KENNY PERRY: A lot of emotions, lot of tears shed, lot of smiles, lot of celebration. I received almost over 600 emails. I received hundreds of cards and letters. People who genuinely cared.
And the letters all started out, I've never written a letter like this, but I just felt compelled to write to you.
A lot of them started that way. I had letters where I'm sitting here with my 7 and 10-year-old son, and you taught my kids a lot about sportsmanship. Just neat.
I haven't slept much. I told my manager, I said, this morning the alarm went off and scared me. It's the first time I've actually gotten into some deep sleep. So that was nice. I've been kind of wrestling around, waking up each and every minute, kind of reliving the last few holes of the masters.
But it was a good thing. I loved being in that situation. I actually felt this year I was ready to handle the situation. In the past I just felt like I wasn't prepared. Went in there very prepared. My goal was to win.
I went in there early like Friday of the week before, spent three days out on the golf course, working all the chipping areas and complexes, and got an awesome notebook for that golf course, if you ever need it.
But it's been a good day. It's been tough, and it's been hard. It had a lot of smells of the 1996 PGA when I lost to Mark Brooks, the ending did. But just the outpouring of fan support was mind boggling to me. It really was very up lifting.
KENNY PERRY: The personal moment was I drove home from Augusta. Got home about 4:00 in the afternoon on Monday afternoon. And I didn't sleep at all Monday night, and I got in my car about 5:00 a.m., and I just drove for about three hours. Just drove out to the countryside. You know, being thankful for everything after that that's happened to me. It really was.
I wasn't sorrowful, but I just contemplated for three hours just driving around in the country. I live in a small, rural town, it's a farming community, lot of cattle. Lot of horses, very peaceful, very serene. It was just kind of my time to just kind of reflect, and it was all very positive. It was good.
I mean, I still relived those last, you know, here I am for four days, you know, for hour upon hour, just playing beautiful golf. And then it all boils down to one little chip shot on the 71st hole. You know, I had it all all the way up to the last half hour of the tournament. You know, to be in control.
Q. Will it be difficult for you during the first round on Thursday to put all of that behind you and focus exclusively on the round at hand?
KENNY PERRY: Very difficult. I thought about not coming this week, but that wouldn't have been right for this tournament. You know, I really love coming here. I love the people here, and this is a great run event. And it's very relaxed and very peaceful place.
I think if it had been a high-stressed atmosphere, more of a major world event, I would have seriously considered kind of, you know, not coming. But this event to me, I love supporting it. They do such a great job.
They've had a lot of pain and heartache here with katrina hitting, and I just want to support this event and make it better, and they do a wonderful job. So Thursday morning or afternoon whenever I tee off it's going to be very difficult. It's going to be one of the hardest things I'm ever going to do. But for me the sooner I get back into it and get over it, the better it's going to be for me. So that's another way to look at it.
Q. When was the first time after the Masters that you picked up a club? Is that difficult at all? How did that go?
KENNY PERRY: I didn't pick up a golf club until Thursday. I actually played with two club pros, at Old Stone in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Two kids who are playing the Hooters Tour and who are struggling. We had a great day. We had a lot of laughs, lot of fun.
Like I said before, I was totally out of energy and whipped. The golf club just felt heavy. I was tired. But I knew I needed to get back into it. I needed to start swinging that club a little bit.
I have a weighted club that I'll swing at night in my room. But that was the only day I really played and hit balls. Then I showed up here on Monday, and yesterday hit a few balls yesterday afternoon. So I really haven't done much since the Masters has ended.
