US Senior Open of Golf 2013: Day 4 Leaderboard Analysis, Recap and More

Kenny Perry fired a nearly flawless 63 on Sunday to finish at 13-under par and win by five strokes over second-place finisher Fred Funk in Omaha, Neb., at the 2013 U.S. Senior Open.

Perry began the final round of the U.S. Senior Open two strokes back of Michael Allen, but he had the lead to himself by his third hole and then marched to the championship.

Not only did Perry play brilliantly, but he was also able to watch his lead grow more comfortable as challengers gradually fell off. Allen, the 54-hole leader, struggled throughout his day, and Rocco Mediate made a slight charge but bogeyed two of his three final holes to fall off the pace. 

After having gone his whole career without winning a major, along with his win at the Senior Players Championship, Perry has now won two straight senior majors.

Check out the final leaderboard, and then I'll recap some of the day's more notable rounds. 

Final Leaderboard—2013 U.S. Senior Open 

Pos.	Player	Total
1	Kenny Perry	-13
2	Fred Funk	-8
T3	Rocco Mediate	-7
T3	Corey Pavin	-7
5	Michael Allen	-6
T6	Steve Elington	-4
T6	Jeff Sluman	-4
T6	Chien Soon Lu	-4

Note: For complete scores, visit USSeniorOpen.com. All statistics and information are courtesy of USSeniorOpen.com.

Kenny Perry's Championship Day

After firing a 64 on Saturday, Perry carried his hot hand to the first tee on Sunday. He earned a par on the opening hole and then birdied holes Nos. 2 and 3 to charge into the lead. 

Perry offered the field a moment of hope as he bogeyed the par-three fifth to fall to seven-under for the tournament. However, that was just a blip on the radar and not the start of a negative trend. 

He birdied each of the next four holes to close out the front side with an impressive five-under 30. 

The 53-year-old carded a birdie and bogey, which led to an opening four holes on the back played at even-par. However, he quickly slammed the door shut after that.  

Perry's amazing final round took suspense out of the day, but his brilliant play made for excellent viewing, even if it did cause confusion similar to what this fan experienced: 

Kenny may not be much of a singer, but he was a firework on this day. 

Michael Allen Can't Reverse His Slide

After two rounds, Allen held a five-stroke lead and looked poised to cruise to victory. The golf gods had other plans.

He fired a two-over 72 in Round 3 on Saturday. Despite his poor round, though, he still entered Sunday with a two-stroke lead. 

Beginning Round 4 in the day's final group, Allen bogeyed the third and fourth holes, and he was fighting an uphill battle the rest of the way. 

Allen fought, as he played the rest of the front side at two-under. Unfortunately, he couldn't hold his game together on the back. He suffered a double-bogey on the par-four 13th and couldn't recover, as he watched his playing partner leave him in the dust. 

KLKN Lincoln's Ian Hest sheds light on this: 

The bulk of Allen's struggles came off the tee, as he lost all control from the box over the last two days. After hitting 15 fairways over the first two rounds, Allen hit just 10 fairways over the final two rounds.

Rocco Mediate Mounts a Challenge 

Mediate caught fire in the final round, and after beginning the day five shots off the lead, he had a run toward the top of the leaderboard. 

He fired a three-under 32 on the front and carded three straight birdies on holes Nos. 13 through 15. This moved him to nine-under and had him inching closer to Perry. 

However, Mediate bogeyed two of his final three holes to wind up at seven-under for the championship. 

It was a nice run, but Mediate appeared to run out of gas as he tried to run down the surging Perry.