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December 7, 2012
NAPLES, FLORIDA
MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Kenny Perry and Sean O'Hair. You guys had a first‑round 8‑under today.
Sean, start off talking about the round then we'll let Kenny take a stab at it.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I thought we played really well from tee‑to‑green today. Kenny got it in play off the tee and it just kind of let me just hammer away at it.
I drove it really well today. He hit some nice iron shots in there; I hit some nice iron shots in there. Really he was the main reason we were playing so well, though. You can hit it good all day but you got to make the putts. He was on with his putter.
What hole was that that you started just kind of draining those things on, what, 3?
KENNY PERRY: 3, 4, and 5.
SEAN O'HAIR: 3, 4, and 5, and then just started getting us in a good groove. From there it was just...
KENNY PERRY: ...steady.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, exactly. We just played great. So it was a ton of fun, that's for sure.
MARK STEVENS: Kenny, some comments?
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, well, I love alternate shot. It's always been my favorite in Presidents and Ryder Cups. To me, it's just pure golf. My whole theory was ‑‑ I told him I said, I'm going to hit first off the first tee. I wanted to hit first, because I really felt like I've always been a decent driver of the ball and I could get it in the fairway.
I missed one fairway today on 17, but other than thatI drove it beautifully. I didn't realize how long he was. I've played a lot with Sean; Sean and I go way back. I used to hit it kind of close to him, and now I realize I need to be staying on the Champions Tour after how far he hits it. I was just stunned.
But it was great. It put me up there like on hole 11 I hit sand wedge where I would have been back there hitting 9‑iron or a pretty hard wedge for me, for my ball. You know, those are huge advantages out there. You need a good teammate. Alternate shot is definitely both of you. You definitely both got to perform.
On the Champions Tour you don't see a lot of chipping. We do a lot putting now from way off the green. I flubbed a couple out there, and he saved me and got it up there within three, four, five feet of the hole and allowed me to make the putt for par and get us out of there and save the hole. It could have been a disaster.
But that's all part of it. We got to go low tomorrow on best ball, and then scramble you got to go low. It's a great start. I think if you can shoot 8‑under or better any time alternate shot, first round of this tournament, you're not going to on far off the lead.
It gets you in great position for the weekend.
MARK STEVENS: Questions.
Q. You missed a putt at the last hole there. What happened on that?
KENNY PERRY: Great putt. I hit it exactly ‑‑ my line tracked beautifully on the ball. I saw the bank, I saw the cup sitting in there from right to left, and man, it just really continued on.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah. I thought he made it, and at the end it just kind of...
KENNY PERRY: Yeah, so it's one of those deals. It was probably six inch break putt. Those are kind of hard to make.
But other than that I was pretty happy. He hit a beautiful shot in there.
We do that tomorrow, we keep both balls in play, keep couple putts at every green tomorrow, you know...
He's going to make three eagles for me on the par‑5s. I feel that many coming on. We're going to do just fine.
SEAN O'HAIR: We'll be good to go.
Q. You were talking about a couple of your not‑so‑good‑shots out there?
KENNY PERRY: Embarrassing. And the camera guys were right behind me so everybody got to see it.
But I'm telling you, I've never had any issues, but I've got issues now. I've got little problems with chipping on real tight into‑the‑grain shots.
He left me a coupe places where they were downgrain, which I knew I was okay because when I took a practice swing my club took on off through the‑‑ it allowed me ‑‑ I knew I was going to hit a halfway decent shot.
Things change. Just I can't chip it like I used to chip it. I don't have that nice, controlled, feathery shot. Used to could kind of feel like the ball stayed on the face and I could kind of loft it up where I wanted to.
Now it's probably a putt. I just don't grab the wedge anymore. I putt.
SEAN O'HAIR: I think the tough thing with this golf course last year, because last year was my first year here, is more so than any course I've ever played, this course has very strong grain around the greens and it's very tight. So there is not a lot room for error. He's being a little hard on himself.
You're going to see a lot of flub shots this week. On the range I'm sitting there flubbing it every third ball. It's tough around the greens on this golf course.
Q. What's it like for you, especially in this part of the format, to pick up your partner? It's great on when everything is going good, and you guys had that for a lot of the round. But when there is a bad shot, for you to come through...
SEAN O'HAIR: I think he was spot on. In this format, both players got to play well. Just felt like we both played fairly well today.
I don't think you shoot 8‑under par with one guy playing well, you know. I'm not going to say we ham and egged it because we struck the ball nicely, he kept it in play, I kept it in play for the most part, and we had a lot of nice shots and he made a lot of nice putts.
I think I one‑putted a lot because most of my putts were ‑‑ if I had any putt at all it was within a foot.
KENNY PERRY: It's funny format. It's a format I've played 10 years in a row. I've played in it to where I never putted all day or I then had to putt all day.
Today was it the day where it worked out I was doing all the putting. It's just kind of ironic how it works out that way.
SEAN O'HAIR: It's nice when your guy that's putting all the time is putting well. It's easy to go low.
Q. Anything about those, was it 3, 4, 5? Were they long putts or?
KENNY PERRY: 3 was about a 20‑footer; 4 was a lot closer, probably 15, 12 feet.
Then he had a beautiful shot on the par‑3 there. He probably had a eight‑, 10‑footer straight up the hill little break, almost pin high left. That was a hard shot today and he hit it close.
He put me in some great spots. You know, they had very little movement in the putts. The putts I made today were like left edge or just out of the hole.
It seems like the greens here, when they start breaking, they break a lot. It's always nice kind of get a flat putt out there.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, guys. Good luck tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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