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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2009

Kenny Perry

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

DOUG MILNE: Kenny, you've got to be pretty familiar with the inside of this room this week. We'd like to welcome Kenny Perry, the 2009 Travelers Championship winner. You noted that it took 21 times, but you finally got the trophy here, and you won in incredibly convincing fashion. It's your 14th PGATOUR win, your 11th in your 40s. Your 258 total here this week sets the new tournament record, and obviously means a lot to you for many reasons, the family you stay with and so forth. Just a few comments now that you got it done.
KENNY PERRY: Unbelievable. I mean to say you want to win something and then to actually achieve it is a great feeling. I just hate it took me so long to do it.
Steve would always get onto me. I stay with three families. I won in Phoenix, the FDR, Bill Scott, and the Eastlake in Muirfield. I won those two events. I never could win this win. So he always would get on my case about I guess his cooking wasn't good enough. It would always upset my stomach or something. No. (Laughs). They're all in the back back there, so I'm giving them a hard way to go.
But it's just a special week for me. We've played games. I've watched their kids grow up. They've got three grandchildren now. And it's just a neat week for me. We just grill out and hang out. We just have so much fun, and it makes the week very special, and no matter how I play, I always look forward to coming here each and every year.
So other than that, I've been fighting each year to try to do something special here, and it finally showed up today.
DOUG MILNE: This is your second win of the year and with the win here you pick up 500 FedExCup points, which moves you to No. 1 on the FedExCup points list. Moving forward, what does this win do for you mentally as far as planning ahead?
KENNY PERRY: Everybody kind of asked about the Augusta hangover deal. I guess I kind of shoved that aside a little bit. So that makes me feel pretty good.
But I really didn't get too down on that deal. That deal taught me a lot today. To think all I gotta do is make two pars to win a tournament and I couldn't get it done. I really played heavy the way I played that Back 9 today.
I knew there was so many guys right there in contention that could catch me. David was playing great in front of us. I was looking an the leaderboard watching on the back side, so I knew I had to keep making birdies. So I wasn't going to let up. I wasn't going to play defensive golf, and I learned something from that mistake.
I played flawlessly today. Probably one of the greatest rounds of golf I've ever played. I didn't miss a shot, except for the tee shot on 13. I hit a very poor right, totaled the driver, didn't go anywhere, and I couldn't go for that green in two, but I can't think of one miss-hit golf shot. I was right on the button. My swing was there and I was able to carry it to the house.
That 7-iron I hit on 17 was one of the sweetest shots I've hit in a long time to give me birdie, give me a three-shot cushion, to make the 18th hole, where I didn't have to stress out. I knew pretty much anybody could probably play that hole and win the golf tournament.
DOUG MILNE: Okay. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. 8 and 9, birdie and getting up-and-down?
KENNY PERRY: Eight was the sweetest 5-iron I've hit in a long time. That sucker never left the flag. Looked like it was going in, and it just kind of creeped off to the left and I had a 3-footer, tapped in.
Then I hit a real good drive on 9. It looked like it was perfect, going right over the center of that bunker where I was aiming. And I guess the wind got it or whatever and kind of semi buried in the side of that hill. And when I hit it, it looked like a top-spin lobber. The ball just kind of -- it came out. I don't know. It was the weirdest shot I ever hit.
Then I hit a nice little pitch up there to about eight, six feet. My putter was on today. I knew I was putting well. I rolled that one in to perfect speed. Slipped in the right side of the hole. That was a nice momentum-saver to keep the round going. Then the birdie on 11 right on top of it really got me going for that Back 9.

Q. And then eight the shot?
KENNY PERRY: 8 was 202. The pitch shot was about 38 yards.

Q. 15, Paul made an eagle and you're looking at a birdie putt. How big was that?
KENNY PERRY: Oh, it was huge. Huge. All of them were huge. But I knew I had to make that one again to keep pushing on. I knew David Toms had just birdied. So I knew I needed to make that putt, and I hit such a sweet putt. I played it outside right with perfect speed and just curled it right over the front of the cup right in the hole.
So that told me a lot about myself to have the perfect speed on that putt. So that was a huge putt.

Q. How much reflection you did. I was going to ask you when you made peace with Augusta, but it sounds like it might have been today.
KENNY PERRY: No. I made peace about three days after that was over. I really did. I thought about it about a week after the tournament, but I really haven't reflected too much on it. It's time to move on. I dwelled too much on that '96 PGA loss. I learned a lot from that. And I was determined to get back in that winner's circle again.

Q. You talked about the fans today. The first tee seemed like --
KENNY PERRY: Unbelievable. Yeah. That was the greatest roar. I got an unbelievable roar on Saturday. I fed off the energy of the crowd today.
I had so many people pulling for me all over the golf course. To me that's never happened. That Augusta thing, even though I lost, I had won over a lot of fans. I definitely felt it from Colonial, Memorial, all the tournaments I've played since Augusta, a lot of people have, Ryder Cup has meant a lot to me, and done for me, so my fan base has grown a hundred fold since all that's happened. It's been unbelievable.

Q. A little bit like (inaudible) out there?
KENNY PERRY: Definitely. I definitely felt like a home course advantage, for sure.
DOUG MILNE: If you wouldn't mind, Kenny, going over your birdies.
KENNY PERRY: I hit 3-iron and sand wedge on two to six, eight feet. I hit driver and 3-iron. I hit the most unbelievable bunker shot of my life on six today. I was on the down slope on the front of the bunker and had to carry the whole bunker to the pin to me and it came out perfect.
It landed right in that two foot of heavy grass right over the lip and killed it and it jumped out about four feet and was able to get that in and that was unbelievable, and eight was prettiest 5-iron I've hit in a long time.
Ten hit a great drive 6-iron in there about 20 feet. 11, hit a 9-iron, playing safe, hit it left, made another 20-footer. My putter was on. I knew if I got it on the green I had a shot at making birdie and 15 I drove it right in front of the green and pitched up eight feet short and was able to throw that one in and 17 I hit 7-iron six feet from the hole.

Q. What did you hit off the tee?
KENNY PERRY: 3-iron. I knew it was only like 220 to carry that bunker there and it was downhill. Even though it was into the wind I had plenty of club. I didn't want to be as aggressive as Paul was. He hit driver way down there. So I knew I was going to be short of that fairway bunker to left. And it was a perfect way for me to play that hole. I hit 3-iron, 8-iron every day and today I hit 7-iron.

Q. You said earlier this week 20 wins unrealistic goal, is that kind of creeping into your mind a little now, it's not so unrealistic?
KENNY PERRY: I'm making people think a little bit. Still, six more wins is a lot of wins. You know, I've won three last year, two this year already. Who knows? If I get hot again, get on a little streak, sneak in two more by the end of the year, might be very realistic.
But as I said before, it was pretty unrealistic goal. I just kind of threw that number out there to see everybody roll their eyes in the back of their head. But it is a goal of mine. I may not ever reach it and if I don't, that's fine. My career's been unbelievable, the things I've been able to accomplish. But that keeps me working each day, keeps me going back to work.

Q. All the wins you have, is this as good a win as you've ever had?
KENNY PERRY: Definitely. Good win as I've ever had, the way I finished today, on Sunday, my golf was unbelievable. To shoot 22-under par, to break the all-time record of all the great champions that are on this trophy, it's unbelievable.

Q. What's the name of the family you stay with?
KENNY PERRY: Steve and Martha Kirsch. I was a rookie, and was broke, needed a place to stay, and they were going to keep Jay Haas that week and Jay said no. So they said they'd take the rookie with no money, and I've never left. I've been a bum ever since.

Q. You mentioned you won over some people after Augusta. Do you think that was on the course or after the course the way you handled yourself?
KENNY PERRY: Well, I guess everybody loves energy. Everybody I hear talks about my energy afterwards, how I handled the loss and how I talked about it, and you know, there's a lot more important things in life.
My mother's got multiple myeloma cancer. My sister's got breast cancer. There's a lot of sickness in my family. We're struggling. Sandy's mom's not doing very well. She's 80 years old. She's broke her back. She doesn't get around anymore. So you know, I'm just going to enjoy life right now. I'm going to try to help as many people as I can along the way, and I'm not going to worry too much about wins and losses and we're going to enjoy life a little bit.
DOUG MILNE: Kenny Perry, congratulations.
KENNY PERRY: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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