RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Seniors champion Jason Perry birdied the 11th and 12th holes for the second day in a row Thursday en route to a seven-stroke victory in the 2007 U.S. Air Forces in Europe golf championships.
Perry, a scratch golfer playing his home course — Woodlawn’s 6,044-yard, par-70 layout — used the birdies to forge a 3-under back nine en route to a 73 that allowed him to finish the three-day event with a 54-hole total of 214, 4 over par.
“If you do the math,” Perry joked, “you can see how I struggled on the front nine.”
Perry won the seniors division for golfers aged 30-39 by a whopping 22 strokes over runner-up James Wells of Spangdahlem.
His opening round of par on Tuesday made him the man to catch in this annual event, whose champions earned invitations to the All-Air Force camp.
“You can’t win a tournament on the first day, but you can play yourself out of it on the first day,” said Perry, 31, who won this event in 2002 while stationed at RAF Lakenheath. “It’s important to get a good score under your belt.”
Increasingly difficult pin placements accounted for the 4-over total on the final two days, he said.
Open champion Rogelio Renteria of Baumholder agreed the pin placement was especially tough Thursday.
“I hit 12 greens today,” Renteria said after a round of 75 left him at 221 for the tournament, tops among players age 18-29. “When you hit 12 greens, you ought to shoot par, but I had 35 putts. With those pin placements, I couldn’t get any rhythm going with my putter.”
Topping the masters category for golfers aged 40-49 was James McMurray of Ramstein. McMurray shot 75-75-76—226, three strokes better than runner-up Tipp Wight of Ramstein.
