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OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE PRO-AM

April 15, 2011

Kenny Perry

LUTZ, FLORIDA

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Kenny, thanks for joining us. 4-under, 67, 1-over on your first nine, and then a great start in the back nine: five birdies in six holes. Maybe just talk about your day a little bit.
KENNY PERRY: Well, that back nine is not easy. You know, from hole 14 on through 18, you've got to really golf your ball out there. I was just kind of plodding along, just trying to -- I was hitting a lot fairways and a lot of greens.
My only bogey was a fat 8-iron. I hit a pretty poor 8-iron shot on 15 to make bogey.
I was pretty happy with the front nine. I saw Russ Cochran going low, and I was like, Wow, I need to somehow catch up here. Was able to birdie 1, and then on 3, 4, 5, and 6, got on a little run there to shoot a nice round.
So it was a good way to start the tournament.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: You remember your birdies, shots on No. 1?
KENNY PERRY: I hit a 54-degree sand wedge to about eight feet.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: No. 3?
KENNY PERRY: I hit a driver and a pitching wedge to about 20 feet and made a nice putt there.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Then 4?
KENNY PERRY: What is 4? Is that the par-5?
PHIL STAMBAUGH: No, another par-4.
KENNY PERRY: I know 6 I chipped in, the par-3, for birdie. Then how did I make birdie on 4 and 5? I can't think of...
PHIL STAMBAUGH: 5 is a short par-4.
KENNY PERRY: Oh, I hit a 5-iron and a sand wedge to about four feet. Oh, and then the hole before that I hit a driver and pitching wedge to about six feet and made it.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay.
KENNY PERRY: 3-wood, pitching wedge, I'm sorry. So I had a putt in the hole on 9 for birdie and just left it on the lip. It didn't go in, but very happy with it.
It's pretty tough. The wind has probably picked up out of southwest, I'm saying 10 to 15. It's going to make it tougher for the guys this afternoon, I think, so I'm glad to get in with that score.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Questions.

Q. You said you looked up and saw Russ was going low. Did that change the way you played? Do you become more aggressive?
KENNY PERRY: I knew I needed to make birdies, yeah. It definitely changed my mindset a little bit. I always thought this tournament -- people would tell me, 8-under is going to win the tournament. Well Russ is already 7, you know, so I'm thinking that's not going to work here.
I've got a figure out a way to get close and stay in the mix a little bit. I can't get too far behind here. So very excited with the start.

Q. Is it a different mindset on this tour because it's only three rounds and it's a sprint basically?
KENNY PERRY: Definitely. It is a sprint. If you're not making birdies, guys are just passing you like crazy. It's amazing how well they play out here. I'm shocked, to tell you the truth. I was not ready when I came to Houston and San Antonio last year. They beat my brains out.
I realized I had to come out with a different mindset. When I came here, I needed to be ready to play. So I was excited that I was able to put five out of six birdies in there and get back in the mix a little bit.

Q. Just curious, from the mindset, if it had been Thursday at a regular event and you saw somebody roll out to 7-under, do you think, Okay I've still got 54 holes? Is it really that much...
KENNY PERRY: You see a lot of that on the Tour. You see one guy go really hot, but -- and every once in a while you'll see the wire to wire run, but very seldom. That guy will usually kind of creep back a little bit, creep back. You know, somebody, sixth, seventh place will shot that pretty good second, third round, and bolt right up in there to win.
You definitely got more time on the PGA Tour. You got more holes, more time to kind of figure stuff out out there.
Out here, you know, everything is fast-paced. I feel like I got to let it slow down a little bit for some reason for me. Everything is go, go, go. If I can kind of figure out my rhythm and get comfortable out here, I'm going to really enjoy being out here.

Q. Did you kind of take the pendulum? You came in two casual and now everything is go, go, go?
KENNY PERRY: My deal was different. A lot of these guys who come on the Champions Tour, they have had three or four years where they were off the PGA Tour, and they had time to be with there family.
Well, 48 and 49 were two of my best -- when I was 48 and 49 years old years old were two of my best years on the PGA Tour. I was playing crazy. I won 11 times in my 40s.
So when I turned 50, I just pretty much exhaled a little bit. I just said, Listen, I can't continue this pace. I've got to find some peace and quiet, I guess.
So I played average last year, and then I came out this year playing just horrendous on the PGA -- I played six events on the PGA, and I think I only made two cuts and made last-place money in both of those.
I've gone to a new teacher, a new instructor. My old caddie is back on the bag that I've won all my tournaments with. So I've kind of put what I call the "Dream Team" back together, and it's working.
I had a good start. I think I'm moving in the right direction.

Q. How do you balance the scheduling? Are you still going to play X number of tournaments on the regular tour?
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I've still got three more years of exemptions on the PGA Tour, so I'll always play Memorial, Colonial. I just love those places. I love the membership. I just enjoy playing there.
I just signed a deal with the Greenbrier. I'm not going to play Senior PGA out here at Inverness, which is a course I dearly love. I'll be a Greenbrier and Hartford. I stayed with that one family for 25 years I've been on tour. They've got four kids. Their youngest daughter was six months old when I showed up, and now they have all got children of their own.
It was pretty cool when I won there in 2009. About 20 of them run on the green as we celebrated, so that was a pretty neat deal.
I've got special places I love going, but you'll definitely see me more over here now than over there. I'll play maybe four, five, six times over there. I'll probably play 14, 15 out here.

Q. Is this the first time you've had your old caddie on the bag?
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, my son caddied for me the last year and a half. He's 25 and finally found what you wants to do in life. He took a job. I got on the horn with Freddy. Yeah, Freddy was happy to come back.
This is our fourth marriage. He's been on and off the bag four times and we've won nine times together, so we've had some success out there.

Q. What's his last name?
KENNY PERRY: Sanders.

Q. You had a good British Open at Royal St. George's in 2003.
KENNY PERRY: Had a great chance to win there. Sure did.

Q. Just curious. It's a bit of quirky golf course.
KENNY PERRY: Very quirky.

Q. What are your comments on the course? Do you like it?
KENNY PERRY: I just remember a lot of blind shots. I hit a lot of drivers just over -- you pick just something over the bush and let it go. But you could really get in some -- there are a lot of heavy areas you can really get in some bad trouble.
I just remember the par-5s on the front nine. I was able to get on those pretty easy in two, and I 3-putted both of them on Sunday for pars.
And then I remember the 17th hole has a crown on it. It's impossible to hit that fairway. No matter if you hit it on the right side of the fairway, goes in the right rough; left side of the fairway, left rough.
Bu it's the kind of golf course anybody can win at. Ben Curtis won. He's a great champion. But if I could have just -- I think I lost -- I was one or two off, three off the lead going into Sunday. The first six holes are the holes you got to get. There are two par-5s. If you get off to a good start and get to 3-under early, then you can kind of hang on.
I just didn't do it.

Q. (No microphone.)
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I mean, we all got to face it and play those holes. It's different. I mean, the British Open, that's really a different test than like a St. Andrews or Troon.

Q. Is the strategy at St. George's, is that a different process of trying to plan it out because of all the humps and bumps you get in the fairways?
KENNY PERRY: I don't think there's any strategy. I think it's luck. You still got to hit good shots. You can really get some crazy bounces out there good and bad. You know, you think you hit a good shot and it doesn't turn out, or you can hit a poor shot and it'll deflect and turn out to be a pretty good shot.
I just remember putting a lot balls from 28, 30 yards off the green, you know, just something I don't ever do. I'll never forget, my caddie laid the putter down. I was 30 yards off the green. He just laid the putter down and he took off walk around the green telling me to quit chipping. He said, Let's start putting. (Laughter.)
So I just don't remember a lot about it. I played my practice round and four rounds there. I just remember it was very, very different, you know, a very different style of course.

Q. I'm just thinking there was Milwaukee or something the week before...
KENNY PERRY: No, I won that later. I won Milwaukee later.

Q. Okay. But 2003 was a good year for you.
KENNY PERRY: Yeah. I won three times in 2003.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. Thanks, Kenny.
KENNY PERRY: All right.

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