GREATER GREENSBORO CHRYSLER CLASSIC

April 26, 2001

Jerry Kelly

JERRY KELLY: I am pretty happy. It was cold this morning. I know the ball wasn't flying quite as far. So you really had to gauge that. Then the wind picked up. It was still kind of cold. You were guessing a little bit. Knew if you didn't hit the fairway -- believe me, that short rough is still pretty strong. It is so thick that, you know, I was two clubs short on a couple of shots where I thought I had good lies. So it can fool you sometimes and when that happens, if the greens firm up like they are going to, and you know they stick those pins behind bunkers and on downslopes it is going to make guys think that they can go for those pins and it is going to hurt them even more than if they would have just had a bad lie shot to the middle. So just because it is shorter than it has always been doesn't mean it is not a big factor. It is always a factor out here.

JERRY KELLY: I started on the backside. I started out with a driver, 9-iron to about eight feet, made birdie. Then driver 8-iron to about five feet, made birdie. 6-iron I was actually in the first cut just short of the green and chipped it in. 15, hit drive to the right, cut a little driver out of the rough. That is one thing you can do out of the rough this year is hit driver. (Laughs) They have got it up there to where I can hit sand wedge out of the first cut, knocked it about two feet. Birdie there. Then No. 2 driver, 4-iron, short left into the bunker. Hit a good bunker shot all the way across that green, made about a 5-footer. Only real bad shot on 4, hit 6-iron into the front bunker; had an easy bunker shot, just putt it about eight feet, lipped out. Then 6 was 3-wood, 9-iron to about two feet again. Then it was just pars.

JERRY KELLY: Yes.

JERRY KELLY: I was about maybe five feet off the green and you know, 15 feet to the hole. It was -- I didn't -- I took the pin out. I was the last one to play actually, so I mean, it was one that you were trying to make and --

JERRY KELLY: Yes.

JERRY KELLY: Thanks.

JERRY KELLY: You know, I think the last two weeks -- I took a week off after the PLAYERS in Atlanta where I played pretty hard. I was tired and I was -- we don't have a house. We are back in Madison. Our stuff is in storage, doing taxes, buying a new house. It wasn't a restful week off. I came back out the next tournaments said, okay, you are playing great, let us just go with it. I kind of went with a routine that wasn't a work-hard routine. After the first week I was kind of, you better work the next week. But I still took the weekend off at Hilton Head and had fun, and then came on Monday and started working. It rained one of the days. Just -- those two weeks just -- I didn't putt enough work in. I tried to rely on past success. Only way to get success is to make it yourself, try and work hard and get back. Believe me, I didn't take Houston week off. I worked hard in Houston on Saturday. Came here, worked hard on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I worked to get back here and I am happy to be back.

JERRY KELLY: We put our house up for sale in Florida because we wanted to move back to Madison, sold a little quicker than we thought. It is okay: My parents are actual in Florida right now so we are in their house while they are down -- we are actually buying that house. They are moving over to the high rent district on the lake.

JERRY KELLY: I feel more confident, but I fell into a little trap there too. I felt so confident that I didn't work at it. And I am glad I missed the cut each time by one shot instead of making it by one shot because I could have just chalked that up to, oh, I didn't play that well but I am still making cuts. I missed it by one twice, all of a sudden you are like (fakes punches his face) get back into it, let's work hard and play golf. That is what happened.

JERRY KELLY: I think so. I like iron shots. I like hitting good iron shots. If I am in the fairway you have to -- No. 1 you have to hit good iron shots here and if you are in the fairway you can go at all the pins really. So I am kind of a person who goes at pins anyway and really the way the greens are sectioned off, if you don't go for the pin you have got uphill to a downhill putt usually. So it makes you go after them. I am comfortable doing that. Maybe some people aren't, but still this place you have to get it in the fairway. I am doing that well this year. The stats don't show it, but I think the stats are that way. I am like 140th in fairways hit, that is because I am hitting the fairways, so I am aggressive in playing it on holes that are dog-legs to the right or left, I am shaping it with the driver in. I roll through the first cut a lot. But it is still a good drive and I can go at the pins. It is kind of deceiving. Better than I had been in the past.

JERRY KELLY: I hope it is cold tomorrow afternoon (laughs) I just -- I knew it was going to be cold. I put a little extra stretching in this morning because of it. Warmed up good this morning. I came out at 8 o'clock yesterday for the Pro-Am and my first swing was my first shot. I knew that I was going to have to put some extra time in coming into this day and I knew that it was really making the ball go short after yesterday playing in the same type of thing. So I just gauged the clubs correctly, those first few holes and it paid off.

JERRY KELLY: I do. I can do more in the wintertime in Madison than I can in the summer in Florida.

JERRY KELLY: Hey, I can sweat outside when it is 10 below but I can't be cool outside when it is 110 heat index. I can't stand that. I am a cold weatherman.

JERRY KELLY: I liked it. I had my jacket off three holes.

JERRY KELLY: Oh no. It fosted over pretty heavy. It was 36 when we teed off. 36 when we went down to the range actually. It was 40 when my caddie picked me up; by the time we got here it was 37, 38 and it dropped by the time we were here.

JERRY KELLY: One of the first times this year that I have done that, last couple of years. My swing in the past I used to play 8 in a row. My first four would be bad; my last four would be good. Now it seems like if I play four in a row my first two are really good. My second two are so-so. Swing is much more on plane. I used to really bring it from the inside and flip it. When I got tired my flip was actually better timed. Now that I am down the line, when I am stronger, I am better which is the way it should be. So it is nice to be able to take a week off and know that you can come back and play well. I don't like taking weekends off, though. Those aren't fun.

JERRY KELLY: Thanks.