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MERRILL LYNCH SHOOTOUTNovember 12, 2006Jerry KellyRod PamplingFinal Round PHIL STAMBAUGH: Rod, go ahead and talk about the day. Obviously you had the key putt at 18 to get into the playoff. Just sort of general comments about being the replacement for Peter, coming in and winning. Does Peter get any of the money? ROD PAMPLING: Yeah, he gets something of it (laughter). No, he gets a good pat on the back and thanks for letting me come in. Yeah, just to have that putt on the last, we both read it really well and Jerry's first putt just broke a little bit more than we thought. So it was nice to get up there and just it was a nice read. We kind of knew where we had to go, it was just outside right and we just had to hit it there. The putter felt really nice, and obviously it just went straight in the center, as well. It was a nice one to make. PHIL STAMBAUGH: About how long was it? ROD PAMPLING: I would think it was around 20 foot, somewhere around there. ROD PAMPLING: We were about a yard off, so five yards maybe. It was like four off the left. ROD PAMPLING: No, the rough was looking pretty nice. You know, the chips I think we had more chance of obviously making the putt than the chip to go in. Q. Just some thoughts about the overall event, coming in here late, getting to play with Jerry. ROD PAMPLING: You know, as soon as we got the phone call, because I didn't get into the event the normal way with getting an invite straight up. So I had virtually committed to play the Aussie Open and we virtually were starting to work out plans to go home. My manager gave me a call and said, "We're in." I was like, "Great. Who am I playing with?" He said, "Jerry." I was like, "That's even better because knowing Jerry we're both very similar in everything." Obviously it was a really good fit. Except he's a bit late. He doesn't realize I'm going to Australia. JERRY KELLY: The man has got to go to Australia, sorry. ROD PAMPLING: It was great. Like I said, we had a ton of fun out there all day. Every day we were out there, we just really enjoyed each other's company. It was just easy to get it out there. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Jerry, just some general thoughts about playing with Rod and winning this thing. JERRY KELLY: Well, he's a great player. I mean, for people not to say they don't know Rod Pampling is crazy. I mean, he's had great wins, and just being so consistent, such a quality player. I had absolutely no worries about any of my shots, any of my putts or anything like that. I knew he had my back the entire way. That kind of feeling lets you play better anyway. It was a great team effort. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Your take on the putt at 18 in regulation? You had already missed, he made. He already talked about it. JERRY KELLY: Well, his caddie got the original pin flag. I mean, that's the deal. He gets to go up there and get that one. If I would have thought of that one before PHIL STAMBAUGH: He said you gave him a good read? JERRY KELLY: My biggest key is, number one, for him not to leave me above the hole, and then for me not to knock him five feet by like I normally do on my putts. It's hard sometimes when you're putting for somebody else and you don't put your normal stroke on it, you just want to ease it. That was my easing it two and a half feet by, by the way. PHIL STAMBAUGH: How about in regulation? JERRY KELLY: Oh, in regulation, man. That was pretty impressive putt. We both hit it exactly the way we wanted to. I played mine inside the hole, and I hit it exactly where I wanted and it just broke off. He had the perfect read. For it to come off the fringe perfectly is great for us. Both of ours came off of it just right where we wanted it, and it poured it right in the heart. That was one of the best pressure putts from off the green I've seen. That was awesome. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Talk about your second shot in, 18 there. You obviously knew where you stood. You knew Scott and Justin had birdied the hole ahead. JERRY KELLY: Well, I had kind of an in between number. I couldn't really hit it too hard. So I took a 7 iron from about 167, and with the draw and the wind going right to left I couldn't hit it too hard. So a little bit of a decel, but I wasn't going to hang it out to the right. I was going to give us a chance over there by the pin. That was the exact same thing that Rod was doing. He wasn't going to leave it out to the right. We were going to try and get it in there close, and we both hit draws and the wind just picked us both up a little bit. ROD PAMPLING: Picked mine up a lot. PHIL STAMBAUGH: We'll go to questions. Q. You did say something to him when you putted that and missed in regulation. I think it was just, "oh, that's the right line" I think you said? JERRY KELLY: I mean, I just reiterated that I hit it exactly where I wanted and exactly where we thought the next line was going to be. We were in agreement on pretty much every putt the entire I remember one putt we weren't in agreement, and he was right. ROD PAMPLING: Yeah, that was the whole week. We just kept seeing the same thing. If we missed it, we knew what the lines were still, and that's what made it a lot easier for me to knock the ones in that Jerry missed, which wasn't too many. JERRY KELLY: I think we hit our lines, which is really key, too. That's one of the things I've been having trouble with lately and kind of went back to an old putting style where I knew I could at least hit my line the initial roll, and we both did that very well this week. Q. Had you guys made up your mind for Jerry to hit the approach in the playoff before Scott came up short? Can you guys both take us through that moment, your reactions to them and then on the green? ROD PAMPLING: Yeah, well, I was quite comfortable having Jerry hit that shot, especially after mine went into the water. I was really making sure I hit a good tee shot. Scott's ball looked awesome. In the air I was thinking, "Wow, this is good." When it hit the bank and popped up, it didn't get that forward kick. Obviously for it to go in the water, it left it a lot easier for Jerry. I didn't have to say anything to Jerry. He knows how to play the game. I'm about four or five yards further right and just hit the shot. It was very standard. JERRY KELLY: I wasn't going to try and turn that one into the hole. I was playing plenty far right, hitting my draw, and if I really hit it hard and it turned over, it still wasn't going to be far enough left to actually go in the water. It did make the shot a whole lot easier. It made Rod's putt a whole lot tougher because it was really fast and down grain. But he knew enough to leave me above the hole with the second putt. Q. Give us a quick tutorial on a ball sitting that far submerged. They didn't explain how rarely guys try that and how hard that is to maybe execute. ROD PAMPLING: Well, I think if the ball is under the surface it's difficult for it to come out. If it's a little bit out, the ball has got a way out of the water so that's how it comes out. But if it's submerged like that, and he's having a go, I thought, "This is not coming out." He did really well to get it that far. But I've never seen a ball come out of the water that was fully submerged. And then he had all the moss and fungi around, as well. So it was difficult to see the actual back of the ball. Obviously he had to do it. There was no other way around it, so he had to have a go. JERRY KELLY: The water actually deflects the club. The water becomes fairly firm when you hit down onto it, so it shallows the club out quick. You have to hit it so hard and so steep to get under a ball that's under water, it's difficult. I used to practice those shots all the time. I kind of like them. Q. I was kind of amazed how you guys stayed focused with long and longer kind of being wrong and wronger today? ROD PAMPLING: You're playing your own game out there. You knew from hole 1 when John hits it right and then J.B. steps up and hits his 50 yards past you, we knew we weren't even going to be close to them. And we never got out of our game plan; we just knew. As I said to my caddie, "We'll hit first and stick it in close all day," and that's what we did. JERRY KELLY: It can be disheartening when you've got guys as short as me he's longer than I am, but as short as we were back there behind them, I mean, every single hole sticking it inside of them. It can play on you a little bit that way, too, and we could use that to our advantage, and we did. Q. And for you, I think it's four years since you've had a victory. Is it any sweeter? JERRY KELLY: I think it's really fun to win with a partner. ROD PAMPLING: Absolutely. JERRY KELLY: I think this is a really cool format. That's something special. Not many guys get to win with a partner. ROD PAMPLING: Not at this game, no. JERRY KELLY: You've got Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, but those are teams. This is fun. This is a tournament win. ROD PAMPLING: It's not supposedly an official PGA TOUR win, but still, it's a PGA TOUR event, it's got a great name attached to it, Greg Norman, and this is definitely one that sits on the mantlepiece and I'll be showing it off proud. Q. Do you think your friendship will change? I knew you guys were friendly, but do you think you shared something pretty special. JERRY KELLY: I think there's no question. ROD PAMPLING: Absolutely. We're always going to be pit bulls now. We're the pit bull brothers (laughter). There's not too many brothers like that out there. Q. I was going to ask Jerry, how would you have played that shot if it was in ice since you played hockey? JERRY KELLY: Well, it depends on if the bunker had firmed up enough to bounce through because you'd have to land it pretty far short, and then you'd have to play that bounce. It would be a totally different shot. There wouldn't be any water there; it's frozen over, too. You might be able to play a cut over the water on that 18th hole and have it bounce up there really close to the pin on the side of the green. Not many people would know that but somebody from the north would know to play a cut there. Q. You said you used to practice those. I'm just curious why. JERRY KELLY: In case I got in that position. I've hit a shot over 200 yards with the ball half submerged, pitched down with a 3 wood, and the ball doesn't keep going down because, again, the resistance of the water makes the ball squirt up out of the water, so it's kind of like it goes down against the water and pitches out. I've tried long shots if you look back, there was a ball that was a full inch submerged when I was at Harbour Town, No. 15, and they've got it on camera. They show it on film. I hit it probably 20 yards to about five feet. I knew I could get in there and hit that shot even that far underneath the water because I practiced it so many times and I knew how to enter the water, how hard to hit it, and I haven't practiced them in a while and you can bet I'm going to go back and practice because I saw three or four of them this week. |
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