Kenny Perry still wins at Masters
The final scorecard will show that Kenny Perry lost in a playoff at this year's Masters Tournament in Augusta. But he was a winner in the press tent.
Now that isn't going to ease the pain of failinig to win the coveted Green Jacket but it does set a standard for dealing with the media and public after a tough loss.
We had the privilege of working with Perry at his home golf course in southern Kentucky a while back and he displayed the kind of laid back, folksy charm he has consistently showed on the PGA tour. During some tough practice Q&A, Perry was not ruffled; he simply answered questions the same way he would if someone was asking him advice on what iron to pick on the fairway.
Perry answered every question -- and then some -- after the playoff in the Masters. Many of the questions were virtually the same ones -- what was he thinking after a bad shot in the playoff, what happened over the final holes on Sunday etc. Yet he answered each question as if it was being asked for the first time, remembering one of the key elements we had in our training that the audience is not the reporter -- it is the public.
Many times we work with professional and college athletes to teach them how important it is to answer queries after a tough loss or when you had a difficult time on the field or court. The media -- and more importantly the public -- often judges you on how well you do in communicating when times are tough rather than after a big win or a championship.
Perry is a veteran and he showed it after the Masters. The result was universal praise on the internet, TV and in newspapers for the class he showed both on the course and in the press tent.
It was a lesson in which all athletes can learn from.
Nice goin, Kenny!
Now that isn't going to ease the pain of failinig to win the coveted Green Jacket but it does set a standard for dealing with the media and public after a tough loss.
We had the privilege of working with Perry at his home golf course in southern Kentucky a while back and he displayed the kind of laid back, folksy charm he has consistently showed on the PGA tour. During some tough practice Q&A, Perry was not ruffled; he simply answered questions the same way he would if someone was asking him advice on what iron to pick on the fairway.
Perry answered every question -- and then some -- after the playoff in the Masters. Many of the questions were virtually the same ones -- what was he thinking after a bad shot in the playoff, what happened over the final holes on Sunday etc. Yet he answered each question as if it was being asked for the first time, remembering one of the key elements we had in our training that the audience is not the reporter -- it is the public.
Many times we work with professional and college athletes to teach them how important it is to answer queries after a tough loss or when you had a difficult time on the field or court. The media -- and more importantly the public -- often judges you on how well you do in communicating when times are tough rather than after a big win or a championship.
Perry is a veteran and he showed it after the Masters. The result was universal praise on the internet, TV and in newspapers for the class he showed both on the course and in the press tent.
It was a lesson in which all athletes can learn from.
Nice goin, Kenny!
Posted by Randy Minkoff at 4/13/2009 7:40 AM 
Categories: Sports
Tags: Speaking Specialists/Kenny Perry
Categories: Sports
Tags: Speaking Specialists/Kenny Perry
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