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CHRYSLER CLASSIC OF GREENSBORO

October 15, 2004

Jerry Kelly

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

CHRIS REIMER: Here with Jerry Kelly. 7-under today. Talk a little bit about your round.

JERRY KELLY: Well, got off to a pretty good start.

CHRIS REIMER: You got to birdie the odd holes.

JERRY KELLY: Birdied the first hole for the second day in a row. I just wanted to keep going today. I got it to 4-under yesterday. Hit it great on the back. But my putter completely left me yesterday. And the 32 putts it felt like about 38. So I switched putters last night and just happy to make the first one with the new putter. That was a big boost. So things went fairly good for the rest of the day.

CHRIS REIMER: Questions for Jerry?

Q. How unusual is that for you to change putters in a tournament?

JERRY KELLY: Not very.

(Laughter.) The good thing I've been on a decent streak this year. I think the last three rounds which all happened to be Fridays that I've switched putters I've shot 5-under, 7-under, 7-under.

Q. Had you use this had putter before or was it brand new to you?

JERRY KELLY: I bought this putter Thursday afternoon in Pennsylvania. I bought the one that I putted with yesterday Thursday afternoon, after I played in Pennsylvania. And today I put back in a very similar -- I bent my putter on the way to Pennsylvania. I don't know what happened, but it was bent and it was terrible. I was trying to bend it before I played on Thursday and he sent me another one and I finally just put it in after yesterday's debacle.

Q. What you do now with no hockey to watch?

JERRY KELLY: Man, I don't know. It's going to be really hard on me. Because this is the first year where my family hasn't been traveling as much. The kids going to be starting kindergarten and, well, he's already in kindergarten, and first grade. Hopefully they will be playing by the time he's in first grade. I don't know. But it's tough. Shawn Hill was out following us around earlier this week and, you know, some players are handing the owners about a half inch thick document and the owners are handing back one page. There it is. Take a look at that. So there are always parts -- February is wishful thinking, but I'll hold on to February for a little while.

Q. Obviously the way you finished up on 18, does that put a damper on your round at all in your mind?

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, absolutely. I'm never satisfied unless I get them all. But I know what I did. And there's a shot and a putt in there that I tend to do quite often. Short ones, bomb it right through the break. If you're an aggressive putter that's going to happen sometimes. With the new clubs, the cut hasn't really been coming out. It's been turned into a pull. So that's what happened on the last hole too. I tried to hit a cut and it actually went left. So it's something I need to work out with the new clubs, but overall they feel great so I'm confident with everything, it's just -- that putt will actually help me for the weekend, just to know how fully I need to look at each putt speed and break and that. It will help me in the long run, but I'm sure it's a lesson I need to learn.

Q. You got a new set of irons.

JERRY KELLY: Cleveland TA-1s.

Q. When did you put it in?

JERRY KELLY: Yesterday.

Q. That was the first time?

JERRY KELLY: Yeah. Got to get ready for next year.

Q. Was it tougher today? Hank Kuehne was in earlier talking about the wind.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, the wind was tough. I hit driver, 4-wood on 16. I hit 4-wood on 17. It was a tough -- some tough holes. I'm just -- I had a pretty good trajectory going. I'm still turning the ball even in a left-to-right wind. I had a good penetrating ball flight. It was good. I was happy the way the irons performed.

Q. You happy the way your year's gone?

JERRY KELLY: No. Pretty unfulfilled. I need a -- it's been awhile since I've won and it's dragging on me a little bit. I've kind of accepted a little better that trying to get back to the process. The last two years I had kind of forgotten the process in hitting golf shots and in between shots and really just thought of outcome and results and all that kind business. So I've been working pretty hard in the last month or so and it's starting to pay off. I'm definitely connecting my mental and my physical much better than I have been for a long time. So hopefully it will pay dividends soon.

Q. The cut you missed all year was the PGA, your home state. Is that something, I mean, did you get over that, does it take awhile to get over that? Are you over that? That's the only one you missed all year?

JERRY KELLY: It's another one where I learned a lot from. I was on the clock, I was playing with a notoriously slow player, got on the clock. I was even par through eight. And from the middle of the fairway I rushed my shot. Bogeyed the next three. And never could recover. Things just changed from there. And that's when I had to throw down the gloves and go see the doctor. Because I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. I was just worried about what was happening around me. I kind of looked at the way I've been playing and realized that that's what I've been doing for the last couple of years. I've been kind of going through the motion with my shots a little bit. Just wondering how I hit that shot after I hit it. Instead of knowing exactly what I was doing while I was swinging. I was kind of off to never never land. But you take disappointment like that and you learn from it. Otherwise you end up getting buried out here.

Q. Did it wear you down at all trying to get on that Ryder Cup team too?

JERRY KELLY: Yeah. I mean that's -- that's where the change came from, I think. It came to a head at the PGA, but I think I made the mistake the same mistake I did going from Ryder Cup this year going for the Presidents Cup last year. I just was focused on results and not how to get there. And those were the first two years where I really felt like my play has gone backwards. And in the last month I've been working really hard with Jimmy, my brother-in-law, on my swing and with Debra Graham. And the first, this last month I mean I've made leaps and bounds over the last two years. I'm doing, if I would have been paying attention to the Ryder Cup President's Cup the last two years, maybe I would have done this two years ago and I would have been on the President's Cup like I was and on the Ryder Cup like I wasn't. But those are -- like I said, again, things you learn. And I'm always going to learn from my mistakes. I get pretty mad at them, but I still don't bury them. I bring it right to the surface. I learn from it.

CHRIS REIMER: On a more positive note you look forward going into this weekend where you're at on the leaderboard right now.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah. I mean, I get to put it to the test all the things we're talking about. It's a great opportunity for me to see really where I'm at. And I'm excited. I can't wait to be in the hunt and I'm looking forward to listening to myself. See what I say. See what all those voices say.

CHRIS REIMER: Let's go through club selection on birdies and bogeys.

JERRY KELLY: Driver, wedge about 15 feet on 1.

Driver, 6-iron about 17 feet on 3.

5, I hit 3-wood, lob wedge to about eight feet.

7, I hit 3-wood sand wedge to about four feet.

9, I hit a bad drive in the rough, had to lay up with a 4-iron and then I hit a sand wedge to about five feet.

Bogey on 10. Tough stance and lie in the right rough. Pulled it to the left. Had a tough chip. I got the line, but I forgot the speed. Left it about eight feet short and missed it.

12 is a good solid 8-iron to about 10 feet.

13, was driver, 4-wood and a 2-putt. From about 40 feet.

14 was a driver, 9-iron to about 6 inches.

15, was driver, 3-wood just short of the left bunker. Hit a great flop shot out there about five feet.

18 was supposed to be a cut, turned into a pull. And then it was a 7-iron. And then just hammered a four-footer through the break.

CHRIS REIMER: Good luck this weekend.

JERRY KELLY: All right.

End of FastScripts.

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