Kenny Perry’s sole purpose on the PGA Tour this year is to go home to Kentucky for the Ryder Cup. He took a big step Sunday by winning on a course that feels like home. “Magic always happens for me here,” Perry said after closing with a 3-under 69 to pull away from the pack for a two-shot victory at the Memorial, joining Tiger Woods as the only three-time winners at the tournament Jack Nicklaus built. As his contenders were in full retreat on the back nine of Muirfield Village, Perry surged ahead with two clutch par saves, a 5-wood that set up an easy birdie and hardly any mistakes to win for the first time in three years.

Perry squandered two good chances to win in the previous three weeks, closing with an 81 at The Players Championship and watching in utter shock as a fairway metal ricocheted off a tree and into the water to lose a playoff in the AT&T Classic outside Atlanta.And when he arrived at the Memorial, he heard Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger say that it would take nothing short of winning for a player to make the U.S. team at Valhalla. The message came through as clear as the blue skies over Muirfield Village. The 47-year-old Perry became the oldest winner of the Memorial, meaningful for many reasons. As he walked off the 18th green with one final par, he received a warm handshake from Nicklaus and hugs from his wife and three children. It was the first time in his two decades on Tour that his entire family was at a tournament he won. Perry finished at 8-under 280, the highest score to win the Memorial in 23 years. He earned $1.08 million, which translates to 1,080 points toward the Ryder Cup. Tour officials brought him a chart showing Perry at No. 5 in the standings.Perry is so desperate to make the team that he won’t even bother qualifying for the U.S. Open. He does not like Torrey Pines, and figures he should devote his energy to tournaments where he has a better chance of earning points, such as Memphis next week and Hartford the week after the U.S. Open.

Third-round leader Mathew Goggin stumbled to a 74, and tied for second with former Masters champion Mike Weir, Justin Rose and Jerry Kelly, all of whom closed with a 71. All of them had their chances until dropping shots somewhere along the back nine.Perry took the lead with a birdie on the ninth hole and never gave it up, saving par from the back bunker on the par-3 12th and with a perfect flop shot from the rough above the 14th green. Goggin’s three-shot margin was gone in three holes, and his lead vanished in four, courtesy of two bogeys as everyone else was moving forward. The only consolation was a birdie at No. 18 and a tie for second, matching his best PGA Tour result.

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