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CIALIS WESTERN OPEN

June 30, 2004

Jerry Kelly

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jerry Kelly, welcome back to the Cialis Western Open, past champion here and three top 5s in the last three years. You've had some great success here. Talk about coming back to the Cialis Western Open.

JERRY KELLY: This is like coming home, that's all there is to it. It's a different state, but I've been coming down to Chicago for tournaments since I was a little kid. The people in the Midwest, they're all the same. I don't care if you go down to Illinois, Minnesota, over to Wisconsin. It's all about playing in front of the type of people that we have here. That's what makes it feel like home.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about the golf course. You played the Pro-Am this morning, just finished up. Talk about some of the changes to the golf course and the general condition of it.

JERRY KELLY: I'll tell you, I love the changes. As a matter of fact, to play the old No. 2, I begged them to grow rough back up on No. 13. I didn't beg them to add any yardage on No. 9. That was a really tough hole to begin with. It's going to be extremely difficult now. If we get into the headwind, I mean, it's a par 5. It's going to play over par if we play into the wind, I guarantee you.

Turning a 5 into a par 4, I have no problem with that. They're playing the correct tee. The green can accept it. All it is is par. You're not changing the shots really.

It's actually a fairly tough drive because the fairway cuts in on the left side, so you can't really take a draw over the trees because it could run out there, so you've got to hit a fade and that might not carry the trees. There's definitely a lot more to think about on that hole than just bashing it down there and getting it on the green for birdie.

Q. There's been some talk that maybe with 9 that it takes away the idea that it could be a two-shot hole, and some players don't like that idea. How do you feel about that?

JERRY KELLY: Like I said, it's a legitimate par 5. It's not a birdie opportunity per se. You've got to hit two great shots to have a birdie opportunity, staring at a birdie opportunity. You can always hit a great third shot. But to have a legitimate par 5, it's usually a tough drive, easy lay-up. Now you've got a birdie opportunity because you've got a short iron in. If you don't hit any one of those first or second shots, par is going to be difficult.

If we play it into the wind, it will be over par. It will not be your standard 4.67 par 5. It's a two-shot swing definitely.

Q. Were you ever able to get a diagnosis on your shoulder or neck injury, and how are you feeling about that right now?

JERRY KELLY: I'm feeling better about it. I've had a cortisone injection in my AC joint, where the collarbone meets the shoulder. They say it's just from impact on my shoulder over the years. He said, what, did you take a fall on your shoulder or anything? 15 years of slamming into the boards, and it's like, oh, I see. It's another one of those hockey things coming back to get me.

I've had surgery on my right knee, probably going to have to have surgery on my left knee and on my shoulder and all this from hockey. I picked the right sport because I'd be probably dead if I was playing hockey. They wanted to go in there and take probably a centimeter off my collarbone. Whether I let them do it or not, I don't know. Right now I feel all right.

Q. You would consider that, though, like in the off season?

JERRY KELLY: I'd consider it. I'd definitely consider it.

Q. What kind of recovery time would that be?

JERRY KELLY: I don't know, but the pain that I was going through earlier in the year, before I was diagnosed and treated, I would have had surgery right then almost. It was not fun. It was very uncomfortable for a long period of time.

I'll be going to the trailer right after this and getting ultrasound on my trap muscles. Since they were holding my shoulder up for so long I've got calcium deposits in my muscles there. It's a lot of stuff, but I feel fine. I know there's some business going on in there, but it's not hindering me from play golf in any way right now. That's the key. I can't blame my golf on that right now. I'd like to, but I can't.

Q. I know Pro-Ams are a time for experimental things and you can get some work done. What kind of thrill is it for amateurs to go out and play with pros and how nervous are they when they shank and hook?

JERRY KELLY: I usually give the guys such a hard time on the first tee that they can just feel like they're playing with their buddy at their home course. I don't put on the airs around them, I don't try to be bigger than I am. I try to actually belittle everybody, but I'll do it to myself at the same time.

You want to make them feel like you're playing a round at their home course, like I said, and just make them as comfortable as possible, talk to them as much as possible obviously because if you leave them alone, they're going to make their own assumptions about you and they're not going to enjoy themselves anyway. Treat them like one of your buddies. Usually they respond.

Q. I know you were a big fan of Shinnecock and the way it was set up (laughter), but since it is a links course, does it help you in any way to prepare, to get in the mindset for Royal Troon, or is it going to be completely different?

JERRY KELLY: No question. Royal Troon is a great golf course. I mean, you've got to pay attention off the tee. At Shinnecock you had to pay attention off the tee. You've got to shape it the correct way. You know, it was just running through into rough at Shinnecock. It's going to run into some unplayable bunkers at Royal Troon, but you have to have your lines and your distances down at both courses. So it helps quite a bit.

You know, it should be playable at Troon I would think. They usually don't let courses get away from them there. They play them slower than normal actually because the wind plays such a factor there that they can't get them too difficult.

This is the first course that I've actually been to that I'm going to play at the British Open, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Did you get any feedback after your comments on Sunday at Shinnecock, either positive, guys saying, hey, congratulating you for what you said, or negative?

JERRY KELLY: I would say it's been 90 percent positive, 10 percent negative. You know, I opened myself up. Many of the media here that knows me, I tend not to sugar coat anything. I tend not to hide anything. I kind of call them like I see them. You know, I probably will say I might have taken it a little too far. I know, I was being me.

I stand by everything, and it's over. I know they weren't trying to do it, and I wasn't trying to just bash them. They feel bad about it, I feel bad about it. I can't wait to play next year. Pinehurst No. 2, fantastic course. They set it up great last time it was there. I was praising them up and down at Olympia Fields. I thought they did a fantastic job setting that golf course up.

It was just a one-time thing hopefully. We'll go on and I'm looking forward to it next year.

Q. PGA in your home state at Whistling Straits, what are the players going to expect? I gather you've played it by now. Have you? What have you told the guys on Tour about it, about what might happen there?

JERRY KELLY: Whoo. I would guess it's going to be in perfect condition, okay. The conditions for weather should be, that time of year, perfect, as well. Maybe a little fog in the mornings, but it shouldn't be blowing too bad.

If everything is the way I just said it, you know, you can probably shoot under par once or twice. If the wind blows, be ready for a long week. Everything that I've heard, it's going to be a tough championship.

Q. Along those same lines, the other players that have come in, we've asked them if they've played it. It seems like very few people have. I don't know if you have an idea how many of the players have been up there. I know everybody is hearing how tough it is, but are they still maybe just not convinced and they think they can show up on Monday and play a couple practice rounds around the course? What's the surprise factor going to be for all these people who don't play it the week prior to a major?

JERRY KELLY: I'm right there with them right now. I haven't been there. I knew what they were going to do to the fairways, so the last two years everybody is saying go up and play it, go up and play it. It would do me absolutely no good to have played it the last two years. I'd want to pick this line and that line and that line, and you get to the tournament, and you think, well, it used to be fairway. So I was going to go last week, but since I had the CVS this week, I knew this was going to be a pretty busy one, so I wanted to rest last week. I will be going right after this tournament. I'm leaving Friday for Troon and I will go in between there somewhere.

I'm ready for a shock. People who I've talked to who have played it have been shocked, and if guys definitely show up Monday afternoon, they could be in some deep trouble if the wind blows because knowing what it's like to play around there, if the wind blows in two different directions, it's like the British Open. Par is totally irrelevant. You just play the golf course the way you can play the golf course and we'll add it up at the end. That's all you can do. It's like Troon. I mean, you get a 430 yard par 4 that you hit driver, 3-wood, wedge into and then you'd got a 570 yard par 5 that you hit driver, 7-iron into. The wind can blow out there, and at 7,600 yards, it could be interesting.

I don't think they'll set it up to the tips. I don't think they want that to happen. I think they want it to be a good, fair golf tournament.

So does Herb. Herb Kohler doesn't just want to see the guys get bashed. He wants the golf course to perform, but he wants us to perform on the golf course so we'll want to come back.

Q. When you're home, can you get any sense of the excitement level of the people in Wisconsin, first major in 70 years, and I guess secondly, you've talked to us before about how you personally, when it comes to the majors, sometimes you have to fight getting too fired up. Is that going to be doubly hard playing in front of a home crowd?

JERRY KELLY: I don't know. I apparently still haven't figured out my major deal. Maybe I'm just not good enough yet. I've got to play much more consistent.

I usually have a couple great up-and-downs per round. You can't do that in Opens. You can't recover as well as I always do, and you don't make as many birdies. I need to learn how to make more birdies under Open conditions, and I need to make less bogeys under major conditions. And then I'll start competing every single time.

Once I figure it out, I'm going to be there consistently the same way I was in the PGA TOUR events.

Getting back to the excitement level of Wisconsin, I think 83 percent of the tickets sold for this year's PGA are Wisconsin residents. That's should tell you a little something about the sports we have in Wisconsin. I mean, they will support. We build it, they will come.

Q. When you're home, are people talking about it?

JERRY KELLY: I just did Golf Wisconsin Day with the governor, which he happened to be in Florida for Governor's Golf Wisconsin Day, but I did two clinics on each side of town, about 120 kids, and all the networks were there. It's a big thing.

I think it's going to be so well-supported that the people will want to come to Wisconsin again.

Q. Can you talk about what Herb Kohler was able to do with that facility, how phenomenal that facility is? As a child in the Midwest when you were used to playing these flat, Midwest style golf courses, to have a golf course like that like an hour from your house, it's got to be hard to believe.

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, I mean, he and Pete Dye got together and just -- Herb obviously envisioned it, and he envisioned it as kind of like a resort destination. I mean, he's got his hunting club up there, fishing, fantastic accommodations in the American Club and golf courses. It's a resort destination.

Now, Black Wolf Run, when you had the Women's Open, it was a great place in the country to go play golf. Now it's a worldwide golfing destination, and you've got everything else on the side. I mean, this is a place where people are going to come over from the other side of the world just to play these golf courses. I've heard the Irish Course is just as good.

It's phenomenal what they've done. I mean, we obviously had the land to do it, but for someone to put that much into a course that's only open eight months out of the year, that's pretty impressive.

Q. Along those same lines, I believe I remember when you were playing The Presidents Cup in November, one of the first people to greet you on the 18th hole there was Mr. Kohler. You guys have a friendship. Can you describe what that friendship is like and how far back was it relationship wise?

JERRY KELLY: We played together in the AT & T. Unfortunately we were rained out that year, so I didn't even get to play that much with him. He's showed up at tournaments here and there. He's just a great guy.

I mean, what he does for the game, what he does for Wisconsin, you know, I respect the hell out of him.

It was just really cool having him down to South Africa. He beat my wife to me on the 18th green and almost broke my back with that bear hug. I really like him. I really respect what he's done for golf and for Wisconsin. If he didn't build what he has up there, he'd be the kind of guy that I'd still be a friend with.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jerry Kelly, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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