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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2008

Kenny Perry

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

DOUG MILNE: We welcome Kenny Perry, 4-under par 68 today. Out there you were talking about a tale of two conditions, going out it was benign and picked up on the back nine. Just a couple comments about the round.
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I teed off at 8:00 this morning and it was perfect for the first nine holes, very little wind. I knew it was a time to try to make a move and try to make some birdies and I was fortunate to make three birdies to shoot 3-under on that front nine.
When we turned at 11, when Mike Weir didn't get it across that cross-bunker that you don't ever think nothing about, and I said, uh-oh, dead into the teeth of the wind. And Nick Watney and I got it over the bunker barely and hit a 7-iron to that tree on the right which I never hit down the right side on that hole because I normally hit driver, 5-iron on it and hit 9-iron into the green and the wind picked up and went from nothing to 18 miles an hour in a hurry.
So it made all those holes on the back nine crosswind holes. 17 and 18 were left-to-right down and 16 was right-to-left and in. 13 and 14 were kind much left-to-right and down.
It just made it very tricky, club selections, because I know on the 14th hole, I had 210 yards to the flag into that wind and I hit a 5-iron and landed on the front of the green and the pin was like 37 or 38 back and rolled all the way to the flag to within six feet of the hole.
So greens were very firm. They held the front nine but the back nine you really had to play short and roll up to it, so the guys this afternoon are going to have to pay attention to what they are doing out there and play short yardages and let the ball kick up into the hole.

Q. I caught a little bit about what you were saying outside at the podium out there about your putting and how you've sort of been going back and forth between the long one and the short one, the belly and the traditional size.
KENNY PERRY: Correct.

Q. How frustrating is it to still be able to hit it as good as you do from tee-to-green, similar to Sergio I guess, and did not know what stick of dynamite you're going to have in your hand?
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I complained about that the most. I just don't read the greens very good anymore. I don't know if I can't see, I don't know what it is. I tell sandy, my wife that, all the time I say I just can't see the line like I used to for whatever reason.
And it's just, you know, I don't know, I just actually made a couple nice long putts today. I made a 35 footer on 3 and I made about an 18-, 20-footer on 8, or 7, for birdie, and so those were the putts I haven't been making. But I missed some close ones. I missed a close one on 6. I missed a close one on 12. I missed a close one on that 14th hole.
And then like on 15, I watched Nick Watney, he chipped it in, he was in the fringe and I was a little long back there. Shoot, I saw the speed of the putt. Well, my first putt, I just blitzed it right on by eight feet past. What is that? I don't know, I don't get it right now why I hit those putts. It's not like I'm not nervous. It's like I can't see the speed of the green. I can't see the grass. I can't see the grain.
That's just what I've been struggling with. You know, I've had two LASIK surgeries, I'm now wearing contacts. I wear glasses at night.
So, I don't know, who knows. That might be one thing I'm having problems with I might need to look into; I don't know.

Q. Were there any unusual club selections you had to make when the wind came up at 11 there?
KENNY PERRY: Well, yeah, I was down the right side of the fairway there, and that tree on the right, I had like 200 to carry into the left into the fairway and I had 155 to that big tree down the right side.
So I chose to take a 7-iron and I thought the 7-iron would actually go past that tree but the wind was blowing so it up shot it and came under it and stayed under the tree. It didn't affect my shot or not; I didn't have to punch it or anything, and then I still hit a 9 and I was 145 yards away and still had to hit 9-iron to that back left pin, which is a tortuous pin placement back there.
So, you know, that was a hole, I haven't played that hole like that in a long time. Normally it's either lay up left over there or just flip a sand wedge up there and get aggressive, try to make a birdie. It's not much a birdie hole, I know Nick hit an upshot at it, but went into the water to the right, and I don't know if he could have got to the green from where he was. That's a hole guys are going to have to make adjustment calls on.

Q. Is this the toughest wind for this golf course?
KENNY PERRY: I think so. Normally 17 and 18 are kind of right-to-left. You know, when it's left-to-right, it's left-to-right pretty hard. To me I think that's an unusual wind for this golf course.

Q. And that's left-to-right and helping?
KENNY PERRY: It was helping a little bit. You know, that hole was 150 yards. We were all bailing out. Mike hit a beautiful little punch 9-iron up on top. I was afraid to throw anything up on that back shelf and watched it take one hop in the water over. I hit a pitching wedge in the middle of the green and it sucked back down on the front of the green, so just, you know, I was happy, anything on that green, anywhere and just two putts, get out of there.

Q. Is the nature of this course, when you're sharp, you can separate yourself more quickly; and if you're just a little off, you find yourself farther back than normal, is that the way this place works?
KENNY PERRY: Very much so. You have to hit the fairways out there. You cannot put any spin on the golf ball to control it. You can't hardly find a mark on the greens; it's very hard to find a pitchmark when you hit the green; that's how firm they are. And if you have got anything coming out of the rough, you are just at the mercy. You cannot get it anywhere around the hole, so guys are hitting fairways and actually can be a little more aggressive and attack the flags than the guys who are just a little off and finding that rough out there.

Q. Compared to like a U.S. Open course, if you're on here, you can go low.
KENNY PERRY: You can shoot a good score here, yes. You can go low here. I think you'll see some good scores.

Q. Can you compare your game now to when you were on that nice, hot run?
KENNY PERRY: It's all putting in my opinion. I still it as far. You look at my stats, I looked at it the other day from 200 yards and in I'm fifth on the TOUR and I've always been good in that category with long irons. I'm normally Top-10 in total driving. I'm 19th now; I'm a little off there, so I've been missing some fairways with my driver. And I used to be Top-10 in greens in reg, so I'm not there, either.
So I'm just now starting to come back and get sharp again. I think I hit 16 greens today and I think I only missed one fairway and that was on the last hole, I can't remember -- oh, and 11. So I missed two fairways.
All in all, I had, you know, great opportunity to be aggressive out there and get after those flags a little bit.

Q. Did the LASIK surgeries just not work?
KENNY PERRY: They say it gets worse if you get older, so I don't know.
When I was winning from 2003 to 2005, I didn't wear anything, I had LASIK and my vision was okay. I've really noticed within the last year, if I take my contacts out, I can't see very good. My contacts are just good for distance out.

Q. LASIK surgery was a while ago?
KENNY PERRY: It's probably been -- what do you think, Sandy, is it ten years since I've had it done? Ten years. And I had it done twice, I had it done once and then went back and had an enhancement done. Then I said I'm not doing that anymore.

Q. When was the enhancement?
KENNY PERRY: About a year later or two years later. They say you should heal up and once you heal up, it might not get sharp so then I did an enhancement and that was pretty good.
The contacts, I started wearing them last year.

Q. How pleased are you with your finish today, and will you adjust your approach at all heading into tomorrow?
KENNY PERRY: Very excited. That's the best round of golf I've played all year. I mean, I've played a lot of good rounds this year, but it just seemed like I was in there for all 18 holes today for some reason. A little more determined.
No, I don't approach it any differently tomorrow. I've just got to figure out a way to watch the wind and make sure, you know, I've got the right club in my hand off the tee to get that ball in that fairway so I know I can get after those flags, because I know tomorrow afternoon, it's going to be 90-plus, probably windy, and the greens will be very firm tomorrow afternoon.
DOUG MILNE: Kenny Perry, congratulations and a great round, thank you.

End of FastScripts

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