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BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 16, 2004

Kenny Perry

ROYAL TROON, SCOTLAND

STEWART McDOUGALL: Ladies and gentlemen, we have Kenny Perry, 70 today for a total of 3-under par in the clubhouse. Kenny, a good, steady round. Are you pleased with today's performance?

KENNY PERRY: You know what? It's been an interesting two days. I holed my first shot yesterday for eagle on the first hole and shot 31 on the front nine, and then I struggled on the back. And today I made 5 on the postage stamp hole and shot 2 over on the front and birdied 4 of the last coming in. And I was very fortunate today, the wind switched around. I felt like the last four or five holes were downwind today. It was very unusual. And I was fortunate to catch conditions at the right time.

Q. Mike Weir was in here before talking about playing more by feel over here, not trusting yardages. As someone who hasn't played a ton of golf over here, is that something you have been trying to do the last couple of years over here?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I learned a lot at St. George's last year. I was fortunate enough to top 10 it there. And I started playing a little more of a ground game. And like today, I played a lot of balls, 10, 15 yards short of the green and bounced it up into the hole and was able to get away with that. I guess there is feel, but you've still got to know the yardage, know how to carry it and know where to land it. I still think you need to be precise on what you're doing out there. It's just a great golf course.

I'm telling you, it's tough to get comfortable on this golf course. I mean you feel like you have to defense a lot out there, even on the easy holes, even on the outward nine. So you've got to stay out of the pot bunkers. I've never seen -- all the faces on all these bunkers are so severe. I made 5 -- my ball went in the bunker to the right on the 8th hole and I couldn't take a stance, I was out of the bunker, and I couldn't get it out, I made an easy 5.

The next guy, Darren, and Adam, were in the same bunker, and they pitched it right up on the green and were able to escape. You've got to have some breaks. You have to hit it well, but you've got to have some breaks, too.

Q. Kenny, the day before the tournament you didn't sound like you liked your chances a whole lot, of being a big factor, and I'm just wondering what's changed between now and then.

KENNY PERRY: I was fortunate enough to watch Darren play this golf course. He seemed like he was always ahead of me, he was always hitting first, so I was taking notes from this guy. And I was trying to get a feel of how to play these holes. I just feel like I'm inexperienced. I don't have enough rounds out here, it seems like. But I've been able to hit it beautifully these past few rounds and been able to escape problems.

I feel like I've got a little bit of understanding of how to play the golf course now. I may be wrong. We may get totally different conditions tomorrow. I don't know. I enjoyed how I played the back nine today. I was worried about that nine holes of golf. I hit a lot of quality shots. I put it on targets that I was aiming at and was able to execute. I actually holed a lot of nice putts. I putted beautifully.

So it was funny, the first tee I'm thinking what did I hit, 4-iron, 3-iron, 2-iron, driver yesterday. I don't know what to hit. But thank goodness I was third off the tee, Darren blasted a driver, and Adam did, too, so I said give me the driver. It was pretty neat. I kind of watched them play, and it helped me a lot.

Q. Just to pursue that, it's so different from the golf you usually play. Is there any way you can prepare for it before you get here? You practiced some cut shots at home or anything?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I had been practicing my little hold shot on the range. You're playing the front nine in right-to-left wind. I'm a hooker, I have to get it to hold up against the wind. I did that. I was working on a fade, to try to get through the 5th hole. The par-3 fifth is the hard hold, because the wind is hard, you've got to hold it in there. The wind won't be receptive to that. So there's no courses at home to prepare you for this golf. The firmness, the undulations, the bounces, I think that's what's so great about this tournament.

Q. Given all that, why do you think it is that the Americans have been so successful here, on this particular course down the years? I'm sure most of them have said exactly the same as you, but they've walked away with the trophy.

KENNY PERRY: For one thing, they're pretty good, the guys who've won here (laughter) you know, I don't know. Shoot. I mean, it's golf. But they seem to have come over here more than I have. This is only my fourth Open. So I think it's something you need to -- and I said it before, I said I'm not playing for the money anymore, I'm playing for history. I kind of forget what it was all about there in the middle of the '90s when I was playing pretty good golf. Maybe I made too much money, I don't know what it was, but for some reason I didn't come over here. And when I look back I can kick myself, because I've had so much fun whenever I've come over here the last couple of years, that I didn't realize what I was missing. I kind of got lost in what I was doing in my life. And I'm just now -- I just want a little piece of history. I want to have a chance to come over and compete and try to win this tournament. It's starting to mean a lot to me. I enjoy playing it. I love the people over here. And I've just had a blast. So to me, it's been fun. I don't really -- I don't put a lot of pressure on myself anymore. I just try to go out and enjoy the golf the way it was played. And that's what I try to experience.

Q. At Shinnecock there was controversy about the greens. Was there validity in that?

KENNY PERRY: You know what, it was similar, but I felt like Shinnecock, you couldn't hold a wedge or 9-iron. You couldn't hold it when you hit the green. The greens I thought were very severe. Where here, they give you room to run it up or if you fly it on the green out of the fairway it will hold. And the greens are at a great speed that I can feel comfortable on putting, where at Shinnecock you were putting defensively, and watching it go and go. It was incredible.

Q. You mentioned that bump-and-run shot from whatever position on the fairway, and you want to bump-and-run and drop it 15 yards short, do you take more or less club or how do you do that shot? If you would ordinarily hit a 7-iron do you go to a 6 or 8?

KENNY PERRY: 180 to the front and I want to fly it 165.

Q. If you fly it and want to bump-and-run it, do you take more or less club?

KENNY PERRY: There's a couple of holes it's soft on the greens where they've watered it on the front. On the par-4s, you can play back, and I usually play the number that will carry me 165 and it will hit and bounce up on the green.

Q. You wouldn't ordinarily hit that club if you were trying to reach the green?

KENNY PERRY: If I had 180 to the front of the green and I wanted to carry 165, I'd hit 7-iron and carry it 165 and let it bound right up in there.

Q. You were just talking a minute ago about the whole notion of why you didn't come here before and the appreciation for history. What got you from the shot, the point you were to the point you are now, why do you --

KENNY PERRY: I had a young family at the time. My kids are now 20, 18 and 16. I've got two in college. They were young at the time and I had a lot of issues at home. I wanted to be with them. I didn't want to be too far away from them. They needed me at home. Now they're gone, and "Do you want to go with me?" "No, Dad. I've got my own things I want to do." Everything is good at home. So it's freed me up to where I've been able to relax and enjoy my golf the last couple of years. And I've been able to focus in on what the tournaments mean.

I had that fabulous year where I won three times. So my life has changed and I'm very happy with the way things are going. I want to come over here and compete. I want to play all these courses at least once. I don't know, I'm getting ready to turn 44. I don't know how many years I've got left. But it's just fun, exciting to me. It's so different. And it's just -- it's nice to have a change of pace.

Q. You've had a lot of success these last few years. Playing this style of golf going into the weekend, do you have the same belief that you could win here as you would, say, playing a typical PGA TOUR event?

KENNY PERRY: If I had shot 1 under on the first 7 holes last year, I had a great chance of winning it last year at St. George's. At least I was there, I was in the hunt. I felt like I could win last year, and I feel like I can win this year, it's just a matter of me hitting the right shots at the right time. And I think that's the secret to this golf, knowing when to play safe and knowing when to go aggressive and trying to make some birdies. You've got to have a lot of patience.

I was 3 over in the first 10 holes, 11 holes, and was able to make four birdies coming in to salvage my round. Maybe that was experience on my part, I don't know. But I don't really look ahead anymore, I try to play it a hole at a time. And what I get, I get. And hopefully come Sunday afternoon it's good enough.

Q. Before you came over for the first time, obviously there's so much written about links courses, did you have any idea, did you talk to any of the players, and the first time you walked on a links course and played it were you astounded or delighted? Explain? And where was it?

KENNY PERRY: I was in shock, because I was like, you know, it's so different. It's nothing I've ever seen or been around. I guess I was paralyzed out there because it stunned me the first few times here, and I really struggled. But equipment has helped me a bunch. I played a -- the Taylor Made driver doesn't put a lot of spin on the golf ball and that Pro VX ball doesn't spin a lot. I launch it high and it doesn't curve nearly like it used to when we played the old balata ball. And I can hit my same golf shot. I'm not trying to knock it down, and really trundle it up in there. I'm launching it in the air and the ball is carrying beautifully. Technology is the reason I've played better over here the last couple of years.

Q. Mike Weir was in here saying he stayed at Turnberry and went to Dornock and Prestwick. Have you been able to get out this year or last year and enjoy some of the other links courses around?

KENNY PERRY: No, I have not. When I get here I work three days on this golf course and prepare for the tournament. Some year I would like to do that, just come over and play, just play the golf courses and not worry about a tournament. That's my goal here some time down the road. I haven't done it yet, no, I haven't.

Q. Your taste for it now is, I'd like to be at Dornock on a misty day with my buddies and go play the links?

KENNY PERRY: Exactly. That would be a fun day. It would be a good deal with your buddies.

Q. Other than your family issues about not coming over here, what do you think the mindset is of players who are exempt into this tournament and elect not to come? It's a long flight? Is it a financial burden? Do you have an opinion on guys who have a chance to play here and don't?

KENNY PERRY: You know what? To be honest, I don't know of too many guys besides myself who's actually turned down -- been exempt and not come. I have not known too many people not to come. I think pretty much the consensus of all the players is they want to come over and enjoy the championship. They know the history, they know the tradition. I was a little disappointed for the turnout for all the WDs from the qualifier. But still it got 15 Americans, 15 spots over in the United States to come over here. But you know what, you're right, it could be family -- it may be a one-time deal. But most of the time when the guys are exempt, I would say 98 percent of them, they come.

Q. Were you not exempt those years you didn't play?

KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I've been exempt -- I was exempt twice, I think, and I chose not to come. The rest of the time I was not even in the tournament.

Q. How do you prepare mentally for, say, the style of play in America where you fly the ball to the hole and here you have to accept that you hit it 15 yards short of the green and it's up to the golf course where the ball ends up? How do you prepare for that mentally?

KENNY PERRY: Good question. I'll never forget the second hole the first day I hit a 3-iron up the right side of the fairway and it was just a perfect shot and it ended up 50 yards left in the pot bunker to the left over there. And I don't know how it got over there, I couldn't tell you how it got over there. And you know what? You accept it and go on. You're going to get them.

I had an adventure on 15 yesterday. I hit it in the right rough and it was thick and heavy. I had a terrible lie. And it just went dead left over into the pot bunker that was about 60 yards short of the green, up against the face, into the face. And the face curves this way and I'm in the corner of the curve. So I'm right-handed, and I'm thinking I can't hit it anyway. I hit it at the crowd. All the people were backing up. I was aiming right at them. I hit it into the crowd and I had a 70-yard shot and pitched it to about 6 feet, and I made a bogey. It was the greatest bogey in my life.

Q. Is it tough to accept that --

KENNY PERRY: No, I don't think so. Not for us for one week a year. You kind of expect it. But I think if I played it a lot it would -- I saw Darren, he got flustered the last few holes. You could see him getting flustered the last four or five holes. But it's golf. We all have our own mental states and we all -- at certain times some guys handle it better than other guys.

STEWART McDOUGALL: Kenny, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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