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MONTREAL CHAMPIONSHIP


September 6, 2013


Kenny Perry


SAINTE-JULIE, QUEBEC

THE MODERATOR:  Well, Kenny, thanks for joining us, 2‑under 70 today.  Right now you're oneshot second behind Dick Mast, but just maybe get us started.  Talk about your day.
KENNY PERRY:  Interesting day.  You know, I got off to a good start, but I wasn't making any birdies.  I was hitting the ball nicely and that wind was very difficult.
Yesterday I played the Pro‑Am and the wind was out of the north and today it was out of the southwest.  This is only my second round of golf on this golf course to see it.  So I was seeing it under new conditions.  So I was really struggling with club selection.  You know, my sight lines off the tee, trying to get comfortable with it.  I was just battling.  I was in a grind mode out there.  I was just trying to make pars.  If I could steal a birdie here or there, it would be great.
Then I finished great.  I birdied 14, 15, 16 coming in to kind of save the round and get me right back in the thick of things.  So very pleased with my finish, very happy with my driver.
This driver I've got, it was very long today and I hit it nicely and kept it in play.  So that issue is now out of my head, and I can go and concentrate on the rest of my game and get back to where I was playing this summer.  So very happy with my game.

Q.  Take us through your birdies bogeys.  Start on No. 5?
KENNY PERRY:  About drove the green.  It's like 290 to the front of the green.  I almost knocked it on.  I chipped it to about threefeet and knocked that in.
Then I 3‑putted.  I hit it pin high left on 9, the par‑5.  Then I 3‑putted for bogey.  I made another one in there too, didn't I?

Q.  9?
KENNY PERRY:  Then 7, what was 7?  I can't remember the holes.  That is how little I've played here.  It's hard for me to remember the holes.  I missed another short putt.  It was probably two and a half, three feet.  I missed a couple of real short putts today, yet I made some good 15, 20‑footers, too.
Then starting on the back nine.

Q.  11, birdie?
KENNY PERRY:  I hit a beautiful hybrid on 11, then pitching wedge to about 15feet, was able to roll that in and kind of get me going.
But then I bogeyed the next hole.  Kind of pushed my drive in the rough.  My sand wedge hit the green and then rolled over.  I chipped it to three and a half, fourfeet then missed the putt.
Then things got going when I birdied 14, 15, and 16.  I actually made 14, the par‑5, I hit it long and left, hit a beautiful little flop shot to about eightfeet and was able to curl that in there.
Then I hit a hybrid and 9‑iron to about tenfeet on the‑‑ that's a tough hole.  16 to me is a very difficult hole.  I hit 3‑wood in the Pro‑Am, today I hit hybrid, tried to play farther back and give myself room.  Hit a beautiful 9‑iron in there and was able to convert the putt.  Very pleased.
Then the last two holes are very difficult into that wind.  I killed the driver.  Hit a 5‑iron and didn't get there.  Most of the guys in my group were hitting hybrids, so very tough, very tough conditions.

Q.  (Inaudible)?
KENNY PERRY:  Well, for one thing that big tree down the right side, it forces you to‑‑ so that cuts the fairway in the half.
Then if you hit in the rough, you can't hold it coming out of the rough to that green with the bunkers.  That green pitches pretty hard from right to left.  It's got a lot of slope.  It's a hole that's going to get you if you don't hit it in the fairway in the proper spot.

Q.  Can I have some more explanation about your driver?
KENNY PERRY:  My driver was brokein travel.  I went to Dallas for threeweeks last week to the Adams factory and probably hit 50 different drivers with different shafts, trying to find one with the same spin conditions, carry, and everything that my old driver was producing for me.  This one was pretty good.

Q.  Is it exactly like the other one?
KENNY PERRY:  No, totally different.  Same head.  It's an LS head from Adams.  Same loft, different shaft.  I was using the DTS shaft from UST in my old driver that I played so well with.
This one is a speeder shaft.  It's actually a little softer flex.  I went a little softer.

Q.  How long will it take you to know that it is the right one?
KENNY PERRY:  In the Pro‑Am yesterday, after nine holes I gave one away after nine holes.  So I knew that one wasn't any good.
Then I kind of stuck with this one and I hit two or three drives out there today that reminded me of my old driver, characteristic shaping, so it was very exciting.
On 11, the par‑5.  No, no.  I'm sorry.  12, is 12 a par‑5?  Yeah, I killed a drive there, only had like 230 to the flag, 218 to the front.  I didn't make a birdie, but yet in the practice round, you know, I was way short of those bunkers.  In the Pro‑Am, I was short of the bunkers.  I knocked it past those bunkers today.
Obviously the wind was different and made the hole play differently today.  It was exciting to see the golf ball do that.  So very excited.

Q.  How educational is a day like today given the conditions?  It looked gusty out there.  Maybe you were second guessing club selection.
KENNY PERRY:  Well, I think the conditions are going to continue to change.  Tomorrow we're expecting rain, a little cooler.  And then I think the high is only going to be 59 according to the‑‑ I pulled up my weather.com.
It's like Murfield and Jack's place, I have been there 25years, I feel like I could win the golf tournament.  I've played in every condition, rain, wind, cold, hot.
But when you are here and you are trying to learn on the fly and you are trying to be a fast study and fast learner, it's difficult sometimes.  It can get you.  It will cost you and could cost you a tournament.
You know, I'm excited to be here.  My situation, I wasn't able to get here on Tuesday to play a practice round.  Then Wednesday was a Pro‑Am, so I couldn't play on Wednesday.  So my only practice round was Thursday during the Pro‑Am.  You really can't learn a lot in the Pro‑Am.  You can't hit two or three balls and try to study the greens.
I'm trying to be a quick learner.  It's just sometimes it's just golf.  You have got to hit the fairway, you have got to man up, you have got to hit the greens and somehow get the putt in the hole.
Today was a great test.  I was able to hang in there and grind it out and shoot a good score.

Q.  You told me that when you arrived all you saw were French signs and you were going to get lost?
KENNY PERRY:  My wife did.  She ended up missing her turn and she ended up in Montreal, the city.  It was funny listening to her tell the story.
Somebody gave me good advice.  They said don't look at the names, just go by the numbers.  You can get around were easy if you do that.  It's been great.
People have been wonderful here.  I feel like a rock star.  I mean, I've had so much attention paid to me since I have been here.  It's been amazing.  I've really enjoyed it.  The people have been great.  I'm looking forward to getting out there this weekend.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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