Kenny Perry celebrates after beating Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson in a playoff. Perry, at age 47, has won three of the five tournaments he has started this year. He collected 56,000 at the John Deere Classic on Sunday in Silvis, Ill. Results on page 4B.

Silvis, Ill. ? He never wanted to be the star or the main attraction, but Kenny Perry will have no choice if this continues. The guy who merely wanted to win enough to make the Ryder Cup team is now racking up victories at a rapid pace.

“I don’t want to live in a fishbowl,” he said. “I don’t want Tiger status.”

He has a ways to go to get there, but he is attracting more attention than ever before.

Perry beat Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson in a one-hole playoff to win the John Deere Classic and escape with his third victory in five starts after bogeying the 18th hole Sunday.

Perry had a one-stroke lead at 17-under through 17 only to lose it thanks to some poor shots from the fringe on the final hole of regulation. He and Williamson were off the course when Adamonis, the PGA Tour’s oldest rookie at 35, missed an 18-foot putt for birdie that would have won it in regulation and given him his first victory.

In the playoff, Adamonis and Williamson hit approach shots into the pond on No. 18. Perry tapped in from 1 feet, 4 inches for par and the victory after his 24-footer stopped just short.

He collected $756,000 with his 12th victory and is enjoying the best stretch of his career at an age – 47 – when players are getting ready for the senior tour.

“I told my dad I was going to make the PGA Tour and win a tournament,” he said. “My goal was never to be a superstar. I just wanted to make a living and support my kids.”