U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 2014

Kenny Perry

KENNY PERRY: That will be a summer I won't ever forget. Kind of shot the same thing the week prior at Fox Chapel, which kind of led me into the Senior Open last year in Omaha, and shot some incredible rounds. I remember it was hot, to shoot 63-64 on the weekend, to come from -- I was 10 behind I remember at one point in that tournament, and to be able to gather it all back in and win the golf tournament was pretty neat. It was pretty special. And to have a U.S. Senior Open, a USGA title attached to my name, awesome. Excited.

THE MODERATOR: You had a great start again to this year. You won your third consecutive senior major in May, The Tradition down in Shoal Creek, a one-stroke victory over Mark Calcavecchia. You mentioned last year you're sometimes a streaky player. Do you feel like you're coming into one of those hot streaks again this week?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I had a great shot a couple weeks ago to win at Fox Chapel. I was 1-up with five to play and didn't finish it off very well and Bernhard won the tournament, so my golf game is good. It's in order. I love the hot weather, being a Kentucky boy. I love hot, humid conditions. I just seem to relax, free me up. I am a little concerned this week. I've never been here. This is the first time I've set foot on this property. I'm going to have to kind of learn this golf course really fast. I'm going to play this afternoon, a practice round, I'm going to play in the morning, so I've got 36 holes to try to figure this out, which is not -- I was able to do it in Omaha. Hopefully we can figure it out and get a good game plan, good course management, and hopefully my ball-striking will allow me to hit it to where I need to hit it, and go out there and try to defend the title.

THE MODERATOR: This is actually your second USGA championship within a month. You played at the U.S. Open down at Pinehurst a few weeks ago, tied for 28th including a memorable eagle on the 14th on Saturday. Just a few memories for you of Pinehurst this year and what it meant to really be in the mix there and make the cut with the younger guys.

KENNY PERRY: It was awesome. I played the year Payne Stewart won and I played the year Michael Campbell won, and I've actually seen the evolution of Pinehurst, which was pretty neat. I thought it was beautiful. I thought they did a great job setting up that golf course. I loved the sandy area. It made it fun. It made it at least to where if you hit it off the fairway, you at least felt like you still had some kind of chance to get it toward the green, where in the past you were in six-inch rough or four-inch rough and you were chipping out and then trying to find a way to keep it around on all those knobby greens. It was exciting. To hole that shot from 220, that's the longest shot I've ever holed in my life, with a hybrid out of a fairway bunker, was pretty cool. They played it over and over again. I had people calling me and texting me and saying I'm tired of watching you on TV, so I thought that was pretty neat. So it was pretty neat to play in the U.S. Senior Open and to play the regular Open now, to play the Senior Open in one year, pretty neat experience.

Q. You say you haven't played this course before. At one point as recently as four or five years ago, third hardest course in America. When you ask other guys on the TOUR, I haven't been to Oak Tree, I know it's coming up, I'm the defending champ, what are some of the comments you get and maybe one specific guy's advice on how to handle Oak Tree?
KENNY PERRY: Well, I haven't really talked to anybody. I spoke to Bob Tway briefly, and we didn't really have enough time to really get into the golf course, so I am kind of coming in here blind a little bit. Nobody has really said this is really optically challenging. I know it's a Pete Dye course. Nobody has really said it's going to beat you up or you're going to play great. I didn't talk to Sluman. I know he won the PGA here. So I'm going to have to make a good game plan when I go out there today and tomorrow and just focus in on each hole and be prepared when I come out here on Thursday afternoon when I get going.

Q. You were on sort of a good run last year when you won the U.S. Senior Open, and now you've been in contention in each of your last five events you've played in. What's the key to your game that gets you playing well for so many weeks in a row?
KENNY PERRY: Well, the strength of my game has always been my driver. I hit it far enough and I hit it pretty accurate that it gives me the opportunity to attack a lot of the holes most of the guys can't get at. I am always streaky with my putter and my chipping. That's always what gives me the most trouble. I need my ball-striking to be where it always is, my driver and my iron play, but if my putter will wake up a little bit, that's when I'll start shooting 63s and 64s or whatever and low rounds. You probably won't see any of those kind of scores this year. They say it's a very difficult, very demanding course. I haven't really spoke a lot about that to people, but anything under par each day, that's kind of going to be my goal. I'm just going to be patient and hopefully the putter wakes up a little bit and I'll have a lot of fun out there.

Q. Kenny, can you talk about the pressure of a U.S. Senior Open versus maybe a U.S. Open? It seems like maybe it's a little more relaxed out here on Tour, but this is obviously the most prestigious event on this Tour.
KENNY PERRY: Well, I was very nervous last year coming down the stretch. Michael Allen was in my group. To me to have a USGA title was very important in my career, to have that, and it meant a lot to me. When you feel pressure, usually it means a lot to you. You know, I had a chance to win the PGA. I lost in a playoff to Mark Brooks. I lost the Masters to Angel Cabrera in a playoff, so I was very nervous in those events, and I was equally as nervous in this event, as well. It's just something, when it means something to you, it's important, it's a goal you're trying to achieve in your life, something you can hang your hat on, you get nervous out there. But it's a good kind of nervous. It's knowing that you're in the heat of the battle, knowing you've got an opportunity to win something that's great and fantastic, very special events. There's no greater feeling. I mean, if you're not nervous, you're really not -- you're just playing with your buddies on a Saturday. You're just having a good time out there. But when there's a major title involved, yeah, there's going to be a lot of nerves involved.

Q. Jeff Sluman was just in and talking about your ability to drive the golf ball. Can you talk a little bit about what a premium a course like Oak Tree places on driving the ball?
KENNY PERRY: Well, I mean, I don't know the golf course very well. I mean, I've never played it. I did read in the paper that it's going to play 7280 or 7300 yards long, and I had a grin on my face when I saw 7300 because the longer the better for me. I don't want a putting contest. I like it where par is a good score, and I like it where length is an advantage. You know, I guess I'm fourth in driving distance this year, averaging close to 300 yards, so if I can just continue to hit my driver in the fairway and use my length as an advantage, I can go into these greens and attack them, I'll be going in with less irons, I'll have the ability to fit it around some of these holes that some of the players won't be able to. That's a huge advantage for me. And that's kind of been my MO kind of the past three years on the Champions Tour. My length has really been a big factor in helping me achieve these wins I've been able to get.

THE MODERATOR: Kenny led the field in driving distance last year in Omaha. Also tied for first in putting; probably a big reason for the win last year.

Q. Kenny, could you talk about now that you've won several senior majors, your mindset going in? I'm not speaking for you, but was there a time before you won those majors that maybe you slightly doubted whether you could win one or not, and where do you stand now? Do you walk in and say I'm going to win this?
KENNY PERRY: Well, you know, I had the lead at the Senior PGA, and I let it slip away, and Khoki Idoki beat me. At that point it was pretty low in my career because I was thinking, you know what, I'm never going to win a major title. And when I went into Pittsburgh there, when I won, it was a funny deal because it was like, I wasn't really thinking about winning a major title. I was very relaxed. I guess it was my time. I don't know what it was. My game came together, everything was perfect, next thing you know I'm shooting low scores. I shot like 63-63-64 the last three rounds there to overtake Fred Couples. That's pretty beat to beat Fred Couples coming down the stretch. You know what, after I finally won there at Fox Chapel, I said, you know what, maybe the floodgates will open and I'll start winning some more majors. Then I ended up winning two weeks later at the Senior Open and then the beginning of this year I won the Regions Tradition. That helped me. That really relaxed me. To win the first one, to kind of get that monkey off my back, really relaxed me, and I look forward to the major tournaments now because I can be a little more aggressive, a little more -- I feel like I'm a lot more competitive and I have a lot more confidence. When I come in each week, I'm expecting to win. I may not win and I may not even make the cut, I don't know, but I feel good mentally as I approach these events.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports