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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 2, 2011

Jerry Kelly

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Jerry Kelly into the interview room here at the Deutsche Bank Championship after a 5-under par-71. Jerry, comment on an excellent start.
JERRY KELLY: Well, it's a 5-under. It was interesting out there. I didn't really have much on the tee balls except for getting them in the fairways, and my irons weren't very crisp. But my brain was working really well today. I got her around the golf course with a not-so-perfect swing. So I'm happy with the result.
I've been hitting it so well the last three weeks that I don't know if I was really hitting it poorly, but I just -- I've been so used to flushing it. This definitely wasn't one of those days, but I'm happy with the score.
JOHN BUSH: Dating back to the PGA Championship this is your eighth straight round in the 60s. Comment on a little bit about your season as a whole for us and your expectations for the last few weeks here.
JERRY KELLY: I've got to finish my Wisconsin cheddar here (nibbling on cheese slice).
You know, the season, my last three, four years of -- other than the win in '09, it's really been quite a struggle, health at times, and then when I'm healthy, brain. You never know. This year started out with a couple of top 10s, and I thought, okay, here we go, we're back again. And then all of a sudden off the edge a little bit.
But I've come back very strong since the -- it was about the PGA that I started to play well again. It could still be a great year hopefully.

Q. Is there anything in particular that's changed since the PGA, or are you thinking better, or is it just something in your swing?
JERRY KELLY: I've always gone at the ball 100 to 110 percent. I really wasn't able to do much else with the move that I have had.
Now, on the mental side, I've tried to calm myself down. Now, those two don't mix very well. So I really -- I felt like the work that I've been doing with my coach Jim Schuman and with the pro golf health guys, Stewart Love out here, Dr. Love, have given me a little better mobility in my body to where I'm actually able to smooth the ball out there with a decent swing. Something different for me.
So all of a sudden my swing and what I was trying to do with my mental attitude, they were matching up, so I was able to stay in that mode all the way through a round, which was very difficult for me in the past. I'd go after it, I'd try to get something back or I'd try to go further. I'd always be fighting it. But I don't think I had the swing or the body to be able to smooth it out correctly like I am now, so I credit those two houses right there with giving me the ability.
But I definitely credit me with going ahead and trying it anyway. I'm just glad it turned out.

Q. You had a pretty good run here two years ago, 2009?
JERRY KELLY: Did I?

Q. Yeah, you tied for 11th.
JERRY KELLY: All I remember is I missed it last year (laughing).

Q. Extra motivation?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah, there's always extra motivation. That's one of the reasons I fought to get here, because I certainly didn't like missing it last year. I don't like missing anything. I don't like missing Atlanta, I don't like missing majors. But it happens, and I try my best not to let it happen again.

Q. Can you comment on your round today, the birdies especially, what holes and how far, et cetera?
JERRY KELLY: Started out with a great missed driver and a beautiful 6-iron to about two and a half feet, two feet.
Then 14, that was my best driver of the day. Then I hit a 5-iron to about three feet.
Then I three-putted 16.
17, I hit a 9-iron to -- 3-wood, 9-iron to about 12 feet.
18, I was just trying to get it over the front hazard and pulled it left a little bit, trying to make sure I had the distance, and caught a good lie. I knew that it was going to be okay from over there, and I chipped it in down the hill. Might have been going off the green, just an inch or so, but the pin was only eight feet. But that was a good break, obviously.
And then front side, I hit a good 3-wood, wedge on No. 1.
And then from there it was just kind of a struggle. I just never really got the crispness going towards the end of the round. Spun it off the green on 2, way left on 3, chunked my bunker shot on 4, hooked it left off the tee on 5; 6, caught a little heel jobber; 7, 9-iron short of the green from 135; 8, I had 200 to the pin, then I hit my 200 club with a cut and it barely flew 175 to the front edge; and then 9 I hit it to the right and then hooked it left and then chipped it 20 feet by and made it.

Q. What is your ranking coming in here, your standing?
JERRY KELLY: 47. I need a top 4 to be safe for the TOUR Championship. I'm on top of my numbers.

Q. I didn't ask.
JERRY KELLY: That's all right. It's just the breadth of knowledge that I possess.

Q. In your years of playing this, whatever your standing has been, have you found yourself looking more at boards and paying attention earlier than usual than a regular tournament like Memorial or what have you?
JERRY KELLY: No, I do it -- I'm a total board watcher. It doesn't matter what's going on. If I'm third off, am I in the lead? 2-under through four holes. Can I see my name at No. 1 up there maybe? I'm always looking for something, something to motivate me.

Q. What about those, for example, just got to make the cut to advance. Have you ever been in that position where you've got yourself trapped into thinking, you know, let's say the guys that are say 85th last week, and I'm sure you've been in that spot before, going, if I miss the cut I could fall --
JERRY KELLY: Well, Chicago two years ago I had to birdie the ninth hole. I was starting on the other side. I had to birdie the ninth hole to get into the TOUR Championship. I hit two of the best shots that I've ever hit, ten feet above the hole and lagged that things down there, and that's when Snedeker four-putted, so maybe that was three -- I don't know when that was.

Q. That's like winning a tournament in a way kind of, knowing what you have to do on the last hole?
JERRY KELLY: It's definitely an accomplishment when you are paying attention, you know what you have to do, and you do it. You definitely get that satisfaction. Winning a tournament? I don't think so. When you do it to win a tournament, yeah. But that satisfaction of getting the job done -- we don't get that that often. I mean, even Tiger lost 75 percent of the time, and that was at the height. I'm losing 99.97 amount of mine, so I've got to grab on to every one of those little accomplishments, motivation, just any time you get the job done.
For me making the cut in New Jersey, I mean, I one-hopped it over the green on 9. I knew I had to get to 4-under, and I made this putt going up that hill, that crazy putt. Next thing you know I shoot an easy 7-under the last 11, and I move myself far enough at least to know that I'm in Chicago. I mean, that was a huge accomplishment there.
JOHN BUSH: Good stuff, as always, Jerry. Thank you, sir.

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