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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2015

Jerry Kelly

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Like to welcome Jerry Kelly to the interview room. Jerry shot a 7-under par 65 today to finish at 8-under for the tournament and a share of the lead. Jerry, talk about your thoughts on the round today.

JERRY KELLY: I think I started out hitting the ball pretty solid. I got a little loose in the middle, got some great breaks on that back side. But I did kind of make my breaks; I chipped in out of a tough little lie on the edge for par, hit a ball in the trees and had a nice little two-foot gap to hit through and hit a beautiful shot. So I took advantage of the breaks that I got, but I definitely need to tighten the swing up. I feel very comfortable. I felt very comfortable coming down the stretch. As the adrenaline rose, I think I heightened a little bit better and I really got on top of just a couple issues that seemed to recur for the last 20 years or so. So, I mean, what can you do? What can you do? Just go play.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. By the way we were almost done writing; you had to go out and do this?
JERRY KELLY: What's that?

Q. We were almost done writing and you had to go out and shoot 65?
JERRY KELLY: Oh, sorry. I haven't eaten either, so back off.

Q. How much different is the course now than the years you played well such as 2001, and does it matter to you March, May, this kind of grass, the way it used to be?
JERRY KELLY: The funny thing is, this is probably the first time we have seen this wind since we have been in March. This is a much tougher wind. The par-5s may be playing a little helpy, which helps me; and the par-4s, the tough par-4s are tough all the time. So they're even tough for some of the longer hitters. So I like this wind direction. I like it that it's not raining and 40 degrees, though, so I'll keep it where it's at right now. But the course hasn't changed. It hasn't really needed to. Hitting some of the same clubs that I hit back then. I listened to Tiger talk earlier in the week and he said it's a very polarizing golf course in the respect that when you're hitting the fairways, it's a course that you can get to, yet if you're not hitting the fairways or if you're missing your iron shots, it's an extremely difficult course to break par at. I struck the ball well today. I putted well. I executed a lot of shots today. There's some looseness in there that I got away with. I didn't get away with it yesterday, I got away with it today. I tightened those things up and the course plays the same. If you play well, you're going to have your opportunities. I lost total track of that question.

Q. You talked about the adrenaline as you got it going a little bit. What's -- you've been doing this for a couple of years now. What is your mindset going into the weekend and trying to keep this going and keep it tightened up as you were talking about?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah, well, I feel really comfortable. I enjoy the adrenaline. I am 48; I know it almost ravages the body as much as it helps it as you start getting older, but I would like to hang out for another couple days and have some fun with it.

Q. What kind of recollections do you have of 2001, and was there any part of you that walked off the course that day and said, that's okay, I'm going to have another chance on the weekend 14 years from now?
JERRY KELLY: I figured I would have another chance at this golf course. I didn't think it would be that long, but it's just strange, this whole career has gone by in the blink of an eye. I still feel like a rookie sometimes. But as most of them will say, my mentality is probably more conducive to a rookie than it is a mature player, which I probably still am not. But it's funny, I did bring back that -- when we were stopping at the turn in 2001, when I was with Tiger, I had that exact same putt that I just had on 9 to stay even with him going into the last nine or the last 27 holes, I guess it was. Or was it the last nine? No, it was the last nine. And I had the same putt the same way. It was really fun that way. That's all I brought back from it, other than knowing that I can play well at this golf course. But that putt was fun.

Q. Fred Funk was 48 when he won here 10 years ago, and I know you guys have played together a lot and kind of have similar games. Could you talk about whether you feel like you guys have similar games and why this course would set up for someone like you guys?
JERRY KELLY: We have got extremely similar games. I really patterned myself after him a lot, because I was trying to hit the ball farther than I should have, and I saw the success that he was having just hitting the ball in the fairway. Lo and behold, he finally left, and I got to be the, what, the straightest driver percentage leader, whatever that thing is, for a couple years in a row. So that was something that I did learn from him. It wasn't lost on me that he was one of the first players I saw this week, he and Bernhard Langer, two guys that I can only hope to try to be like.

Q. What's the easy answer for the time periods you've gone in between victories? Was it that transition of trying to change your game to where you were more accurate? Or is it just awful hard to win out there?
JERRY KELLY: It's difficult to win out there. I've never had an ideal swing. I've never had an ideal mental game. My short game and putting can shine at times and it can go at times. The difficulty that I have had is putting four rounds together in a week. Now that's what's difficult. That's why it's difficult to win out here. I've had plenty of -- well, I was the lowest guy that day or this day, even at Augusta, you know. But it takes four rounds and being a consistent player. I've never been a consistent player, and it seems like I probably never will be. But my coach and I have been working, Jim Schuman, we have been really working on putting me in a more comfortable position and a consistent position at address so I can let the club swing itself a little bit more. He's succeeded in actually getting through the thickness of my brain the last two months better than he has probably from the start of the year, even though I had a bad section in there, when he went back to Scottsdale and left me, but he's back now and we got back on top of it. But I've really had some good consistent ball striking success with what we're doing, and we'll get into that hopefully if I stay up here tomorrow.

Q. What's your level of satisfaction with your season so far?
JERRY KELLY: Most of you guys know me; I'm never satisfied. I don't even -- I like the way I started. I had two and a half months where I wondered if I would ever make another cut. That's what goes through my head. I've never been a very solid mental player, like I said, that you know I was just missing cuts by one shot twice and then two shots another and one bad week. And it's like, is it finally here? I'm 48. Am I ever going to make another cut? And then things click at Hilton Head and all of a sudden here I am. It's a crazy game, I'm a crazy human, and it's tough to match those two up. So it's fun, though.

Q. That being said, so your head wrapping around at dinner tonight how you're thinking about this weekend, because as you said, you're 48 and these chances don't come that often, so how do you approach that then?
JERRY KELLY: I still don't. I'm pretty good at focusing on my dinner and a hockey game, and if I'm still restless when I shut the light off, I'll go through the course how I'm going to play it. But I'm not really too caught up in what position I'm in, because it's only the second day. I've been here plenty of times and not enough times on Sunday afternoon. So for me to have any stress whatsoever about it right now is pointless. I want it on the back side on Sunday. And I feel like if I get to that point, I feel like I'll do well, because I feel pretty comfortable with what I'm doing and I feel comfortable with myself. But yeah, there's no telling.

THE MODERATOR: Great, thank you, Jerry.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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