THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 25, 2001

Jerry Kelly

JERRY KELLY: All right. Well, he started strong, like we all kind of thought he would. You know, I didn't start too bad, other than driving it down the middle into a divot on the first hole. But I made a good 2-putt and knocked it on the second hole. Would have liked to have made eagle on top of it. Held myself; I don't want to play against Tiger. I just want to go ahead and hit my putt the way I normally would instead of ramming it and trying to make eagle on top of him. Good 2-putt. Kind of back and forth. I made a 3-putt, and he had a tough spot on 7. But I made a good birdie on the last hole. Just looking forward to tomorrow, I think.

JERRY KELLY: It was fun. Yeah. I really enjoyed it. That was everything I expected it to be; and, you know, I'm really looking forward to playing with him tomorrow and looking forward to playing with him in many tournaments down the road.

JERRY KELLY: No. It was kind of cool to watch, actually. There were a lot of people out there. That's great. I expected it. I've been around him, in front and behind, so I knew what the galleries were like. It's a lot easier to handle when you're in his group, it really is.

JERRY KELLY: I don't know what you mean by "caught up in it." It really didn't affect me one way or the other. I stayed very calm. You know, great shot. What can you do? He knocked it in. Now I've got to putt for eagle. I can either respond to it and try to hammer it in there, or I can just play my game. And I was real happy with myself. I settled down and just played my game, and that kind of shocked me into the fact that, you know, he can do that. But I can play on my own, too.

JERRY KELLY: You know, if I'm hitting the ball well in the fairway, and I've got iron chances -- if I hit the ball on the fairway in the par 5s, I'm going to have chances to get there. So I'm going to have plenty of birdie and eagle opportunities myself. It's not going to matter if somebody is three ahead, even -- if they are in front of us, because I'm going to be able to birdie and eagle those holes, too. So, you don't really have to respond a whole lot to what is going on in front of you. You're going to have to play your game; and, you know, it gets down to the last few, if I'm two or three behind going into 16, 17, 18, then you might have to pull a shot off or something like that. But until those last few, and I'm down quite a bit, then you're talking about making eagles, and they have already gone through -- if they have passed 17 and 18, they are fine. But you've got to wait until the fallout happens out in front of you, too.

JERRY KELLY: Let's see, I'm playing with Tiger -- I don't think I am the favorite. (Laughter.) I am the big underdog. And that's fine with me. You know, I've love to be the favorite sometime down the road. You know, where people actually are expecting me to win the tournament when I get in this position, no matter who I am playing. That's what I want my career to get to. You know, this is a first step in it.

JERRY KELLY: Really? I feel asleep. You know, you're sitting there and watching Bristol and NASCAR, you're watching the Final Four, NBA. What's there to get excited about? We are not out there playing. I'm not dwelling on "17".

JERRY KELLY: Well, yeah, you would be a little antsy to get to work, but that's not nerves. That's not -- you know, that's not feeling like, "oh, I've got to get out there and play," otherwise I'm not going to win. I'll wait just like the rest of them.

JERRY KELLY: They were fantastic. Really, all the people handled the situation great. The marshals were really, really good out there. I really enjoyed playing in this atmosphere. It was kind of fun.

JERRY KELLY: You know, I left a few out there. That's no question. I put some good spots in there, and, you know, I was telling the guys out there that the greens were a little slower. And I kind of got into a hitting stroke with my putter, and I was putting so smoothly when the greens were really fast. And I'm looking forward to having them speed up tomorrow and getting into a little more of a stroke. But, you know, I didn't play my best today, and I'm right there; I'm one shot back. So, I feel okay.

JERRY KELLY: Oh, I just kind of laughed a little bit. I said, "This is what it's all about. Okay. This is what it's like playing with the best player in the word. He's going to make shots like that." You know, he's not going to make every one of them, though. I put myself on the green in 2. I like my percentages better if I do that, than him chipping. But it's really fun. I love it. I can only get better, watching that, knowing that it can be done.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, it can only help, for this tournament and for tournaments down the road. You know, I feel pretty good about the state of my game; that I can be in the eye of the hurricane, as you said, and play pretty well.

JERRY KELLY: I'm going to play baseball, I'm going to play hockey and I'm going to putt around a little bit, and it's all going to be with my two-and-a-half-year-old. That's all I've done every single day, and that's all I'm going to do every single day in the future is play with him. My time is on the golf course and his time is off the golf course. That's why they travel with me, and I would not have it any other way.

JERRY KELLY: Well, it is not as much getting used to the course conditions. It is that they had the pins on the backs of the greens and it softened up. You know, you are not going to throw, you know, 6-iron, or even a wedge sometimes when you've got four yards right behind the pin and hope it sucks back. I mean, that's not the way to play this golf course. So all of the sudden, you are faced with 30-footers up a ridge and you've hit a good shot. It is not as much getting used to, as it is are you really going to attack that much more, because the course can get you.

JERRY KELLY: Maybe. I made a good putt, there, too. I have trouble reading the greens in the dark, so -- I was kind of happy we stopped. (Laughter.) As for him, I'm sure he was happy we stopped, too. He thought we might get two more in, but I knew once we got into the trees, it gets pretty dark.

JERRY KELLY: I would love to be in the lead. I would love to be in the lead by four or five. It's not going to change my game plan. That's the big key. I was in the lead by two; he's in the lead by one. We saw -- it doesn't matter if it is him going birdie, eagle or it is me. It can be done out there. Swings can happen in a hurry. I'm just going to play my game, and if I'm striking the ball well, I'm going to give myself opportunities at birdies.

JERRY KELLY: Are they going to sleep tonight? They just might not sleep tonight; carry it all the way through. You never know. (Laughter). There's going to be a lot of people who have to work. We may only have 84,000 instead of 110,000 out there. It was really cool out there.

JERRY KELLY: No. 4, I put it in the rough. My ball just didn't cut. I hit it dead straight and I had an awfully tough shot. I took a pretty big gamble. I hit an 8-iron as hard as I could and it went about -- I think I had 108 to carry the water. It went 108 and 1/2. I was happy to get it up onto the green. And I had almost the exact same putt on Friday. I was on the front, though, and I crawled it up onto the knoll and I mean, it just barely made it. I almost had the exact same putt for my second putt. I had a lot longer line -- I had to go well to the right and let it fall to the left. You know, I have to say, past experience, I wasn't going to leave myself where it was going to fall to the left and all of the sudden I've got another downhill putt. I just hit it way too hard. You know, that's another one where you know the green is a little more wet, and you're making sure you at least get to the downslope, because you don't want to leave it up top again. You know, that was a fast one.

JERRY KELLY: Oh, I played it about 14 feet.

JERRY KELLY: As long as I stay happy out there, I'm all right. You know, if I could hit it that far, I would be happy, too. I'd be knocking it by Tiger. But I'm not going to put tape on my putterhead any time soon.