THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2001

Jerry Kelly

JERRY KELLY: Sounds great. Well, I'll start off by saying that I changed my game plan this week and just tried to get the ball in the fairway. I've always probably been a hard swinger, a little preoccupied with distance. I'm getting the ball in good position to use my irons. I heard Paul say in his interview, "That's what you need to do." Even though some of the shots you need to be defensive, you have to be offensively defensive to get them in good positions on the greens. From there, it is using the flat stick. It's a lot easier than trying to get up-and-down from around the hay from around the greens.

JERRY KELLY: I didn't leave a whole lot. If I did, I didn't leave much, because I still had tough putts on a lot of holes and made some good 2-putts. I know my only bogey this week was a 3-putt on a spot where -- that's a really tough 2-putt, down below on 13. But, you know, that's a tough golf course. If I told myself that every time I got in the fairway I would fire at the pin, you know, maybe then you'd think you left some out there. But I played fairly safe. I played smart golf, which is kind of new to me. But I really enjoy just having a putter in my hand and going for the distance, and the reads started falling in line.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, they were good scoring conditions. But the wind swirls here. The pins are tough. Really, it almost goads you into playing a tougher shot than you shot. You just have to be patient. Even when they are at their best conditions, you still have to be patient. This is a tough golf course.

JERRY KELLY: I think I did it Tuesday. We just started thinking. My caddy has just been with me this year, and he's noticed me doing a few things, like looking over to the right or left to find out how far I hit it on the yardage holes, and saying, "Oh, I really got that one. I should be able to get there on an iron today on a par 5." Just a little preoccupied with distance. I find I'm hitting the ball further while I'm just trying to be in good tempo and get the ball in the fairway. It's kind of opened my eyes a little bit. I'm toning it down off the tee and trying to get the ball in the fairways. It's a nice place to be.

JERRY KELLY: Well, it's summer up there sometimes, too. It may not be as long as down here. Actually, I lived in Florida for the last 15 years. I just moved back to Wisconsin full-time. That's because I wanted to give my son the same type of feeling that I had where you could play all sports. And it might have helped me in the past not playing as much golf, not playing year-round. So I never even had a thought about being burnt out. When I would come off of the winter, I was so ready to play golf. It was amazing. It hurt growing up, because a lot of tournaments were spring, and -- or even some in the winter, the major, junior and amateur, it put me behind the 8-Ball right away. Our off-season is so short, I can really enjoy the winter and come out wanting to play golf again. I don't think it is a hindrance to some people.

JERRY KELLY: That's been a transition for me. That's no question. It's not as much a temper issue or aggression issue anymore as it is just trying to keep the adrenaline at an even keel. I live off of adrenaline out there. I really feel the juices flowing all the time. It doesn't matter what tournament it is. And I'll have them flowing the next two days. Now, if I can keep that flow -- it's going to be there, but keep it kind of even keel, then I feel like not chasing that number down.

JERRY KELLY: You know, I really feel like I haven't achieved a lot. Where I've put my potential within myself is a lot higher than what's happened in my golf career. Being Player of the Year on the Nike Tour, that showed me what I can do for a full year. I played very well that year, very consistent. I really haven't had a year like that since. This is shaping up to being that type of a consistent year. I've had two Top-10s. I haven't missed a cut. I've only shot over par a few times. I really feel I'm controlling my golf swing and controlling my emotions, and that is what it takes. You know, I'm just happy that my fundamentals right now are sound enough where I feel like I can go out and do whatever I want.

JERRY KELLY: There's a lot of similar motions. The lats back here get the ball into it, so you can get a lot of strength out of your body motion, where a lot of guys might use forearms. You're used to having pretty much a separate right arm with a slap shot. That's pretty similar with the golf swing and the slap shot in hockey. A lot of my friends, two of them from just down the street from me, are in the NHL. They are both good junior golfers. Kevin is in the Blackhawks right now. He's a good state amateur player. Every hockey player that I play with, I played with Lemieux, Dan Quinn (ph). These guys are good golfers, great ball strikers.

JERRY KELLY: Barry Richter.

JERRY KELLY: There was no question it was golf. I was a fast center. I was 140, 145 pounds. I was just at the stage where the game of hockey was turning from 5'10", 190-pound guys to 6'4", 230-pound guys. That was a big change for a little guy. I knew my golf was always there. I really loved hockey, probably more -- probably because I wasn't as good at it. I didn't take it for granted as much as I did golf. But I was going to a school up north for golf, but one that I could play hockey at, also. It was not a 'go play hockey,' and I go play golf. I was golf all the way, and I knew this was going to be my career, and hockey was just one of my favorite things in the world to do.

JERRY KELLY: They took a very political route and says, "Jerry, you could walk on." But I wasn't good enough to play at the University of Wisconsin. That's big-time hockey. In Madison, Wisconsin, that's our pro team. Most of the guys leave after their sophomore year and go pro anyway. I did play a little summer league against University of Wisconsin players when Quinn (ph) and Richter would come out and play. I snuck out with them, and there was a very large difference. It was like them coming out to play golf. They are good golfers, good ball strikers, but it is not like they are going to go pro and make a living off of it. I was not going to make a living playing hockey.

JERRY KELLY: Well, my team is the Blackhawks. I'm just hoping they get to .500, hoping they come back. They got on a great stretch. They were the hottest team in hockey in January, and then they got hit by the injury bug. They are a young team. They are growing. This year, I don't know, a lot of acquisitions that happened. Those Avs are just going to be tough to beat -- the Colorado Avalanche for those that don't know hockey.

JERRY KELLY: There's no question. I look at him and know that I can do it. I've come up with Joe all the way through. So, you know, he's just found that mental enlightenment to where he -- you know, he was always a very self-depreciating player, and he has always been a great ball striker. Now he's got the confidence air about him; and you know, when you are that good of a ball striker and you've got the confidence and you see the breaks, you know something -- not too much goes wrong. Now, myself, I always kind of felt like I was a very good player, and I got too aggressive because of it. I don't think I had the fundamentals behind my aggression. I had good timing that made me feel like I was hitting great shots. It was all timing. So when I would be in the morning and then the afternoon, or not in the hunt and in the hunt, it would be two different adrenaline flows and my timing would be totally different. Now my fundamentals are sound, and it doesn't matter if I'm in the heat of battle or if I'm just starting out on a Thursday morning, I feel like I can play the exact same game.

JERRY KELLY: Just stay patient. I'm hitting the ball well enough now that I'll get the ball in the fairway, get the ball on the greens. The greens are speeding up. They are going to be tough. I'm putting the greens with great speed. Then you can see the reads a little bit better when your speed is good. If I just keep myself patient -- that is, I'll keep on saying that word, because that's one thing I've always lost in the past. I've gotten aggressive. Well, I can go at this pin; all I've got is an 8-iron. I'll play it a little more less aggressive, be more patient, and let my putter do the work. If I get the ball in the fairway, I'm very confident that I'm going to make birdies this weekend.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, there's no question. I used to go into the corners a lot. I started breaking bones. My aggression wasn't doing all that great in hockey for my golf career. But, yeah, it's kind of like, also, coming out here, if I'm not one of the longer hitters, I'm going to hit it a little harder and I'm going to be one of the longer hitters. I've kind of relaxed into the role. I'm not one of the longer hitters out here, and I'm just going to get the ball in the fairway. Here it turns out, the better tempo that I have and the smoother I'm hitting it, I'm actually hitting it farther. But I'm not as preoccupied with hitting it far, and I think that's taking away some of the aggression, and just going ahead and playing my game. That's helped a lot.

JERRY KELLY: The second hole, I hit a good drive down the left. It stayed in the fairway, and then 4-wood to about eight feet or so. A little left-to-right downhill putt, good speed. Fifth hole -- fifth hole was fun. I hit a drive down the left-hand side of the fairway. I had a 5-iron in and pushed it a little right. It kicked back pretty hard off the hill, so I had a front left to back right. Very tough speed putt. My speed was good, and my aim was better, so that one rolled in from about 35 feet, I'd say. Next hole, I hit driver, because I felt comfortable with the driver, and that's a hole that I backed off in the past. Now that I don't need to hit it as hard, I think I can control it on some holes where I haven't been able to in the past. So I hit a good drive and just a sand wedge to about two feet behind the hole and made that one. 11, the best par I've made in my life. I hooked it left into the rough. I had a complete nest egg, way down in the rough, shanked it with an 8-iron out into the right rough. Had to chip it out of another heavy rough shot just short of the water, and knocked a sand wedge up about 15 feet behind the hole and made that for par. That was really where I felt like things were going my way and if I just stayed patient, that I could make the putts. I wasn't going to hit it like that all the time, and if I got it on the green, I could make some birdies. I calmed down after that. 13, I hit it just on the pin, and it bounced left down into that swale; and that's an awful tough 2-putt. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have the same putt twice, and hit it up about 15 feet by, and it just lipped out. Good second putt, too. Came back with a driver, 8-iron to about four feet on the next hole. 16, driver, 3-iron, just kicked left off the edge of the green and had a good speed chip. But I knocked it up about two feet and made that putt. 18, good driver right down the middle, and 5-iron, which I thought was plenty, but didn't quite get up the slope, and luckily Harrison Frazar was two feet right behind me on the exact same line. So I watched his putt go up, and he fell off to the left. And I played mine a little farther right, and it fell right in the hole. I had a nice teacher/student relationship on that one. That had to be 20, 25 feet.

JERRY KELLY: Tommy hurt his hand. It looked like a tendon popped right on the 18th hole, which is our ninth yesterday.

JERRY KELLY: I think that helps, because out here there are some putts that you're going to leave yourself 30, 35 feet up a slope, down a slope with about ten feet of break. If you can look at it from both sides and take your three to five minutes, that really makes you feel better about the putt. Sometimes -- I know the guys in front of us were on the clock, and they would be able to look at it from the side and go ahead and hit the putt. I really had the time to get into the putt a little bit more.

JERRY KELLY: I think it's got to be in my advantage, because I'm going to be nervous whether it's the GMO or the TPC, not to lessen the GMO now, because that's my sixth major. The GMO is my fifth. Maybe I had better not use that one as an example. I'm going to be nervous and spitting cotton at any tournament that I've got a chance to win. Now, I love that feeling and I'm going to have it all weekend. There's no question this is a huge tournament. Everybody is going to have it and I'm going to have it because I have not won before. It's just kind of -- I know it's going to happen.