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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2013Kenny PerryOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to welcome Kenny Perry into the media center. 67 today in the first round, very nice. Starting on 10, just take us through some of your birdies. You started with the birdie on 11. KENNY PERRY: I hit a beautiful 8 iron. Pin was back left. Probably hit an 8 iron ten feet left of the hole and was able to knock it in from left to right. Hit driver on 13 in the middle of the green, two‑putted for birdie there, probably hit it 20 feet from the hole. So that was a nice birdie. THE MODERATOR: 17? KENNY PERRY: 17, I hit a hybrid off the tee, pitching wedge to about 15 feet left of the hole, was able to get that one in. THE MODERATOR: Number 2? KENNY PERRY: Let's see, what is 2? 2 is the par 5. I hit a driver, 5 wood that landed ten feet from the hole. Just went on the back fringe, was able to pitch it up, get it up and down for birdie. THE MODERATOR: And the other par 5, No.6? KENNY PERRY: And 6, I hit a driver, 9 iron to four and a half feet. I had an unbelievable eagle opportunity, and I missed it. But an easy birdie. So I took care of the par 5s today and drove it nicely, kept it in the fairway, kept it in play. Like I said yesterday, if I hit it in the fairway, I really like my chances on this golf course. THE MODERATOR: We were in here yesterday, and you said your length will be a big advantage this week. Right now, you're first in driving distance today and hit nine fairways and 14 greens. Let's talk a little bit about keeping it in play and giving yourself opportunities out there. KENNY PERRY: I played it pretty aggressive today, thinking that, if I did miss the fairways, maybe I could play wedge out of the rough as opposed to playing 3 wood, hybrid, or whatever iron off the tee. If I hit it in the rough there, then you're struggling. But I've been driving it great all year. Drove it great at Fox Chapel, drove it great last week at The Greenbrier. It's been this new driver‑‑ I put this new LS Adams driver in play about two months ago, and it's really‑‑ it automatically put length on me, and it put accuracy. It's really freed me up off the tee. So I'm very happy with that. That's why I'm playing more aggressive. Normally, I'd probably hit more 3 woods than I'm playing. As straight as I'm driving a golf ball, I've been going after it. Look forward to the opportunities the next three days. THE MODERATOR: You had left knee surgery in February. How were you able to deal with those hills out there on the course? KENNY PERRY: The knee was better today. It was hurting on Tuesday. Ice it. I've got a brace. But today was better. To me, it's the descents from the tee boxes down into the fairway that bother me the most. It's not hitting a golf ball. It don't bother me hitting a golf shot. It's just the walk on a steep incline down, and there's quite a few of those this week. But I managed it okay. So we'll take some Tylenol and keep on trucking. Q. Does the 67 reflect what you should have gotten today? KENNY PERRY: Yeah, I played‑‑ that's about as good as I could have shot. I could have shot a couple better, but I made two poor bogeys. I three‑putted one hole. I three‑putted the par 3, 5, and the other bogey was‑‑ I think I missed the green and didn't get up and down. Yeah, you make five birdies in Open conditions, as tough as it was out there, I was very happy with that. That's about as good as I could do. Q. What would be a great score today? What can the course give up today here? KENNY PERRY: The great score obviously would be 5 under, I would think. 3 under may hold up. I don't see that happening. I see somebody actually hitting more fairways than I hit and putting a little bit better, and they're going to shoot a good score. It's out there. It really is. It's out there. It's just a matter of executing and keeping that driver in play. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the 10th hole? Seven percent of the field is hitting the green in regulation. KENNY PERRY: I don't know how to play it. I've tried driver. I've tried iron. I've tried hybrid. That green was designed for a short iron, as small as it is and undulating. So I tried a hybrid today, and I hit it in the left rough. Tomorrow I may try driver and be a little more aggressive and try to get it over the creek. It's probably 300 yards to carry that creek, but downhill it plays 280, I think, to carry it. But you still got to hit the fairway. If you hit it in the right rough or left rough, you're still pitching out short of those cross‑bunkers out there, and then you're going to have 100‑‑ I laid it up and had a 120‑yard shot for my third shot. It's a pretty tough opening hole at 8:20 in the morning at a major championship. That's not the hole you want to see when you wake up. I made a par on it today. Very happy with that. I hit a good third shot, and I made about a four‑footer for par. I don't know how anybody plays that hole. Q. Kenny, would you tell us a little bit about the speed of the greens and how you feel they're working as we've gotten into the tournament now? KENNY PERRY: The greens are inconsistent. Some have a little bit more speed than others. That's what's very difficult out there. They're actually quite slow. I would say some of them were 9 or 10 on the Stimpmeter. Some of those uphill putts, you couldn't get‑‑ you had to crash them to get them to the hole. But I did three‑putt. I knocked it by on that 5th hole. I was up on the top shelf, and that was a very fast putt down to that hole. So I think that's what the difficulty is, when you get greens that are soft and spongy. It's so hot, they're having to syringe them. It's just that time of year.  There's bentgrass. I would figure they'd have Champions Bermuda here or something, some kind of Bermuda grass, as hot as it is here. But I've got a course back home that's very similar. We have bentgrass greens. Kentucky is very hot and humid. The greens are very damp, very soft, kind of spongy so you have to really chip it harder than you think you should chip. Especially at a U.S. Open, you think, man, they should be firm and fast. You miss, short side yourself, and you think, oh, man, I'm dead. But you can actually get it away with it this week. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Kenny Perry? Opening 67. Congratulations. Good luck tomorrow afternoon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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