The best golfer from every U.S. state

Kentucky: Kenny Perry

Two major champion winners, Bobby Nichols and Gay Brewer, have a claim to the best golfer from the Bluegrass State. And while each of them have a major to their credit and while they each also won double-digit tournaments overall on the PGA Tour, they don’t earn the distinction. Instead, that honor goes to Kenny Perry, despite never finishing better than second in a major championship while on the PGA Tour.

Hailing from Elizabethtown, KY and still residing in Franklin, KY, Perry has strong ties to the state in that manner, while also attending Western Kentucky University before he eventually turned pro in 1982. It took him three years to make it onto the PGA Tour, but he finally earned his tour card in 1985. Success wasn’t immediate, however, as his best finish over the next few years was tying for fourth in 1987.

However, Perry finally found his groove in the 1990s as he won the Memorial Tournament in 1991, followed by two victories throughout the decade. What’s more, he came the closest he ever would to winning a major in 1996 at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, conveniently in his backyard in Kentucky. A bogey on the 72nd hole of the tournament put him in a playoff, though, and Perry was then bested by Mark Brooks.

Even still, Perry managed to finish in the top five of every major except for The Open Championship throughout his career (his best finish was a T8 in 2003) and earned 14 total wins on the PGA Tour. Since, he’s won four majors on the Champions Tour and has five other victories on said tour.