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WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 20, 2005

Kenny Perry

AKRON, OHIO

TODD BUDNICK: We thank third round co leader Kenny Perry, who at the time of suspension of play for stopping in here with us today, seven birdies and one bogey. You're on the 18th green and just one putt to go. First off about the day and about the suspension after that.

KENNY PERRY: Pretty frustrating. The day was great, the ending was not. I played beautiful. I did what I've done the first two rounds, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, but my putter woke up today. I made a lot of putts today and that kind of set up the tone for my round. I've got it in there about 10, 12 feet from the hole for birdie.

I sure would have liked to have gotten that in there or at least two putted. I've got to be back in position at 7:30 in the morning to one putt, and they said the last tee time is 2:40, so tee times will go from 9:00 to 2:40, so I'll have some time to kill, which is frustrating.

I haven't played this golf course well in all the years I've played here, but I'm driving it a lot better and hitting a lot of fairways and I think that's been the secret.

TODD BUDNICK: You mentioned you haven't played it well. This course is a lot like Muirfield Village and Colonial and Brown Deer Park where you've had a lot of success. Do you find it that way?

KENNY PERRY: It's a driver's dream. If you drive it great you can pass a lot of people because the rough is very difficult this week. It's hard to get the ball on the green from the rough, and a premium is definitely placed on hitting the fairways. I've been hitting a lot of them. It seems like when I did miss a fairway I've been getting some good breaks, catching some lies in the rough where I can actually get it on the green. I only had a couple I couldn't do much with and I made one bogey on 14 where I hit it in the left rough and I had to hit a pitching wedge out and then I hit a sand wedge and missed the putt.

Other than that, the other couple of fairways I missed I was able to get the ball on the green.

Actually on the 9th hole I hit it in the right rough and I hit an 8 iron barely on the front of the green and I made about a 45 footer for birdie, so I've made a lot of lengthy putts this week.

Q. Do you think the restart was handled properly?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I think they called it too soon. That's what I think is the mistake they made. I never saw any lightning and never saw we heard some thunder in the distance, but obviously there is a safety factor there and you've got to kind of take that into consideration, but you know, we could have been out there probably at least another 45 minutes to an hour, I think, before the rains came and the lightning and all that. You've still got to get spectators off and you need to get people off and get them safe, I understand that. And then when we were restarted we only went out there, I hit a putt and a drive, and we only played, what, for 15, 20 minutes the next time back out.

I don't know, I'm not a weather man. I know we have good people working the weather station to tell when lightning is hitting in the area and how close it is. You know, I didn't have access to any of that. If they thought it was close, you know, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Q. Where were you on 18? Were you lining up your putt? Had you marked it yet?

KENNY PERRY: Let's see, John and I, we were all on the green, we were kind of just preparing our ball marks, getting ready to putt and then they blew the siren.

Q. And your initial reaction was?

KENNY PERRY: I knew when that siren went off I knew the scenario. I've been out here 20 years. I knew exactly what happened. I told somebody "I'll have to be out in position at 7:30" and I don't know what my afternoon tee time is, but I knew it was going to be after 1:00 o'clock before I played.

Q. Daly handled it very well, too, I guess, huh?

KENNY PERRY: Yeah, he got really upset (laughter). Him and Mike Shea got a little nose to nose there.

Q. Mike Weir even lobbied the guy in the cart. I don't know who that was.

KENNY PERRY: Well, he was just talking to Mike Shea asking about marking his ball. He was in the bunker. He was just asking a question about that situation.

Q. But I assume Daly asked him why can't you finish the hole?

KENNY PERRY: Yeah. I mean, I wish they would have at least looked at the groups on 9 and 18 to see and at least let I mean, five more minutes wasn't going to matter unless it was something I don't know, it could have been a fast moving storm rolling right in there. I don't know, that's just part of it. You've just got to deal with it and go on.

Q. When the horn blew, you put your hands up like this. What were you saying at that time?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I just knew immediately what was going to happen. I knew the scenario. I knew I wasn't going to finish. I knew I was going to have to be back in position at 7:30 and back on the course.

Q. Did you say something at that point, like "oh, gee"?

KENNY PERRY: No, I've just been out here too long. I've seen that scenario way too many times.

Q. I'd like to ask about 16 hitting the stick.

KENNY PERRY: That's the third pin I've hit in two I hit two pins last week at the PGA and one went in the hole. I caught up in the flag, hit the stick, dropped down and went in. This one flew in the cup, tore the right side of the hole out and then kind of pitched into the pin and hit it pretty hard and then it spit it out onto the front of the green. It was fortunate, I told my caddie, I was like, "I'm glad that didn't go in the water," because I remember Charlie Howell this year, I flew it in the hole at San Diego and he came out of the hole into the water. He would have won the golf tournament if it had stayed in the hole. It went in the water short of the green.

Q. Did you have to repair the cup?

KENNY PERRY: Yes, I did.

Q. If you didn't do that, you probably would have finished (laughter).

KENNY PERRY: No.

Q. Do you say have you checked your horoscope? What's up with this?

KENNY PERRY: That is a new sand wedge. I put it in play last week at the PGA, and it's the same club I've hit the stick with three times, so I like it (laughter).

Q. What were the other holes, Kenny, besides 17 last week?

KENNY PERRY: It was No. 10. I flew it in the hole on 10 and tore the cup completely. They had to come bring they've got this ring that fits down into the hole, and they had to fix it first because it completely caved the whole front of it. It came from the front of the hole, jumped up, hit the stick and came back 30 feet off the green on the 10th hole at the PGA.

Q. What round was that?

KENNY PERRY: Sunday.

Q. Another round that didn't get finished because of you.

KENNY PERRY: Yeah (laughter). Anyway, it's kind of ironic how it's been going.

Q. What will you do in between tomorrow?

KENNY PERRY: Good question.

Q. Will you stay at the golf course, will you leave the golf course, go to the movies?

KENNY PERRY: No, I'll probably just go back to my hotel room and kill some time and then come back out after lunch, I guess.

Q. You've won twice at Memorial, I think. Do you have any special feelings for Ohio? I know this place haven't been all that good to you until now.

KENNY PERRY: Well, Memorial is where it all started for me. To win there in '91, that was my first win. You know, Ohio has been a special place. I love Jack's place, and it's neat he's going to be my Presidents Cup captain again, which is pretty special. But this place is as decent as I drive the golf ball, I always thought this would be a good place for me to play, but I've never played it that well.

I actually got a great tip this week. Y'all can't write this in the paper, okay? I played an outing with John Daly and Fuzzy Zoeller at Fuzzy's place at Covered Bridge called the Wolf challenge, and Hank Kuehne, and we played this game called Wolf, which I had never played before. After we got done Fuzzy shook my hand, and he said, just remember, everything breaks toward that ball. You know the water tower here that looks like a ball? I never really thought about it at that time, so I started playing my practice rounds and I started looking at this ball in general, not all of them go that way, but in general most of the putts go toward that ball. So it was pretty so I've putted beautifully this week.

Q. How many times have you thought about that over a putt?

KENNY PERRY: Every hole.

Q. Are you looking for that

KENNY PERRY: I am, ask my caddie. I'll say, "where's that ball?"

Q. You know this is going in the paper tomorrow, right?

KENNY PERRY: I told y'all you can't write that. Don't give me secret away.

Q. I wonder if you could talk just in general of all the discussion of the rain and not finishing that you are tied for the lead with one hole to go, and just general thoughts on that going into tomorrow.

KENNY PERRY: You know, I've been playing really good golf here this whole year, and my game, my golf swing stayed with me, and you know what, I'm trying to duplicate my '03 year. I won three times in '03, so I've got a goal in mind to get that third win. I've got two on the board, got a great opportunity for me tomorrow. It's going to be good for me to play with Tiger. I like playing with him. I think he's terrific. I just enjoy being around him and we cut up and have a good time out there. He hits a lot of talented golf shots and it's just fun for me to watch.

I'm 45 years old, he's 29, so I always tell him that's how I used to hit it when I was 29 (laughter).

Q. You had mentioned briefly about the Presidents Cup. What kind of schedule do you play between now and then?

KENNY PERRY: I'm not going to play I think it goes Boston, Canada, 84 Lumber? I think I'm going to play 84 Lumber and then Presidents Cup. I'm going to take two off. I'm going to play Hartford next week, so that will be three in a row. I played PGA last week and then this one and then Hartford and then 84 Lumber and Presidents Cup. I really don't want to go into The Presidents Cup with three weeks off.

Q. This streak of wild shots you have going, you've never, I would assume, had any kind of lucky streak like this before, have you?

KENNY PERRY: Well, I've had stages where I've had hole in ones. There for a while I was making some hole in ones out there or I was holing shots from the fairway. So it happens, you know.

Q. You'll be a trick shot artist?

KENNY PERRY: No.

Q. Seeing how shy and retiring Fuzzy is, do you figure you're the only one he told that secret to?

KENNY PERRY: Fuzzy is definitely he definitely has plenty of words to tell us all. He's a neat guy. I really like him, and we had a great time on Monday. I wish he was out here; I miss him. He brought a lot of flare to this Tour, and I think the Tour misses him. That was a nice tip. I can't wait to call him and tell him that his tip actually works.

Q. I imagine there aren't too many situations like this. Can you just kind of tell us what your mindset is going to be having to sleep on a ten footer for the tournament lead?

KENNY PERRY: I'm not too worried about that putt. It's a pretty straight putt right up the hill. There's not a lot of thinking about that. It's just a matter of getting ready for that the afternoon round is the round to be ready to go, so somehow by 2:40 I need to have my act together ready to play golf. The front I think they say it's probably going to cool down and be a nice day tomorrow.

With the rain coming in here, I don't know how much it rained, but I know the green on 17 was a lot slower than I had been putting on all day, so if it softens them up and slows them up, there's going to be some birdies made tomorrow. You're going to have to shoot a good round of golf, so I'm going to have to be prepared to shoot a 68 or better.

Q. Your general impressions of the 16th hole?

KENNY PERRY: I think they took the fun out of it. John actually hit John Daly actually hit an iron at it today. But I could never go for that. I used to try to go for that hole in two. Now it's just impossible for me. I killed a drive there today, and I had 262 to the front, 266 to the hole, and actually I could have went for it with a 3 wood, but the green is so small and so narrow, and if you hit the green, the green is probably one of the hardest ones on the course. It wouldn't stay on the green.

Percentage wise, for me, it's a lay up hole, and I think for 99 percent of the Tour it's a lay up hole. I know Lee Westwood went with me on Friday and knocked it on the front left. If he hadn't had it going left of the water he would have went in the water, but it rolled up on the front of the green there.

I don't know, we played one last week 650, now this one is 667. I just don't get it. I don't know why we're going so long. Why is the Tour going 500 yard par 4s? Obviously the guys are hitting it further and everything. Why not grow the narrow the fairways and let's make it let's start putting some mental thought into it instead of just grabbing the driver and let's start making the guys hit golf shots, hit fairways, have to hit the green. Right now the guys are hitting it so far that they can hit it they're launching it so far out there, even though they're hitting it in the rough they're not thinking about it, just blasting it and taking a short iron and knocking it on the green. I don't know where the Tour is going with this. I kind of miss the golf ball where it used to be, kind of spinning a little bit more and not going as far. It actually made you have to hit golf shots. Now the golf ball flies so straight and so far that it's kind of taken a little creativity out of it. I don't know where we go from here to tell you the truth.

TODD BUDNICK: If we can just do your birdies, No. 2, par 5.

KENNY PERRY: I hit it in the rough and laid up and hit a wedge about eight feet right of the hole.

4, hit a great drive on 4 and a 7 iron about eight feet right, made that.

8, I hit a good drive and a sand wedge about four feet.

9, I hit a driver and an 8 iron on the front of the green, made about a 45 footer, that was nice. That was a big bonus.

Q. How far was the putt you missed on 14?

KENNY PERRY: It was about 20 feet. I didn't hit a good pitch.

Then I made a nice birdie on 15. I hit a 6 iron and made about a 30 footer. 6 iron was dead on line but it was just on the front of the green, a little short.

And then 17 I hit a 3 wood and a 7 iron about eight feet and short, six feet, somewhere in there, made that.

And I've got about a ten footer on 18 for birdie.

TODD BUDNICK: 16, the par 5?

KENNY PERRY: Yeah, 16 I hit a driver, 9 iron, sand wedge that flew in the hole with the stick, kind of came back off the green, made about a 20 footer.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Kenny.

End of FastScripts.

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