	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2016

Jerry Kelly

Cromwell, Connecticut

Q. How about one for the old fellas today? First of all, Jim Furyk goes out there and throws up a 58 and then you've got to make up a run up the leaderboard yourself. Did any inspiration come from Mr. Furyk?
JERRY KELLY: No, it all started with you last week --

Q. Whatever.
JERRY KELLY: I mean, we were all watching you last week, just trying to be like you.

No, watching Furyk go out and do that, I really wish I could have been on the green on the 18th hole because I thought he was going to go 57, 58. Absolutely incredible. Would have been cool to witness it, but I had some work to do. It was fun. I birdied the first two, and I'm like, 57, come on.

Q. Now, you're a Cheesehead, born and raised in Wisconsin, but your heart is here in Hartford because you went to school here. What does it mean to have all these fans supporting you?
JERRY KELLY: I mean, I always played well at Milwaukee. I tend to play well here in Hartford, play well in Hawai'i. These are three places that have absolutely adopted me and treat me and call my name and just make me feel like family and like it's home. I really take those vibes and run with it rather than putting extra pressure on myself. You know I do that too much anyway, so when I can actually get those vibes and run with it, it's awesome.

Q. What a great week for you, and it continued today. 64, your thoughts on how it went today?
JERRY KELLY: It's nice to throw the bookend 64s at them. I enjoyed it out there today. I really had fun. Cam was fun to play with, good young guy who's going to be out here for a long time, and then you've got the old guy who's kind of fading away. I had fun. Once I hooped it on 13 there, I really got it going.

Q. That was 12.
JERRY KELLY: Oh, sorry.

Q. The hole-out deuce at 12, then the birdie at 13, because at that point you were tied for the lead.
JERRY KELLY: It went behind the trees right as I was walking by, and Eric said, "we're right there." I kind of didn't know what that meant. I knew what it meant. I knew I was close, and I'm a scoreboard watcher, so I started thinking about where I am. Am I close? What's going on? I wish I would have seen it or I wish I would have asked. But that was going up, and I made the birdie, and then the next hole downhill lie, I got a little tight with the wedge and hit it awful. It was nice to come back with a birdie on 15.

Q. The fans love you here, a warm ovation for you as you came up 18. You pounded your heart, mutual respect here on both sides?
JERRY KELLY: Absolutely. The love they showed me this week, that's about the best of any year, but this is about the best I've played of any year, too. But they were fantastic to me. I heard a lot of yells, and thanks to Jerry Springer, that "Jerry" chant is a lot of fun to hear out there.

Q. I don't know if you checked the leaderboard when you got here, but one of your contemporaries Jim Furyk shot a 58. Your thoughts on that?
JERRY KELLY: Well, I actually wanted to go out and -- I was on the range when it happened. I wish I had time because I would have loved to be on the 18th green when that went down. Who knows when we're going to get to see that again. Hats off to him. Two rounds in the 50s, you can't say enough about that man. He is an animal. I birdied the first two. I was like, I'm coming to get you. But yeah, it didn't happen.

Q. Finally, as far as the Playoffs are concerned, you were outside looking in but now well inside. I think maybe even inside 75 right now, so that sets you up for the next few weeks.
JERRY KELLY: That's nice. It's nice to go out knowing that I've made every one of them. I'm satisfied with the career now, and I'm going to enjoy playing the Champions Tour. I know those guys are playing some great golf, and I'm looking forward to getting out there. You haven't seen the last of me, but I'll have fun at these last Playoffs.

Q. Can you just talk about walking up 18, the ovation you got?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah. Even though this is the third time somebody has asked me, I'm still getting a little emotional about it. The people were fantastic. They showed me more love than they ever have throughout my career here. They always have, but that's probably the best I've also played for them. It was really fun. I loved hearing the chants. Everybody was so great and so positive.

You know, they're great respectful fans, too. They know how to yell, and then they know how to be conscious of everything going around them, so proud of them.

Q. Does that make you want to win -- obviously you want to win badly, but because of how revered you are here and them showing you that kind of affection?
JERRY KELLY: Absolutely. I consider this a hometown tournament for me. There's no Milwaukee anymore. There's no tournament in Wisconsin. So this is the closest I have to a hometown event now. I'm glad I think of it like that because I always played well at Milwaukee, and this has kind of taken the mantle of hometown, and I tend to play well.

Q. How did you collect yourself so well? On 15 you had a chance at an eagle and came up short, but you still made a tough birdie putt right there.
JERRY KELLY: It was a tough birdie putt. I had to laugh it off. I was in the swale on Friday or Saturday, and I putted it up and knocked it about eight feet by and missed it coming back. So I thought it was uphill, then downhill. It was kind of uphill and flat. My last four putts did not sniff getting in the hole, so that was kind of a bummer for me. But at least I did two-putt.

Q. The way you look at your week, it almost looked like with your expression on 18, you were almost there, it's like disappointment, it was very close.
JERRY KELLY: Well, yeah, I really didn't play that well the last two days. Today I played very well again. I came out early, did an earlier session on the range, and really beat way too many balls, and something clicked in my head on the first tee. I didn't even find it on the range, just on the first tee, then I realized what I was doing just in my practice swings. It was a fresh move, and that first tee shot was a little questionable, but it was one of the best ones I'd hit since Thursday.

With the new move, I'm not sure, my misses what I'm doing wrong, but I'm still better than I was five years ago.

Q. When you're in contention, what are the advantages and disadvantages of your age and your experience?
JERRY KELLY: The disadvantages is that I am tired. I mean, there's no question that physically it's draining. It takes a lot out of you. Yet mentally I understand I'm on adrenaline, and for me I love to live on adrenaline. It doesn't make me feel nervous, it just makes me feel really pumped up, so I'm able to channel that into hitting the ball a little bit further, and that always helps a short old guy, to hit it further. It's good and bad both ways.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297