Perry takes Buick Open title

Kenny Perry fired a six-under-par 66 last night to win the Buick Open by a stroke over Woody Austin and Bubba Watson.

It was the second win of the season for the 47-year-old, who also won the Memorial and is now making a march toward a berth on the US Ryder Cup team, which will take on Europe in September at Valhalla in Perry's home state of Kentucky.

Perry finished on a 19-under-par overall, while Austin and Watson were still on the course.

Watson missed a 12-foot birdie putt on 18 that would have forced a play-off, while 1995 winner Austin made a move with three straight birdies starting on 12 and then got to 20 under with a birdie at the 16th.

Nursing a one-stroke lead with two holes to play, Austin finished bogey-bogey and dropped into a tie for second with Watson at 18 under.

"I had multiple wins in '03, '05 and '08 - my 40s have been pretty good for me," Perry said.

Chopra said: "Today I was fairly surprised that the scores did not kind of run away; being two behind and being behind Bo Van Pelt, I was pretty sure that pretty close to 20-under was going to be leading by the end of the day.

"I got up to 16 and that kept me with a two-shot lead; I don't know how. I can't explain it. Maybe the rain overnight softened up the fairways and the course wasn't playing as short and the greens were softer."

Two-time PGA Tour winner Chopra started the season with a win at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, but has struggled since and has only managed a 32nd place at the Sony Open.

"Everybody says it's tough to play with a lead, but we try to get a lead, and two shots is better than one, and three is better than two," added Chopra.

"So the bigger the lead you've got, the better. And it just gives that you little bit of a cushion to allow yourself that one extra hole where maybe you should have made a birdie on that you expected to make birdie and if you don't, it gives you that extra one hole of patience.

"That's what I'm going to do out there tomorrow is practising patience all day long."

After a 70 on Saturday, his worst round of the tournament, Hart was not willing to venture a guess on a winning score, but he did look forward to setting up more birdie opportunities after making four in the third round against two bogeys.

"It depends on weather; depends on wind. I'm not going to really worry about a number," said Hart, who is also searching for his third tour title and first since the 2000 Honda Classic.

"I'm just going to try to follow the shots, and I feel like my putter is working pretty well for the most part. And if I can get myself some more opportunities, I feel confident that I can make some."