PITTSBURGH — Turns out, Kenny Perry had been going at this whole “trying to win a major thing” all wrong.

Three times during his otherwise solid professional career, Perry found himself in contention on golf’s biggest stage. Three times, he played too conservatively to win.

Not this time.

Perry fired a 6-under 64 in the final round to leapfrog Fred Couples on Sunday and win the Senior Players Championship by two shots over Couples and Duffy Waldorf at soggy and defenseless Fox Chapel.

“I was trying to make birdies,” said Perry, who didn’t record a bogey over his final 37 holes. “I guess that was a different mindset from before where instead of trying to make pars, I was trying to make birdies.”

Ridiculously easy ones at that.

Perry knocked it to within a couple of inches on the par-4 16th to take a two-shot lead and followed it up with a 6-iron to 2 feet on the par-3 17th. The collapses that befell him in setbacks at the 1996 PGA Championship, the 2009 Masters and the Senior PGA last month never happened. Perry calmly tapped in for par on the par-5 18th to fill the last remaining hole on his resume.

Now that he’s finally figured out how to win a major after finishing at 19-under 261, the 52-year-old thinks more may be on the way.

“I’m hoping the floodgates are going to open,” Perry said. “But I don’t know, anytime you get into contention you get nervous, you get antsy. But today I had a peace about me. ... If I can kind of draw upon this the next time I get into the heat of things, hopefully I’ll finish it off like I did today.”

Something Couples failed to do yet again in his fourth runner-up finish of the year, including each of the last two majors.

The Hall of Famer leads the Champions Tour in putting average, but could generate little magic on Sunday. He began the day with a two-shot cushion, but couldn’t build on it, shooting a lackluster 2-under 68 that included a handful of crucial miscues.

Couples drove the green on the short par-4 seventh only to three-putt for par. He later knocked it within 8 feet on the 15th only to send his birdie attempt streaking past the hole. He pulled the comebacker to the left and the bogey gave Perry all the opening he would need.

“There were a couple shots you always should have back,” Couples said.

Fox Chapel took on more than 4 inches of rain during the week, turning what was supposed to be a stiff test into a pitch and putt for long hitters like Couples and Perry.

The conditions begged for players at attack the pins.