U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 9, 2008

Pat Perez

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Pat Perez to the interview area this afternoon. Pat is playing in his 4th U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Pat, you're a local guy, could you tell everyone a little bit about your relationship with Torrey Pines through the years.

PAT PEREZ: There's plenty of them. I used to work at this golf course, I started when I was 13 and worked all the way through high school. So I've been around here -- I was basically here every day during high school and summers and all that good stuff. So I've been around here a long time.

RAND JERRIS: Talk to us a little bit about qualifying, what you went through in qualifying and what it meant to you to know you had qualified to play here in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

PAT PEREZ: I played two weeks in a row where I was in contention on Sunday. That took a lot out of me. I finished poorly Sunday at the Memorial, I finished 26th, which I was a little upset and I knew I had to get my mind right to play the next day.

Monday morning I was 3-over after 7, early. I knew about 4- or 5- under was going to make it. So I made a late charge with pretty much no energy. Once I got in, I made a 25-footer on the last hole and they said 5 was going to be good enough. I was pretty excited. I got to the board and everyone -- everyone came in and 5-under was good enough and I couldn't have been any happier.

Q. Growing up here, being around this place, even since the redesign, is there anything in an Open like home course advantage or not?

PAT PEREZ: I don't know. The greens are going to be so much harder than anyone is ever used to here that -- I think the only thing that would be -- I don't know if it would be an advantage, but the wind. I know how strong the wind can play. If it's calm, the dampness will affect a little bit.

If it's blowing really hard then I think I know how -- I have an idea of how to play the course. I've never played it with greens this hard. It's going to be difficult. I don't know if there's any advantage for anybody, but just playing at other Opens I know how the conditions will be. So that will help me a little bit.

Q. Compared to what you're used to playing here in the Buick and even before, how much more difficult do you feel the course is compared to what it usually plays?

PAT PEREZ: You know, as far as the bunkers and the fairways and the rough, you know, other than the third or fourth cut of rough it's not that much different. The greens are going to be a lot harder. They've gotten firmer each day. This is the third day I've played it and they've gotten firmer each day. They're green, which is really nice. They're really green. I think come Thursday and even Saturday and Sunday they're going to be really difficult. But I think the setup is pretty much similar to Buick.

Q. Talk about the experience of playing in other Opens, and that experience as it lends to your preparation to this weekend's event?

PAT PEREZ: You know, there's -- this one's kind of a little more different because you can't hit 2-iron. A lot of the other Opens you could run a 2-iron or a rescue or something like that. Here I think you have to hit driver. That could change. If they get the fairways real hard, that may change.

But from what I've seen so far, they have that kikuyu grass in there, and the ball doesn't really roll that much. I think you've got to hit driver a lot. I don't know where I'm going.

Q. How about the way you approach it?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, your approach is pretty much the same as any other Open. It's going to be hard. You've got to hit good shots. You're going to have to be happy with 30, 40 feet, if you're in a certain spot, trying to make bogey as opposed to trying to make birdie and then making double or triple, is basically what you do in an Open.

You play for pars. You hopefully make some birdies, but you have to eliminate the big scores. When you play a practice round you get around and say, if I hit it here, I've got to hit it over here and try to make four, if not, make five and kind of move on.

I just approach it as where can I make the least amount of mistakes out here.

Q. There's going to be people from all over the country, all over the world watching this thing, and they're going to hear this kikuyu word. And it's kind of a regional thing. What is it about that stuff, the characteristics of it, I guess, that make it so hard? Does it not lay down in a particular direction, what is it?

PAT PEREZ: I don't know, we call it sponge grass. But it's really thick. If they shave it down tight you can spin the hell out of the ball. It's awesome. You always get a good lion it, you could drive trucks on it. It's great grass. But it will help for hard greens.

I don't know what it is. It's not really wire, it's real spongy. When it gets long, if the ball gets down in it it's hard to get out of it, it's really hard to get out of it. Is that even the right term? Kikuyu grass? That's what we call it. I like it, though. It's in the fairways, I think it's going to be awesome, because you're going to be able to get some spin on the ball.

Q. Knowing your background here and your ties to this place how emotional is it going to be or will it be at all when you tee it up on Thursday? How do you think you'll feel, how do you think you'll react, and how do you get over that?

PAT PEREZ: You know, I don't know. I've been pretty calm so far. When I come here, I haven't seen it yet as really a U.S. Open. I see it as a course I've played a thousand times. When I've gone to other majors you get there and go, "Oh, my God, it's awesome here, it's a Major and this and this."

Here I've seen these holes so many times that I'm not seeing it as the U.S. Open. I'm just kind of seeing it as Torrey Pines, a place I love to play. I'm just going to go out there. I may change Thursday and if it gets late Sunday, it will be a little different. But I haven't really felt any pressure yet from it.

Q. How long has your dad been a starter here and all these muni and public courses always have some interesting characters hanging around playing here for years and years, who are some of your favorites?

PAT PEREZ: They're probably all gone now. I haven't seen so many for so long. My dad has been a starter at the Buick for, I think this is his 15th year. He's done it forever. He'll do it until he can't walk anymore, I'm assuming.

The one starter here, Jake Perkhiser, he's been here well before I worked here. I was 13, so we're talking 20 years ago. And he's unbelievable. We used to sit down and have some laughs with him.

The other starter, Miguel, he's been around forever. And a lot of guys just have come and gone. When I worked here we had a great crew. It was fun to work here. It was me, just in high school, and everyone was an older guy. It was just a fun bunch, but I don't know where any of them are now.

Q. Were you ever one of the guys that slept in the car so you could get an early tee off time here?

PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We had some help in the starter's booth, but we still had to get a number. We'd get here about 1, 2:00 in the morning and you've got to get a number from the guy. So if you were early you had to wait until someone else showed up and then you got your number and then you could go to sleep and set your alarm for 5:30. And then everyone would go in the coffee shop, get a drink or get something to drink. And then everyone would form a line across the top balcony up there. And it was one after another went off, and tee off at 6:30 and that was the kind of day. And then I'd go to work after that.

I loved it. As a kid, you're getting out of the house, you got more freedom. I loved it. I wouldn't do it now, but it was fun at the time.

Q. You made three bucks an hour or so?

PAT PEREZ: I couldn't even tell you what I made. I couldn't even tell you what I made back then. It was just the fact that I got free golf.

Q. You weren't doing it for the money, obviously?

PAT PEREZ: No, it was nice to have an extra hundred bucks or two hundred bucks or whatever for high school. But it was the fact that I had free cart and free golf, all the balls I could hit. And I hit probably all of them.

Q. And then you picked them up.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, and I picked them up. That was the pay for me. Because we couldn't join a country club, because they were too expensive here. So getting that was just a bonus. And it happened to be Torrey Pines on top of it, it was the best part about it.

Q. However do you live from here?

PAT PEREZ: I live in Scottsdale now. Did I? We lived in Cardiff at the time, we lived in Del Mar, La Jolla, Encinatas. We've lived up-and-down that coast.

Q. You've been in contention a number of times on the weekend, how close do you think you are to a big breakthrough?

PAT PEREZ: Man, I tell you, I don't know. I hope soon. It's getting old, to be honest with you. I always feel like I'm playing well enough to do it, but for some reason I come down -- I haven't made the right shots at the right time to get me in the lead or right next to the lead. I've always -- I'm always three or four back, finishing 6th or 4th, whatever. I'm not making enough things happen down the stretch to get in the lead.

I don't know how it -- I don't know how you do it, but at least I'm getting closer each week so I'm hoping soon it will happen.

Q. Did you work with Joe DeBock those days?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, he's still the pro, he's been here forever.

Q. He wrote a yardage book with some tips, did you look at it?

PAT PEREZ: No, I haven't.

Q. Would you recommend it?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, Joe has been around here a lot more than I have. I guarantee he knows everything around here just like I do.

Q. You say you played this course a thousand times. How different is 13 all the way back and what's the character of the fairway and is it reachable?

PAT PEREZ: When I played it today I couldn't believe there was a tee box back there. I like to tee from the left one. You've got the big tee and the one just left by the cliff there. That's a good one, because at least you can still get there. There's no getting there from back there, there's not even a chance. It's a long way.

Plus, you know, that back tee takes out -- I don't say all the trouble, because the rough is -- the third cut of rough is brutal. But that fairway is so wide. Because you can't get to the bunkers. The bunks are 330 or something like that. So they're out of play.

I don't really know what the thinking was there for 614. It was basically going to play as a par-3. If you're in the fairway you have to layup anyway, or if you're in the rough you have to layup. So everyone is going to be hitting the same shot, which is about 115 yards. It's going to play as a 115 yard par-3 back there. That's about it.

I tell you, it's a long hole. It looks like it's 10,000 yards away from that tee box.

Q. Do you believe Dustin reached it in two yesterday?

PAT PEREZ: I played with him yesterday, he may have. If he turned one over, he may have. I played with him yesterday, I couldn't believe how far he hit it. You're talking about maybe one or two guys of the 156 that would even think about going for it in two.

Q. You played the best courses in the world, obviously, in the last few years. What's special about this place about the way the course plays, the view, and did you ever think it was an underrated course when people talked about the great courses?

PAT PEREZ: I don't know if it's necessarily underrated. It's definitely tough enough now. I think the way it was before Jones got a hold of it, I think it wasn't that tough. Now it's very difficult.

If they kept it in this kind of condition with the greens firm like this and the rough up you're talking -- it's a great course out there. It's awesome. I've never seen it in this kind of shape. It's awesome to see it. It's fun to play because it's so much different.

But it's still got that same feel. It's got the same wind. Every hole is the same shape. I think it's great. I think it's up there with anything.

Q. What do you suppose it's going to be like out there when world No. 1 and world No. 2 and world No. 3 all tee off bringing the fans that those guys are going to be bringing, probably 30 out of the 40 thousand?

PAT PEREZ: It will be nice. There won't be any crowds left out there. Is Adam going to play for sure?

Q. I don't know.

PAT PEREZ: I don't know. Yeah, it's going to be a circus. It will be an absolute zoo with those three playing together. Especially with Phil. Phil is hometown. And Tiger is always hometown wherever he goes. The crowds are going to be incredible. I think it's going to be great, though.

Q. Who do you like, those two guys are way up here versus the rest of the people in the Vegas odds?

PAT PEREZ: I played with Phil on Sunday. And Tiger hasn't played in six weeks, so I don't know, I couldn't tell you. They're both great players, they can both do amazing things. I think whoever putts the best will do it.

Q. Being kind of a lifer here, did you have kind of mixed feelings when they made the alterations on the South knowing a lot of the old guys didn't want to play the course anymore because it was too tough?

PAT PEREZ: I know a lot of guys were upset with the changes. Yeah, they changed the course the first year I got my Tour card. So I never got to play it the old way. I knew everything about everything about that other course. When I got tired, I could -- if I got tired, I could tell you anything about anything the old course.

And then I go to Q-School and get my card and the course is different. I come here and it's like I've never played it before. The way they did 3 and 4 alone was incredible. I don't think a lot of the older guys were too happy about that. It's just too long. Plus now it takes so long to play. It probably takes six hours to play here, and that's just not fun.

Q. Did you play Little League baseball, are you ready for the first pitch?

PAT PEREZ: I'm going to throw them a heater. I can't wait. I'm more nervous about that than the tournament. I'm throwing out the first pitch tomorrow night at the Padre game. I'll be ready.

Q. They're down a starter.

PAT PEREZ: I know. I know. I'm be ready.

Q. Are you going rubber or in front of it?

PAT PEREZ: I'm going rubber. I'm not going in front. I'm going rubber.

Q. How did that come up?

PAT PEREZ: The Taylor Made guys. They were looking for a San Diego guy. I said I'll go down -- They're playing the Dodgers. It's already sold out, I think, too. I think a lot of people from the U.S. Open are going to go down there, give them something to do. I can't wait, it's going to be awesome.

Q. Six or seven years into your career, how surprised are you that you haven't won? What did you envision once you first got out here?

PAT PEREZ: When I first got out here I thought, let's just try to make some money, fit in, let's get going, let's get noticed.

Now it's -- those days are over. Now it's got to happen. I think I'm behind schedule as far as winning.

Q. Where do you still think you need to make your biggest strides to take that final step?

PAT PEREZ: I don't know. I think I need to get more comfortable -- not more comfortable, I think I need to -- I just need to make things happen. Be patient and just make things happen when they need to happen.

Q. Is there any disappointment that some people still look at you maybe not so much for your golf, maybe for your attitude or the way you go at things?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I'm not really worried about that. People who have known me a long time, especially like -- a lot of reporters have even said, they said, we see a huge change in you. You've come a long way.

You have to remember -- I tell them the same story, guys, I was 25 years old, growing up out here where it was worse than the Harlem pickup game out here, as far as language. You play with these guys out here -- and I grew up with that from 13 all the way on. These guys -- it was normal for me.

But a 25 year old kid who gets in the lead and then I don't like to lose any way, and it just happened. That was seven years ago. I'm 32 now, people do change. And there's still reporters, that's the first question they ask me. Do you still think about Pebble? I mean, what -- do you think about your divorce all day, every day? That's kind of what you've got to ask them. You fire back. I said, no, I don't think about it. That was seven years ago. People change. I've made big strides.

That's why I've been in contention a lot, because I let things go, and I just play. I know there's more out there. I can't waste all that energy on negative stuff.

Q. What were some of the jobs that you had here?

PAT PEREZ: I did it all. I cleaned the carts, put away the carts, picked up balls, picked up balls on the outside of the range, picked up baskets, set up the balls in the ball shed. Sometimes I took money. I did it all. Any outside job I had. I was the go-fer.

Q. How good were you when you were 13?

PAT PEREZ: Pretty good. I was Player of the Year a lot of years as a junior in San Diego. 13, 14, 15, 17, 11. I mean it was all the way growing up.

Q. Who all was in the field at the Junior Worlds other than Tiger Woods?

PAT PEREZ: Roberto Morales, Chad Wright, I can't remember, to be honest with you.

Q. (Reporter not using the microphone.)

PAT PEREZ: Riley was out, I think, he was a year older, two years older, he was already out. I think Hoffman, Hoffman was there. We had a lot of San Diego guys there. I can't remember exactly. Darren, Angel, and I ended up going to college. I can't remember them all, to be honest with you.

Q. Were you one of those kids that was able to swindle guys out here for a little money? Were you the kid that everybody wanted to play and try to beat, did you earn extra cash that way?

PAT PEREZ: Kind of. They always wanted me on their team. A young kid, thinks they can't play. We did a lot of money games out here. It got heated at times and it was fun. I had five dollars in my pocket, but I'd always leave with money. It was a great learning experience for me.

I think that helped me -- it helped me grow, just being around these guys and hanging out, just being with older -- as a kid, hanging out with kids, I don't think you really pick up on real life. But hanging out here you pick up on a lot of things.

Q. Would you have been on suicide watch, if you had to watch this from Scottsdale?

PAT PEREZ: I wouldn't have watched it. I'd have been up at the lake on the boat all week, I wouldn't have even watched it. It wouldn't have interested me in the least.

RAND JERRIS: Pat, thank you very much for your time today and we wish you a lot of luck this week.