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Perry set for playoffs after eye injury

Golfer has won three tourneys this year, but could miss Tour Championship

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Kenny Perry is upset that he might not qualify for the Tour Championship. "I mean, I've had a great year, and I think that's not right."
Mel Evans / AP
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AP Sports Writer
Associated Press Sports
updated 7:11 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2008

PARAMUS, New Jersey - Kenny Perry's eyesight is back to normal two weeks after a scratched and infected cornea knocked him out of the U.S. PGA Championship.

However, he was still a bit fuzzy on the retooled FedEx Cup points picture on the eve of The Barclays, the U.S. PGA Tour playoff opener at Ridgewood Country Club.

"What I think is kind of a bummer is, if I don't play well these three weeks, I won't be in the Tour Championship,'' Perry said on Wednesday.

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"I mean, I've had a great year, and I think that's not right. I don't think that's fair at all for me to win three times and be kicked out of the Tour Championship, but I've kind of been kicked out of all of the tournaments anyway. I won the Memorial and that didn't get me in the U.S. Open.''

With top-seeded Tiger Woods sidelined by a knee injury, Perry is effectively the leader with 99,500 points. Phil Mickelson is second at 99,250, followed by British Open and U.S. PGA winner Padraig Harrington at 99,000. Lee Janzen, the last of the 144 qualifiers, has 92,070 points - only 7,430 behind Perry.

Last year in the inaugural playoffs, the gap between No. 1 and No. 144 was 15,300 points. The winner on Sunday will get 11,000 points — 2,000 more than a year ago — and $1.26 million (?860,000) from the $7 million (?4.75 million) purse.

The top 120 players after The Barclays will be eligible for the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts. The field will then be cut to 70 for the BMW Championship in St. Louis and to 30 for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

"It looks to me like what I did this whole year didn't matter and I don't think that's right,'' Perry said. "I think there should be some kind of system to where it favors the guy that's had a good year. I mean, you don't see the guys in like baseball, if they have had a mediocre year, they are not going to get in the playoffs. I don't see any other format where the guy who has just kind of gotten through the year has a chance to win it all. I just don't think that's the way to do it in my opinion.

"I think it should favor the guy who has played well throughout the year, but it's not going to be in effect this year at all. I think you'll see somebody come deep and out of the pack that could actually win this thing, if I understand it correctly. I may not understand it correctly. I don't know. I really don't understand it anyway.''

The 48-year-old Perry withdrew from the U.S. PGA Championship because of the eye problems — caused by a warped contact — after a first-round 79.

"This is my third pair of contact lenses in my left eye, third one of the week, and it feels real good and I'm seeing pretty good out of it,'' Perry said. "I'm excited and it doesn't hurt. I don't have any pain. My vision is good again.''

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