Rd. 3 Notes: Perry wins with heavy heart

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• Kenny Perry, playing with a heavy heart after the death of his 59-year-old sister Kay on Saturday night, rallied from a double-bogey at the par-5 12th hole by making a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th hole to win his first event on the Champions Tour by one stroke over Jeff Sluman and John Huston. Perry had a two-stroke lead over Sluman early on the back nine, but there was a three-stroke swing when Sluman made a short birdie putt just before Perry hit a 5-wood second shot fat in the water at No. 12. After three straight pars, Perry moved back into a tie for the lead with Sluman with a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4 16th. His eagle at the 17th gave him a two-stroke cushion that allowed him to bogey the final hole and still win by one shot. Perry's sister died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after a long battle with breast cancer two years to the day after his mother Mildred passed away at age 79.

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• Perry claimed his first Champions Tour title in his 11th career start on the circuit. Previous-best finishes were: T2nd -- 2011 3M Championship, P2-2011 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Scott Hoch).

• Perry became the 18th different winner on the Champions Tour this year and he joined John Huston (Dick's Sporting Goods Open), Olin Browne (U.S. Senior Open), Mark Calcavecchia (Boeing Classic) and Jay Don Blake (Songdo IBD Championship) as the fifth first-time winner on the Champions Tour in 2011. Perry was also the third consecutive first-time winner, marking the first time since 2004 that the Champions Tour had three straight first-timers win events -- Mark James (Ford Senior Players Championship), Pete Oakley (Senior British Open), Peter Jacobsen (U.S. Senior Open).

• Perry ended a TOUR victory drought of 2 years, 3 months, 3 days (2009 Travelers Championship).

• Perry became the second consecutive Kentuckian to win the SAS Championship and he became the fourth player in tournament history to make the SAS Championship his initial victory on the Champions Tour and the third in the last five years joining Mark Wiebe (2007) and Tom Pernice Jr. (2009). D.A. Weibring was the first to do so in 2003.

• Perry earned 315 Charles Schwab Cup points and increased his season-long Schwab Cup total to 871 points on the season (14th). Tom Lehman continues to lead the 2011 Schwab Cup race with 2,135 points. Mark Calcavecchia picked up 53 points this week and remains in second with 1,737 points. Peter Senior (1,645) and John Cook (1,570) round out the top four places in the season-long standings. At the end of the official season, the player with the most Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.

• Perry earned a check for $315,000 and increases his single-season earnings to $879,651(13th).

• Perry earned a two-year exemption into the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii.

• Perry became the first SAS Championship winner to make two double-bogeys in the event and still go on to victory. Perry's winning total of 11-under 205 was the highest winning 54-hole score in tournament history and the highest winning score in a three-round Champions Tour event since Jeff Sluman won the Nature Valley Open at Pebble Beach in early July with a 10-under 206 total.

• After going three years without a champion making an eagle, each of the last three SAS Championship winners has made an eagle en route to victory. Perry became the first SAS Championship winner since Hale Irwin (2005) to make two eagles in the event.

• In eight of the 11 SAS Championships, the winner has carded at least one round of 66.

• Top 30 status after the AT&T Championship gains entry in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. With just two full-field events left, here's a look at the players battling for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship berths after this week's event:

• There were only four rounds in the 60s on Sunday (Mark Calcavecchia/Scott Simpson, 68; Morris Hatalsky/Joey Sindelar, 69) after 12 sub-70 rounds on Saturday and 23 sub-70 rounds on Friday. The overall scoring average this year (72.657) was the highest since the 2005 event.

• The hardest hole at Prestonwood Country Club this week was the par-4 1st (4.263), yielding just 21 total birdies. The easiest hole was the par-5 17th (4.394), giving up 17 eagles and 121 birdies.

• On the 2011 Champions Tour, the winner has now come from the final grouping in the last seven tournaments beginning at the Senior British Open.

• Defending champion Russ Cochran made a respectable title defense, finishing fourth at Prestonwood this year.

• Allen Doyle withdrew before the start of the final round with a hand issue.