Who cares if Kenny Perry doesn't play in the British Open?

Kenny Perry isn’t being selfish, he’s not slapping tradition in the face and he’s not risking his Ryder Cup spot by not playing in the British Open this week at Royal Birkdale.

I’m siding with those who are telling Perry to stick to his guns and compete in the PGA Tour event he already committed to playing in well before he started going gangbusters in 2008 (and can someone tell Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN they don’t serve “luke warm beer” in any decent pub in England anymore? I’ve never had a pint anywhere in the UK that wasn’t cold. They even serve Guiness Extra Cold over there).

Perry is 47. He is also not Jack Nicklaus, who won the Masters at 46. He’s competed in 22 British Opens and he doesn’t think he can play well in this one. So let him compete on U.S. soil instead.

Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger shouldn’t even think twice about putting Perry on the Ryder Cup roster. He’s won three times on tour and the Cup isn’t hosted on a links course (come to think of it, you have to wonder if it will ever be hosted on a links course in the U.K. again - what with all the snazzy, parkland resorts like K Club, Celtic Manor and Gleneagles scooping up venues. A links course hasn’t hosted the Ryder Cup since Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1977). Perry is a Kentucky native and nearly won the PGA Championship when it was staged at Valhalla.

People aren’t going to be crying in their Birkdale beers about the absence of Perry. I hope Perry beats another diluted field at this week’s U.S. Bank Championship too. Though given the state of banks these days, lets just hope the check clears.