FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 26, 1997

Kenny Perry

KENNY PERRY: Well, it was an incredible start, I guess, you'd say. First hole, I hit it in the rough and I hit it about 40 feet past the hole and back of the green. Made about a 40-footer, snake breaking about ten feet on the first hole. Second hole, drove it in the left rough. Hacked an 8-iron in front of the green - I don't know - probably had 80 feet 100 - I don't know - chipped it in. It was going pretty fast, hit the flagstick, went up the pole, went in the hole. So, you know, my year has been pretty lousy, and all of a sudden you see two holes turn like that, all of a sudden; I hadn't had any holes like that all year. I knew something good was going to happen today. Then I started hitting it pretty good. Played pretty solid golf the rest of the way around. And, made one blunder on 16. I dug-hook a 3-wood - thought it was going to hit the condos over there. Somehow it stayed in bounds. We had to get the string out. Called for an official. Got the string out. Got it inside, the string touched the ball, so part of the ball was still on the golf course, so I was allowed to play it. Knocked it over the green. Got it up-and-down for par. That was kind of a good momentum swing for me. But, I was very steady out there. Hit a lot of fairways after that. After -- from 3 through 15, I played really good golf. I didn't birdie any of the par fives. And I had chances to knock it on all the first two anyway, 3 and 5. Or 6. 3 -- 5. And, so, all and all, I was pretty tickled. I got away with 2 on the first two holes and gave some back, so it all ironed out.

KENNY PERRY: I think that old blue grass rough -- there is some -- it is spotty out there. There are some places where it is terrible that you can't do nothing with it. Then there are some places where you can get good lies, where, Valhalla the ball would sink every time. You couldn't do anything with it. Any rough that you get over four inches is just almost impossible to play out of. But the fairways, like I said, are generous. They are still pretty wide and that rain this morning really softened up the greens. They are in great shape. So you are going to have a lot of good scores shot today. As you see, there are a lot of 2-, 3-, 4-under. There is going to be some good-shot rounds this afternoon. There's not much wind. You have got soft greens and big fairways, and good surfaces to putt on, you know, you are going to see a lot of birdies.

KENNY PERRY: The first two holes, I holed a probably 50-footer on the first hole with about 10-foot break. Second hole, I'd chipped in. It was going a little hard, hit the flagstick, kind of run up the pole, so, not a bad way to start your round.

KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I shot 18-under here last year. Really, I enjoy the layout. I mean, it fits my game. I think it is a high-ball hitter's course. It is very demanding off the tee. Last year wasn't as severe. You can hit it off in the rough and play, last year. But, this year, I hit more 3-woods this year -- or last year I pulled driver on every hole. A lot of 3-woods off the tee, very few drivers, and just hit a lot of fairways. Just try to play fairway to green, and it worked pretty good.

KENNY PERRY: Yeah, my two sisters showed up this morning with my niece and nephew, and they brought some friends. And my wife and kids will come in tomorrow. So, yeah, this is four hours, about as close as it gets for me - this one and Atlanta - about the two closest Tour stops to my house in Kentucky. So, yeah, it makes it nice to have people pulling for you.

KENNY PERRY: I hadn't played well since then.

KENNY PERRY: I don't begrudge that at all because I hit a good shot in the playoff. I hit it too far. It was 290. People don't realize that I hit it straight down the middle of the fairway. I didn't hook my drive in the playoff. I hit 302 yards into the rough. If it would have just gone in the bunker, it would have been okay. But, I was in the heavy stuff, couldn't play out of it. It was just, you know, the ball -- I watched it on replay -- the ball looked like it bounced ten feet in the air when it hit the fairway. The fairways were so firm, and, I couldn't lay it. I hit a terrible lay-up shot, club shut down, pulled it way left and stayed in the rough. And, it was just I couldn't recover. It was just the way it goes.

KENNY PERRY: Thank you. I attribute a lot of the way I played -- I mean, my year has just been terrible. I have played terrible this year. And you get so close to getting something that is so important and take a lot of pressure of off you, then you get so close and you fail. Took a lot of steam out of me. And, it brought me down to earth, I guess you'd say. Maybe I can come back close to home and light the fire again, get going again the rest of the year.

KENNY PERRY: Been a lot of things. My uncle died. My grandmother died this year. I don't know. Take a lot of things for granted. Maybe my work ethics have been slacking. My last three years top 30, so I have had three good years previous. And, I don't know, I guess, I put more importance on family maybe a little bit. And, but, actually I played more tournaments this year. I have been a very frustrated golfer, I guess. I don't know, the PGA just took all the steam out of me. Never really said much about it. I have talked to my dad about it. But he is about the only one that knows, and I don't know, last year I putted really well. This year I am putting lousy. I look at my stats tee to green, about the same as the three previous years. I am third in total driving this year. Even my total driving is better than the three previous years. But, I am about last in putting. My putting stat went from 30th to 130th or so. So, when you start averaging 31 putts a round as opposed to 29, you know, you are spotting the field a lot right there.

KENNY PERRY: No. Still with Taylor Made. Been with them for four years, same stuff.

KENNY PERRY: No -- well, I putted with a different putter today, but I won the Hope with it and had second, L.A.. I had a stretch where I led the Tour two, three weeks in a row with this putter. I have got two putters I kind of switch back and forth. So I have had a lot of success with it.

KENNY PERRY: Oh, yeah, by far. Mine -- it was my tournament. I shoot 68 on Sunday. I mean, I guess you can't complain when you shot 68 in a major championship on Sunday. But, to bogey the last hole, in regulation and then in playoff, you know, I pretty much handed it to Mark. But he played good. He had to make birdie on the last hole to tie me, give him credit. He got up-and-down on that front bunker and that is a pit. It is deep. He hit a tremendous shot, hit it in there three feet. And, I actually didn't think he would get it up-and-down, tell you the truth. I thought I had won because I saw Vijay and Elkington, the group in front, they were both in that bunker, neither one of them got up-and-down. So, you know, I dodged two bullets there and he had a sidehill kind of semi plugged lie, it looked like to me, and he hit just a wonderful shot. That is what makes great champions - to be able to hit the shot in the situation.

KENNY PERRY: Well, it is very soft out there. The ball is not rolling that far in the fairways. If you got the ball going down the right side, left side, it is staying in the fairway. You have got to ease off of that rough a little bit. Then you have got greens that are a little soft. It is a dart board. I mean, they are not rolling four, five feet. They are backing up. So, if you get 160 yards and you hit a 7-iron 60 yards, you are going to -- pretty good chance you are going to hit it within four, five feet of the hole if you have got it on line. So, the golf course is not playing that long. It is still playing -- it is not demanding. Fairways are very generous, but yet, you still got to hit good shots.

KENNY PERRY: Well, I don't know. They are good. They are all good players. 3 is reachable. 2 is a short hole. 5 is reachable. You know, 6 and 7 are good holes. But I hit 3-wood on 6 and hit 8-iron, 3-wood, 8-iron in 7, hit 3-wood, but then I had to hit a 4-iron to the green on 7. 8 is just a 7-iron par 3 and 9 is a tough hole. I hit 3-wood, 7-iron on 9 and birdie on 9. But, you know, it is a placement golf course. I mean, if you play very smart and percentages and don't shortsight yourself on the greens, and keep playing the fat side of the greens, you are going to have pretty good putts and the greens are not that -- I mean, they are rolling good. But, they are not scary fast, what I'd say -- you don't feel like you can't be aggressive on the greens like at Congressional or when we were at the Open, greens are firm and fast. I mean, they are soft and they are just mediocre speed right now which is -- I enjoy playing on them when they are like that. I am not great on real fast greens.

KENNY PERRY: They played totally different in the Pro Am. I had a one o'clock tee time yesterday, so probably set the course up the way I played on Wednesday and kind of got a good feel for it there. But, yeah, you just, you know, only thing that will change will probably be the way the ball lands on the greens. It will probably take a bigger first bounce. It will still settle down. I think we will probably still have showers in between. They are going to have to spray the greens. They are going to have to water them. It is not like they are -- they are not going to let them get too hard, I don't think. They can't. They will lose them.

KENNY PERRY: No, I had two good weeks right after the PGA. I topped 10 two weeks after that to make the Presidents Cup team. I was so close to making that team. I really wanted to make that team. So I still had a goal insight. I stayed focused on that. It was after that that I kind of sat at home and brood over it. And, just, you know, you get so close and, you know, you had it, then you give it away the way I did. It is a loss, you know, you look at Nicklaus's record and all the times -- I just can't fathom that -- he won them so many times, too. But, he had a lot of victories. But in this day and age you don't get a good shot at it, there are so many great players today. I am not saying there weren't great players back then. I am just not that caliber of player. I have been able to win three times. I have been out here 11 years. That is a lot more than a lot of guys, but in comparison, some of the newer guys are winning a tremendous amount. Tiger won, what, five times in 11 weeks or whatever. Mickelson, all these guys are winning a lot of golf tournaments. So, you know, for me to get there, I don't get there that many times. And to get there and give it away really hurts.

KENNY PERRY: No, we never have. Haven't discussed it at all. Yeah, he came off close too.

KENNY PERRY: I can't speak for Greg. But, if I was in his shoes, you know, it is very similar. I would think it really hurt him a lot. To have a 6-shot lead and then shoot 78 and lose -- one tournament -- see, what is very comparable to me was I was in Kentucky, my home state, had everybody pulling for me. That was my Masters, in my opinion. That tournament meant more to me than any tournament I will ever play because we come to Kentucky only once. And, we are going to come back in 2001. That will be the second one. I was too young -- I wasn't even around when they had the Open back there in, what, early '50s? Whatever. We have just not had any tournaments. And, I just, you know, everybody knows me from my home state. And, I know so many people there and, that, to me, was -- that tournament meant more to me than any golf tournament that could I have possibly played in. Masters obviously is the tournament you want to win and for Greg that was his tournament. He went public, he said he wants that tournament more than any tournament. For me, to win in my home state would have meant more to me than any tournament so.... So, that hurt. That was part of the pain, too.

KENNY PERRY: I don't know if I ever will. Hopefully I can win again. That will ease some of the pain, but it will never bring it back. I mean, that is something that I will never have the chance at again. Hopefully I will get back there in 2001 but who knows I maybe -- I don't know if I will be playing well. I will be 41 years old. So, hard to say. Golf is a crazy game. It may turn -- I may get real hot, may win a lot of golf tournaments. But, my track record, I am a real steady player. I am not flashy. I am very consistent, I would say. Make a lot of cuts. But I just don't win golf tournaments. I wish could I say I am that caliber player, but I am not. I am not degrading myself. I am looking at my track record.