THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY

November 3, 2000

Chris Perry

CHRIS PERRY: It was a good round today. It was a lot of fun for me. I have only had the pleasure of playing with Tiger last year in the last round in the last group, whether it be practice round or not, he is great to play with, very supportive, good shot, good putt, great up-and-down, got a lot of class. And a little different than yesterday when you go off at 8:44 by yourself and you got your wife and your caddy's wife following you, that is all, you know that is about it. Playing in a one-some -- I asked Tim Finchem to play, but he turned me down. He said he had to go on to the SENIOR TOUR Championship. It's a pleasure to be in this tournament. I think most of the guys on the Tour set their, at least I do, my goals on hopefully winning a tournament, The Presidents Cup and then the top-30 were my 3 goals this year. To make it in the last event down there at Disney was pretty special to be able to play. I had a good tournament here last year and this is just a great event and you want to be a part of it because it is always on a great course. This golf course is, without a doubt, in my Top-10 favorite. I am not saying that because I am playing well, but I said that just going around and watching some of it on television two years ago. It is just really nice to be here. Today, playing by yourself and then I was actually taken a little rest yesterday because I had to get up at 5:15 and I am watching the telecast, I am counting the scores down, Tirico said, well pairing tomorrow is going to be -- playing by yourself to playing with the best player in the world is pretty neat. I am sure Tiger in his interview he said he probably hit a few loose shots for him which he did early in the round. I played very solidly most of the day; was fortunate enough I got a couple of decent lies in the rough and actually made two birdies out of the rough which is unusual. But I did play pretty solid. Guys are wondering what -- coming in you make a few bogeys. This is a tough golf course coming in. 16, 17, 18, 18 is a 230 yard par 3, you are going to have some bogeys on that hole. So it was disappointing to finish with a bogey but it was enjoyable to shoot 65 playing with Tiger.

CHRIS PERRY: I don't think so. What I was worried about yesterday was the fact -- I am a pretty deliberate player - going out by yourself you are thinking you are going to play too quick; that you are just -- you are going to be rushing trying to get around for some reason. I was really good about staying in my routine. The gallery and the people really don't bother me all that much because I am pretty focused on what I am doing, concentrating on what I am doing. I got off to a good start which made it a little bit easier and I got a little more comfortable, I think as the day went on. But I felt good all day. That is what is nice, something I will reflect on hopefully years to come of being able to play in that situation.

CHRIS PERRY: I think, yeah, when you get paired, you are playing with the best you want to play well too. It is not like -- I mean any guy that you play with throughout the week, you want to hope he plays well, but you shoot one shot better. I mean, that is the way it is out here. But I am sure he didn't want me to shoot an 80 and I didn't want him to shoot an 80, you want to go out and do the best you can, have fun, and it was a pleasure to play with Tiger. I tell you what, to watch that guy, you really have to watch when you play with him that you don't get wrapped up in what he is doing because you have our own stuff to do but it is mind boggling with what this guy can do with a golf ball; some of shots he hits is just incredible. Tee shot on 15, take it right over the top of those trees and hitting 6-iron in, I'd be down there in the bushes if I tried to hit it over that tree. I'd be hit -- be playing ping-pong off the trees. I got to go around, hit my 4-wood or maybe a 2-iron on the green because if he is hitting the ball straight, no matter what club it is, if he is hitting a lot of fairways, no one has got a chance in this tournament because of the clubs he is hitting into the holes. He is going to hit the wedges close. He had 6 or 7 wedge shots on par 4s. There is nobody else in the field that is doing that. So therefore he is going to hit -- he probably said today that he hit it on the wrong side of the hole several times on the shorter holes. He made a few of them, but missed a few because he was, you know, coming downhill. Those are tougher putts to make.

CHRIS PERRY: No, you just -- you get going. You want to get a good start, I think is the key. Hitting a good solid drive or having a good first hole relaxes you a little bit. I felt really good all day even on the 1st tee shot on the range, I don't get to any one hole and say, I am glad that is over with, because you have to play 72 of them so you do the best you can on each hole. I didn't play a perfect golf round; neither did he. Nobody is going to do that. But you try to limit your mistakes as far as you don't want to short-side yourself too much of hitting it over a lot of greens here because the up-and-downs are very difficult.

CHRIS PERRY: No. No. Now you get more jacked up, I think excited about playing because I had missed two -- I don't miss a lot of cuts and I had missed the cut in Vegas and in Tampa and hitting the ball pretty well, I just wasn't putting well at all. Rocco media missed a cut last week. I was fortunate that I played pretty well. I had to finish 21st or better to pass him, and then Scott Hoch was in the field doing well. So it was kind of a money race as to what who was going to get it, the last spot. I played just as well this year as I did last year and I am 30th on the list and last year I end up finishing fifth because I simply haven't made as many putts but my ball-striking stats were right there.

CHRIS PERRY: Yeah, I got to hand it to the trailer guys over here, our fitness guys, they weren't new shoes. I had worn them at least 36 holes or more. I wear orthotics in both shoes. What that does it lift my heal up a little bit it causes it to rub right on the top of the shoe. It doesn't quite fit so I have to break in my shoes pretty good. I thought I had done that and by about the 12th or 13th hole when I get on real hard ground, my shoes have a tendency to really slip or rub on my heal. And on my left heal it is at least the size of -- a little bit bigger than a quarter and on my right heal not quite as bad, about the size of a dime. And they drained the fluid, put some stuff on it, wrapped it all up. I mean, today my ankles are wrapped like a basketball player type thing. I have got bandages and donut things on the heal. They held up pretty well. I was really concerned that that was going to be -- I was really hurting coming in. It was very difficult to walk. I felt like I was walking on pins and needles, really, the last five holes because the ground is pretty firm. I was pretty -- I was okay. These shoes are a little bit older. They are a little bit more broken in. Didn't really bother me too much. They are still a little sore, but nothing major.

CHRIS PERRY: I think it makes you walk a little bit slower. Everybody has a tendency to move out, a little too quick, you get a little too excited, but today was good. I think in playing with Tiger you have to really kind of pull yourself back because you are so excited about not only being in this tournament but being paired with him and he is obviously the focal point of the Tour and deservedly so with what he has done. I told him coming off one of the tees, I said, I just want to tell you that it was -- it has been an absolute pleasure to watch you play golf this year and what you have done is absolutely mind-boggling and you should be congratulated on what you are doing because it is just fantastic what he has done this year.

CHRIS PERRY: I think it was coming off No. 8.

CHRIS PERRY: No, only through camera saying that no hard feelings, nothing personal against Rocco. I have played very well in a few tournaments this year and the Buick was really someone saying that you are in the zone, whatever, I was pretty much there with every shot. I felt like I had complete control. Whether it was at the pin or wanting to be 20 feet left, I had control and was making putts. Rocco and I pretty much -- I had a one-shot lead and we pretty much separated ourselves from the field on the front 9 shooting -- I think we were 4-under each. He had missed a putt on -- he 3-putted the 15th hole. I had a two-shot lead and he ended up running a driver on a par 5 up onto the green and I had pulled my 3-wood left. He made birdie. End up making birdie on the last hole to beat me at the Buick. I don't feel like I lost. I felt like he won. But there was a lot of scenarios that go along with that, that that defeat really cost me The Presidents Cup because I would have qualified on my own. Almost, you know, cost me the Mercedes tournament, so Rocco is in the Mercedes and you know, the fact that I passed him and got to play in THE TOUR Championship is nothing personal against Rocco and I are friends, we have played golf together for a long, long time, but I know he is probably disappointed that he didn't get in this tournament, but you know, it was gratifying that I did get in.

CHRIS PERRY: More and more guys in the last, I think I am going to say five to ten years that have started to work out more and more. Lately what David Duval has done, some guys are just naturally strong. When I lost my card back in 1992, 1993 after playing pretty poorly the last couple of years -- 91, 92 losing my card, I had -- I gave myself three and a half months before the Nike Tour started in March at that time and really started working out pretty hard getting myself in better shape and ever since then, I have really, especially in the off season which isn't much, but from, say, October through January, have worked out pretty hard to get my strength up. There is more and more guys doing that are taking care of themselves both strength-wise, eating-wise, flexibility, I think is huge. I am pretty flexible and I make sure whether I am playing or not that I stretch myself everyday.

CHRIS PERRY: Well, I mean, a lot of the top players, Tom Lehman I remember is one saying earlier that if we are going to compete with this guy, we are going to have to all, as they say, step it up, but -- sure, there are guys that can beat him occasionally here and there, but like I said, even here or wherever he plays, if he is hitting the fairways, the advantage that this guy has, how straight he hits it and the shots he is able to hit. Even when he is in trouble, there is not too many players have the shots that he has. Today he hit a couple of flop shots that maybe Mickelson and Davis and make a -- a few other guys a handful of guys can hit. I know I couldn't hit it. I could come close. He hit a shot on the 12th hole. He hit it just over the green and I had hit it out of the rough. I was probably two feet, and lands on the green. It is going to run. He probably had 15 feet and he took a big ole swing. This thing went straight up in the air, and rolled and just lipped out. It was like 3 inches. I said to him -- crowd was going nuts I said to my caddie, I said, what he was trying to do to make it difficult is fly it over my coin, and try to stop it short, try to stop it short of the hole, you know, I mean, it was just incredible. I got a big smile on my face, I don't know if I said this earlier on 15 he hit driver over top of the tree on the par 5, hit 6-iron on the green, and I knew he was going to make that putt. It was pretty much Tiger pick-it-up because that is what he thrives on is that heroic shot or great, you know, momentum thing that he needs and I just put a big smile on my face because I knew he was going to make it. I was fortunate enough to make my birdie putt on top of him. It was kind of neat.

CHRIS PERRY: Well, I was playing pretty good last year at this tournament down in Houston. This is just as difficult -- it is a little bit different that there is both of them are premium on driving, but the greens were so huge down there that you can't -- like here if you hit it in the middle of the green, you are going to have a reasonable putt. Well, you can't have that at Champions. The last day I missed two greens, my caddie tended the pin all but twice on every hole. I was hitting it 30 to 50 feet on every hole, so there is no way I could -- I mean, I 2-putted a lot of them. I just couldn't put any pressure. I remember birdieing the first hole, got within two. He just played as well as he had to. He really didn't have that great a round on Sunday but he played as well as he had to. As I said, Tiger is a great guy to play with. Maybe it is a little bit -- Sunday he was very supportive last year when we played, was saying "good shot" and everything. I think he does that pretty much with everybody. Sure, he wants to win. We all know that, and guys playing with him want to do as well as they can, but today I was fine. I knew there would be -- the crowd would be moving around a lot if I had the opportunity to putt out, I would do that. But I was comfortable with it. Hopefully I will have the chance to play with him today. I don't think the way the scores came that I think -- I think I am going to miss, I don't know, Duval finished -- I don't play with Tiger tomorrow. I will play with Vijay or someone else. It is just a pleasure to be here. I am just really excited. It did a lot for me. Got a lot of TV time. Talking about yesterday, yesterday a second, Nelson, one of the Tour officials out here I asked Tim Finchem to play with me. By the way, he turned me down. I told him he is seven or eight, that I'd give him his shots, and I'd give him like three or four throws as well, and Ben Nelson said -- my wife played golf at Ohio State -- he said, you should have played with your wife then, you really would have gotten a lot of TV time.

CHRIS PERRY: I hope so. I have a lot of confidence in my ability. I just, for some reason, somebody has played better or I have played a bogey on 17 or something like that. I remember at the MCI a few years ago when Glen Day won, I hit the shot of my life on 17 and the wind died down. It landed five feet from the hole, went over the green and I made bogey. Then I bogeyed 18 to miss a playoff. So it has been some quirky things that have happened or someone has made a birdie to beat me. Sure, I have only won one time on Tour, but I have won a lot of other things, winning just -- you know, in college I won a lot, so I am not afraid of winning. I want to win, that is the ultimate goal. The consistency is nice because my swing is very repetitive. That is why my play is fairly consistent. If I could make a few more putts or hit one more green, five more greens during the week or get it up-and-down a couple more times, then I would be probably in the winner's circle. As close as I am, just a little more work, whether it is short game, or you know, some part of my game, it really comes down to -- I am a good putter but if I could obviously make a few more putts, it might make the difference as far as winning and having a lot of Top-10s.