BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 22, 2004

Kenny Perry

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you for stopping by after your 6-under 66 today on the Palmer Course at PGA West, following up your 64 at Indian Wells yesterday.

Just one bogey today, and it looks like you got off to kind of a slow start, just two birdies and a bogey on the back which is your front.

KENNY PERRY: It was probably the best round I've ever played for as poor as I hit the golf ball. Normally I hit it pretty good and don't putt very well. I think I only had 23 putts today. The putter saved me today.

I kept hitting everything to the right. I missed the green on 12 and 13. I made one bogey and was lucky to get up-and-down and made an 8-footer for par.

The key to my round was the 18th hole. I hit a pitching wedge and mis-hit it to the front bunker and blasted it to eight feet from the hole, but it about eight inches of break, a big curler off the hill. I said I was going to make the putt for birdie and shoot 5-under on the front nine. I was cable to curl that one in there, birdied the 18th and shot 5-under on the front nine.

Thank goodness the mental side of my game was good today. I hung in there and started hitting some pretty good holes coming down the stretch on the front nine. It was a struggle for me out there. I battled. I hit it the in rough. I only hit five fairways, and normally that's the strength of my game. So, I'm pretty excited to be able to come away with that kind of round out there today.

TODD BUDNICK: You won this event in 1995. You've got four Top-10s there. Talk a little bit, it's not an easy tournament, you've got five rounds where you have to go low, all five, what makes you play this tournament well?

KENNY PERRY: Well, in generally it's definitely a driver's kind of tournament. I can usually take advantage of the par 5s, and, you know, the golf course, there's no wind, it's warm. The greens are fairly flat and pretty comfortable putting on the greens. It's just a nice place to be this time of year. It's 20 degrees back home, so it's always nice to be out here.

So I've always been able -- I've just got a lot of history here. I've always been able to play these courses well. I've got a lot of confidence. So I just seem to make things happen.

Q. Was it something that you figured out that was causing the ball to go to the right that you adjusted to?

KENNY PERRY: Well, Ron Green gave me a lesson on Wednesday. He's the guy I've been working with, and he showed a few things, I was really steep -- I was pulling the ball real bad. So we've been working on flattening my swing out and getting the club more underneath me a little bit. I was hitting pretty good. I hit it pretty good yesterday at Indian Wells. Today for some reason, my timing was off. I didn't feel the feel of the head of the golf club or something. But I was not pulling it, but I was hitting everything to the right, which is something that's pretty scary for me because I don't normally hit it right. My misses are usually left.

So, I started hitting a lot of 2-irons off the tee and 3-woods, just to get it in play on that front nine. Then all of a sudden when I started doing that, it seemed to relax me a little bit and I was able to get the ball on the green. I got it in some really good spots uphill under the hole where I was able to make some putts.

Q. Is it good to get back to California and got out of Hawaii and get out of that grainy grass?

KENNY PERRY: I struggled on the bermuda in Hawaii. I've always struggled there. I love these greens. It's an overseeding here. They are pretty flat and they true. These golf courses are always in great conditions and they are always fun to play.

I pretty much understand how to play the courses. You know, you have those dejavus out there; I've had similar putts in the past. The pin placements, they don't change them a lot. I don't know how many years I've played here, at least 15, 16 years, so I've got a lot of experience out there. I think that's what got me through today.

Q. Just the way things have gone for you, last year and now this week, is this just becoming like a habit, play two rounds and be a shot off the lead, does it feel normal?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I don't think this is normal. I just think -- I keep saying, I've just gotten better. I just understand how to play. I understand my golf game. I'm not as rattled anymore like I used to be, and I'm not as angry on the golf course as I used to be. I used always get frustrated trying to make things happen. That's the big difference. I'm letting it happen instead of trying to force it now. I used try to force it and short-side myself, get too aggressive on certain holes. You know, now just try to be patient and take advantage of the par 5s and try not to make the big mistake.

Sometimes I get too cautious out there and I play too safe and that can hurt you, too. You need to kind of find that blend to sort of get you going low.

Q. When you have a round like today, do you get a lot of e-mails from some of your players at Simpson High offering some unsolicited advice to the coach?

KENNY PERRY: I have more from my son. (Laughter.)

Yeah, that ShotLink, that stuff where they can track you and ask you, yeah, I have a lot of phone calls saying "why did you do this" on this hole and "I can't believe you hit it over there" or whatever. Yeah, that does happen.

Q. You talked about taking advantage of the par 5s here. There's 17 of them on the four courses. Is there one of them that you can't hit or can you hit them all in two?

KENNY PERRY: Good question. I have to think about that for a few minutes.

I played the par 5s yesterday at Indian Wells 5-under, so I got to all of them. And today I was 3-under on them. And I can get to all of the ones here. Bermuda Dunes, I'm pretty sure I can get to those and La Quinta.

Yeah, I think I can reach them all. Pretty sure I can. So that's kind of nice when you know you can get around and have an eagle opportunity.

Q. If you would, please, just talk about the similarities or the differences in the four courses. Maybe there's the club you figure you have to hit here that you won't have to hit at Indian Wells.

KENNY PERRY: I think the courses, Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes, Tamarisk, El Dorado, the courses we've played in this rotation, they are all very similar style golf courses. I think the Palmer course here is totally different. It's got more carry, a lot of water. It's more of a TPC-style golf course, where you have more run-ups on the other golf courses. The greens are more open, you can run the ball up, a variety of shots, where here, you have to play a lot out of the air. You really have to be precise in your yardages. You're hitting to plateaus and you're always trying to fit it on a certain side of the fairway.

I think the other golf courses are more amateur friendly. They are more country club style golf courses. They are fun to play. I enjoy playing them. I think they are always immaculate. They are always in great shape. And it gives you some variety out there. So those are the differences I think between the -- I think it's four against one, basically.

Q. What makes La Quinta the toughest?

KENNY PERRY: Well, in the past it always has the hardest and firmest and fastest greens. Every year, and I talked to John Riegger yesterday, he played there yesterday, and he said the greens were very firm again.

So for some reason, I don't know if they have redone their greens here or whatever, they change the base of the greens or whatever and made them firmer, but they don't hold as well as the other golf courses. And they have got some very difficult par 3s out there, very long. So that's always in the history of this tournament, I think that's probably one of the highest-scoring round, average, of the field, I think.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's just go through your round Kenny. You started with a birdie on 11.

KENNY PERRY: I hit a driver and a 3-iron over the green, chipped it up to a foot.

Then 18, I hit a driver in the right bunker, 8-iron out of the bunker and a sand wedge to about eight feet.

Then 11, I hit a driver in the left rough, an 8-iron in the fairway and I hit a sand wedge to about four feet left of the hole and made that.

4, I hit a 3-wood off the tee and a pitching wedge about eight feet left of the hole and made a nice putt there.

6, I hit a driver in the right rough, hit an 8-iron out, and then a sand wedge to six feet right of the hole and made that.

7, I hit a 2-iron off the tee and a 6-iron to about eight feet right of the hole.

8, I hit a 2-iron off the tee and I had 70 yards, hit a sand wedge about six feet past the hole and made that one.

12, I hit a 5-iron in the right bunker, pushed it off to the right in the right bunker, blasted about six feet and I missed it.

End of FastScripts.