Sports

SUN SHINES BRIGHT ON KY. HEROES

LOUISVILLE – Kentucky’s favorite sons – Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes – delivered for the U.S. Ryder Cup team yesterday. They delivered big time.

Perry, from nearby Franklin, had centered his past two years around trying to make this Ryder Cup team. He had been criticized along the way for some of his methods, skipping two of this year’s majors, but in the end it all paid off for him.

Perry defeated Henrik Stenson 3 and 2 in his singles match yesterday to give the U.S. an 11 -9 1/2 lead at the time.

“I said this was going to define my career, but I’ll tell you what, it’s made my career,” said Perry, who went 2-1-1. “I had a great confidence and a great calm about me. This is a week I’ll never forget, the greatest experience of my life.”

Perry and Holmes finished with a combined 4-1-2 record.

“I never imagined this,” Holmes said. “This is the best moment of my life. I was floating out there and I’m still floating. It was unbelievable to make it onto a Ryder Cup team, but to win two points and do it in my home state . . . “

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European captain Nick Faldo took heavy criticism for making Ian Poulter one of his captain’s picks.

All Poulter, the only player to play all five matches for Europe, did was win four of them, delivering Faldo more than a third of his 12-man team’s points.

Lost in the Americans’ success was the continued lack of Ryder Cup success for Phil Mickelson, who lost to 4-and-2 to Justin Rose in singles, leaving him with only two Ryder Cup wins in his last 16 matches.

Mickelson finished 1-2-2 for the week, though he did forge a great partnership with Anthony Kim.

Europe’s four rookies – Soren Hansen, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Oliver Wilson – had a combined record of 6-5-2.

The 38th Ryder Cup will take place in 2010 from Sept. 28 through Oct. 3, at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales.