Q. I think you said earlier in the year that your putting wasn't exactly where you wanted it to be, and I think you were working with Scotty Cameron.
JERRY KELLY: I tried that. I went backwards a little bit. And then I actually went back to Rick again, and he said go back to the way Jerry Kelly putts. At the beginning of the year I tried to putt like Faxon and Tiger. I worked on it all off-season, trying to stay steady with my head and not move my torso, stay really calm, stroke through. My body doesn't work that way. I saw Scotty. He said, well, the way you putt and the way you rock, you get closed on the way back, and if you don't follow through it's closed.
I tried opening the putter head, that wasn't me. I went back to my old putter this week. I tried as hard as I could to go back to the way I putt. And I felt it like Tuesday, I really started feeling my shoulders rocking and my head was moving, and I was like, good, good. I put my old trusty back in, and I putted fantastic so far.
Q. Your way, Jerry, is straight back and straight through?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah. I never really thought it was, but looking at the way I've putted, I went back and looked at videos, and saw it. It is square to square. And it kind of surprised me. I always thought I was a Mickelson, Crenshaw, inside to inside and toe flare and closing. But that's not the way I putt. But it was good of Rick to really say, hey, putt like you, you putt great, go ahead and do it. I needed that freedom to go ahead and putt the way I feel comfortable.
Q. The 911 calls to Rick, were they on the full swing?
JERRY KELLY: Yes.
Q. Was there a particular problem with the full swing?
JERRY KELLY: My hands were like hitting my behind. My club was about right there (indicating), on the way through. And I could not get it. My first instinct is to clear really fast, to catch up. And when my hands are lagging behind and I clear, it's even farther behind. So my Band-Aids were taking my swing deeper and deeper, and it was three weeks of really hitting the ball poorly. I think it probably stemmed from the wind on Sunday at Palm Springs.
And then I had a week off and I hit in our bubble back home. And hitting off of mats and things. You don't really see the club behind you when you're hitting off of a mat. You kind of hit it perfect every time, because it bounces into the ball every time. I worked a little bit and I worked on the wrong things. And it hurt me the last -- at the AT&T, and then the week off and then it hurt me last week. I hit it really poorly. So it's nice to have a guy that can see it in his head and actually fix me over the phone. That was pretty impressive.
Q. Were you dreading the trip down here from LA?
JERRY KELLY: Why?
Q. I mean, the way you were playing.
JERRY KELLY: Traffic?
Q. No. That, too.
JERRY KELLY: No, the way I feel is I'm going to get it by game time. That's the way I feel every single time. I don't care how bad I'm hitting it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or this week, Monday, Tuesday. I have a thing with my caddy, I love to show my Pro Am guys just how bad I can play, and then turn it on by the time Thursday comes. That's my MO. But unfortunately, I worked myself too far and my Band-Aids were bad, like I said. I was prepared to get it back, but I couldn't have gotten it back without Rick, could not have, no way.
Q. When was the last time you won a Pro Am?
JERRY KELLY: The last time I had four sandbaggers on my team (laughter.)
Q. He had like a 7-footer or something on 13, looked like -- where he could have gotten it back to one and he missed that. Was that the swing in the match?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah, that was huge. I think he would have gained a lot of momentum from that one. So I'm happy to be sitting here.
Q. And how much were you looking forward to this -- do you think you have a match-play type of personality on the golf course? Are you looking forward to that type of confrontation?
JERRY KELLY: Yeah, yeah. I was well prepared. I'm in a good state of mind this week. Phil is such a nice guy. I had a hard time finding motivation for that kill factor, but I read a great article in Sports Illustrated last night, called me one of the most overrated players. So that was all the motivation I needed right there. It wasn't Sports Illustrated that called me overrated, by the way, it was voted by the players, which gave me even more motivation.
Q. Is it hard normally to find -- if you're playing other guys is it easier to find some sort of a motivator to go out there?
JERRY KELLY: You know, it's strange. Sometimes when you get to the point of almost disliking a guy, which there are not too many of those guys out here, but that can work against you, you can work too hard. And then you find guys that you really like playing with, and you consider them friends and that's kind of hard, too, because you don't have that kill instinct. But I was trying to keep within myself, not really projected on to Phil or Mike or anybody like that, but just kind of finding it within myself a little bit more.
Q. Two left-handers in a row, I don't think there's any left in the tournament.
JERRY KELLY: Where is Steve Flesch?
Q. Is each match now like the final round of a stroke-play event for you?
JERRY KELLY: Every match has been. There's a fine alternative to every match. Every match is a tournament within itself. It's do or die every single day. It's a different atmosphere. There is no tomorrow.
End of FastScripts....
