VERIZON BYRON NELSON CLASSIC

May 11, 2001

Kenny Perry

KENNY PERRY: Well, I've been playing pretty good. Can't complain. I've been pretty steady in the last few weeks. It was kind of a slow start, I bogeyed the first hole today and didn't know what to expect and I ended up shooting even on the front and then I made a few putts and made an eagle on 16 to shoot 5-under on the back to shoot 65. So it was kind of a round I really wasn't pushing. All the good scores were shot over at Cottonwood yesterday, so I knew there was a lot of birdie holes out there, so tried to stay patient and I did and ended up making a few nice putts, made a few putts today for once.

KENNY PERRY: Definitely. It's definitely the golf course you need to take advantage of, because it's not as tight and there's some par 5s you can get to on the back nine in two. I had two nice eagle putts on both the par 5s. There's a lot shorter holes out there you can score on. TPC has always been tougher in my opinion. The rough is really high this year and it's just a lot harder. You know, when you get to 15, those last four holes are really difficult, so you've got to be on your "A" game playing there.

KENNY PERRY: Well, probably what got me going was I hit it about probably 15 feet for eagle on 11. I didn't make it, but I made a birdie which got me to 3-under and then I made about a 20-footer on 13 which was -- I hadn't been making any long putts. First really good putt I've made in a long time, and I made that, and that kind of got me rolling. And then I hit a good 7-iron on 15 to about 15 feet and it probably broke six to eight inches, made a nice recovery there. Then I hit a 5-iron to about 12 feet on 16. Really hit a good tee shot there and I made the eagle putt, probably broke about four inches right-to-left and ended up parring the last two holes. So you know, I hit a lot of fairways, lot of greens, had a lot of opportunities and it was a nice, relaxing, fun round.

KENNY PERRY: Well, I hear there's a front moving in. We may have a little weather to deal with tomorrow, tomorrow evening, but it's probably blowing 15 out there, 15 to 20 right now, which yesterday my group really struggled over at TPC. We were playing in some pretty high winds. I was in one of the last three groups coming in. I had a 12:10 tee time, so the greens had dried up a little bit on me and the wind was rough and it was a mean golf course coming in.

KENNY PERRY: That's pretty much been the key. I haven't putted well probably in three years. I putted cross- handed yesterday. I putted cross-handed for the first two holes today and I switched to conventional and made some good putts on the back side. So anything that feels good I'm going to try it.

KENNY PERRY: I've tried one, but I can't put it in competition yet. I think a long putter is my next move, the Scottie McCarron deal. I haven't tried one of them either.

KENNY PERRY: Well, you still gotta have touch and feel and you gotta be able to line it up. I mean I haven't fooled with them enough to really comment on that to really say if it was cheating or not, I mean if it'll really help you, because there's not that many guys that use it. I've seen a lot of guys try it, but not really stick with it. Rocco and Scottie are the only two that I know that are even messing around with it. But it does -- it only lets you stroke with one hand. If you got the yips and your right hand is kind of flipping at it at the ball, it will definitely slow that down. But I don't know how to comment on that.

KENNY PERRY: I have tried that. I've tried that. That feels terrible. I do not see how they do that.

KENNY PERRY: Yeah. It was funny. My putter, I've used this putter since '96, and last week at New Orleans I was putting lousy in the Pro-Am. Had like a 1:00 tee time, and I got done about 7 and I said, boy, my putter feels terrible. And the TaylorMade truck was right there and I jumped in the trailer real fast. I said put a degree of loft on this thing. I said this thing feels lousy. And he took the head of it and pulled it right off the shaft, and I said maybe that's the reason why I'm not putting very good. So he re-apoxyed it, stuck it back in there and I shot 64 the first round last week. But that was funny. I didn't -- Odyssey putter is a double-bend shift and I didn't quite have the shaft set right, so I didn't have enough offset in my putter, so I fixed it this week and ended up putting better, so maybe that's the key.

KENNY PERRY: Well, just feel. It's just all a feel thing for me. If it's not feeling right, I switch many times right in the middle of the round from conventional to cross-handed or cross-handed to the other way. If I'm over a putt and it doesn't feel right to me, I'll switch until I feel comfortable over it. I think that's the main thing. If you feel comfortable over it think you can make it, that's the key to putting.

KENNY PERRY: Exactly. You'll drive yourself crazy out there trying to make putts. To me I always pull putts. It's not like I'm always hitting them right and left. To me I'll hook it. I'll hook it. I got a little loop in my stroke and the next thing I know I've hit every putt to the left and I can't stop it. So most players are going to always miss their putts. So they're going to try something. To me I gotta try something not to pull it and still be able to stroke it. I deloft the putter and kind of come over top of it a little bit and the ball jumps left.

KENNY PERRY: You know what, when your playing for 800 something thousand first place, it really doesn't matter.

KENNY PERRY: A lot.

KENNY PERRY: A lot.

KENNY PERRY: I'll probably spend 30 minutes before my round. Oh, on Tuesday. I'll probably spend a couple hours.

KENNY PERRY: Well, you know, I've heard a lot of guys -- I've tried a lot of things. I'll end up sitting around the hole and putting six-footers.

KENNY PERRY: Yeah. All the way around. And then I'll work on my speed. So I'll grab one ball and I'll hit 20-footers 30-footers and I'll just kind of pace myself. I'll walk myself to death around the putting green trying to get a feel, touch and feel.

KENNY PERRY: Pace. Exactly. If I can somehow slow my stroke down, usually the ball will come off pretty straight for me. When I get quick, my right hand will snap at it and I get the yips a little bit. That's why I go cross-handed because I can't yip it cross-handed.

KENNY PERRY: It all depends on the putting green. I'll putt from one end all the way to the other. It just depends on the putting green and the facility we have that week.

KENNY PERRY: Shoot, yeah. Yes, sir. And to me these greens, they seem kind of -- you know, I'm sure they're going to dry out, but over at Cottonwood they were a little slower today, I thought, than the TPC greens were.

KENNY PERRY: It was kind of hard going from one set to the other, but after about nine or ten holes, I got pretty comfortable and I started going on and hitting at it and getting a good roll.