THE PRESIDENTS CUP

November 20, 2003

Davis Love III

Kenny Perry

Q. You guys seemed to play quite well especially your short game today?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I needed it. I missed a few fairways. I missed a few greens and Kenny hit it right down the middle. We hung in there, though. Kenny made a great putt on the second hole and that got us going. We just felt like we were going to birdie it somehow, no matter if it was off the green or on the green.

KENNY PERRY: It was an impressive show to watch him hit those short shots around the green. He chipped in twice. You know what, he gave me a lot of compliments out there. He was very relaxed and very easygoing and it made it for an easy partnership for me.

Q. Talk about chipping in to win.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, Kenny had tried to run the ball up there on the green and not put us in a funny spot and he got kind of a -- he poured it a little bit, but it got a funny bounce and I a bad lie. I said: You know, these guys are probably going to make birdie, I've got to go for it. I can't just flop it up there and have it run over the green. So I went for the Phil Mickelson lob-shot and I pulled it off. I was just happy with it when I hit it that it did not come banging out and it was soft. Then we got lucky and it went in.

I knew I was going to chip-in on the other par 5 when Kenny just barely missed the green, and after I made that putt on the second hole, I felt like I was going to make all my putts. I made a couple short ones that I needed to make, I made one bomb from the bottom of the green on the other par 3. He drove it in the middle of the fairway almost every time, so it was -- it didn't look pretty, but we felt like we were in control the whole time.

Q. Talk about the putt on No. 2. It was measured at 79 feet; that's got to put a stake in there, they are probably looking at you to 2-putt at best?

KENNY PERRY: And Davis looked me straight in the eye and said: "Knock it in. Let's just make it." And it really changed my thought process on that hole. He's a wise veteran out here. He's played in, I don't know, five of these already. He's played in every Presidents Cup. I don't know how many Ryder Cups he's played in. He's very calm very relaxed. I knew, I saw the fire in his eye. I'm a competitor, I don't want to lose and I love fighting and scratching and clawing. That's kind of the way I've always played golf. He hit some just unbelievable short game shots and it was just fun to watch. I was just proud to be with him.

Q. You guys played together in any match-play before?

KENNY PERRY: No, only my second Presidents Cup. I've never been on the Ryder Cup team.

DAVIS LOVE III: We knew this was going to be a scramble like Kiawah. You're going to hit some good shots; he hit some good drives that didn't stay in the fairway. One ball, he hit a pretty good shot on 12 and it ended up in the hazard, and you just never know what's going to happen. We knew we had to be patient and we knew short game was going to be important.

When I was out here getting ready, I knew that physically I'm not 100% and that I was going to have to make sure that I was putting good, chipping good; that I had a good feel for the grass around the green. So I made sure if I was positive about anything, it was my short game.

Q. And how is your neck?

DAVIS LOVE III: It's pretty good. I've got to just, like I did here, just get up and hit it. I've got to quick worrying about where it might go. I hit the wrong club a couple of times or this match would have been over probably a little earlier. But I hit the wrong club into the par 5 when he bombed it down there and I should not have hit driver on the little hole. I should have laid up when we had such a big lead. That was where the veterans should have kicked in and I should have played it a little smart.

End of FastScripts.