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June 1, 2008
DUBLIN, OHIO
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Jerry, thanks for joining us. I know you love this tournament and you just have to say that you got to play with Kenny Perry today and he played a terrific round of golf in those conditions. And you played a great round of golf too.
JERRY KELLY: I played solid. I had -- I was walking to the hole on at least three putts, and might have been walking on 17 too, but it just -- they just didn't go in for me. I was close. I struck the ball well. I hit some good shots that didn't turn out. 1, I thought I was knocking my wedge shot in. Thought I hit a good shot on 12. Thought I hit a good shot on 11. Thought I hit a good shot on 10.
But that's what this course and the conditions and the pin placements will do for you or do to you if you're not perfect. It's a tough up-and-down and I was there. I was happy, I've come close a couple times this year, but on this golf course, that was good to at least play well and get the feeling of being in it and striking the shots. I didn't finish them, but I was right there.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Questions, please.
Q. You said you didn't go through your routine on 17. What do you do before approaching your putt?
JERRY KELLY: Well, I just started counting as a way to keep my head down. I haven't ever kept my head down putting, period.
And I found something that helped me quite a bit. It was just a counting method that I do one on the back, two on the hit, three keep the head down and four look. And I don't remember getting to two. So obviously I either took it for granted or went fast. I know there were things going on inside my head that weren't my routine.
So I've just got to clear in that position that nothing is automatic. And that was big.
Q. Talk about the confidence you obviously get from playing this week on a course that's set up very difficult and you're right there with a chance to win and how this sets you up for the rest of the year now.
JERRY KELLY: I'm looking forward to a week off and then going to the U.S. Open. Torrey Pines is a tough test and I'm striking the driver well, hitting fairways. I know they're going to be a lot narrower, which is going to play to my advantage there. I'm hitting good iron shots. And my short game has been very good. It's just a matter of consistency for me. And I've got to find a consistency instead of -- and this was a good four rounds of just hanging in there. But I need a good four rounds of really good golf like I did the first day.
So it's something to build on, but it's not what I was after completely.
Q. Could you take us through 14, please.
JERRY KELLY: At 14 I just hit a good cut 3-iron to get it down there pretty far and I had 130 downwind. And it was just a little cut wedge. I saw Kenny's carry a long ways and go over. So I probably took just a little bit more off of it and thought I hit it absolutely -- an absolutely perfect shot. But mine was coming down a little bit too quick while his was staying up there a little longer. And I thought it would still skip forward and have a nice below the pin putt. But I hit it up, I ended up spinning off the green to the side. I had some grass growing into me where I had to hit a solid chip. And I just caught ball a little bit more than I thought I could. I thought I had hit a lot more grass so I had to hit it a little firm. It would have been a perfect pitching wedge shot for me. But I took my sand wedge and tried to hit it a little firm so I could get through that grass. And I hit it very solid. And I didn't think I would be able to catch that much ball.
It's similar to my chip on 8 where I didn't think I could get underneath it at all. And I hit a beautiful chip, got underneath it, and left it short. So I executed on my short game, but two of those chips did not turn out even with good execution.
Q. Statistically 17 for the week played very hard. But nothing leaps out at me, so just what is so difficult about 17?
JERRY KELLY: You've got to fit a drive into a yardage instead of just hitting it. So I couldn't hit my normal draw because I would go in the through bunker, so I have to hit a cut but you still have to carry it 260 to carry the front bunker. So it's a squeeze play kind of to get it in that fairway. Even though it's wide, it's a distance squeeze play. So the drive becomes a little difficult.
And then the wind was definitely swirling. It hit Kenny's. Kenny did not hit a bad shot on 17. He got in a gust and I waited until I got the right wind. And then I hit just a perfect shot, exactly where I wanted, carried over the right side of the right bunker, and had it hit the hill and come in. And it did exactly that. But I left myself with a unmakeable putt.
(Laughter.)
Q. Was there one hole in particular all week long that troubled you?
JERRY KELLY: There were two of them. I hit the green once on 8 and once on 9. I made three bogeys on 8, which is, I think if I look back on that hole, I usually make more birdies than pars. And 9th same way. I missed the fairway on 9 consistently and I don't normally do that, period, much less on a fairly easy driving hole. And good thing is, I got two of them up-and-down after chipping out on 9. But still one bogey -- hitting the green once on both 8 and 9 were pretty poor for me.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Jerry.
End of FastScripts
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