showed KP, the man we've known for 22 years, to the world."
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