	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FBR OPEN

January 27, 2009

Pat Perez

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: Pat Perez, thanks for joining us for a few minutes here at the FBR Open. We'll jump right into it. Anything new in life?
PAT PEREZ: Well, I haven't slept much for a couple days, but you only win once -- you only win the first time once. I'm enjoying it, having a good time. We're going to have a little shindig tonight, and that's about it. I'll have to go to work again on Thursday.
DOUG MILNE: I'm sure everybody has been trying to get in touch with you and so forth, your voicemail is full and all that stuff. Has it been kind of the experience that you were anticipating, or was it more over the top?
PAT PEREZ: Kind of a little more over the top. It's been nice. You know, it's been a nice thing to happen. A lot of people -- everyone calling, everyone I see, you know, at the courses and stuff like that, it's been awesome, all the caddies, all the players, they're all truly happy for me. It's just awesome. You know, I've seen it now for seven years, everyone else winning, and I go up and congratulate them, and it's nice to be on the receiving end where everyone is doing the same thing.

Q. Could you talk about the 16th hole and what it now looks like with it fully enclosed?
PAT PEREZ: It looks unbelievable, but it's going to be a circus. But it looks cool. It looks really cool, full stadium effect. It's going to be loud, and it's going to be -- I'm there Friday afternoon. I'll be getting in there about 4:00 on Friday afternoon, and I'm playing with Couples. There's going to be a lot of people. It's going to be loud.

Q. Have you ever been booed there?
PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah.

Q. And how did that feel, and how did it feel when you heard the loudest cheer? I would assume you hit one pretty close over the years?
PAT PEREZ: Hitting a great shot there is just awesome. Not hitting it -- as soon as you see it in the air and you kind of know where it's going, you know what you're going to get. You're either going to get a cheer, or you could get a boo for hitting a good shot, who knows. You don't want to miss that green, though, or you're going to hear it.

Q. Last week you talked about how great you were hitting the driver, and I've been told now you took the same shaft from the driver into the 3-wood. Do you tinker a lot, and do you feel better now that you did tinker last week with the new driver and it worked out so well?
PAT PEREZ: You know, all I have to do is hit it a couple times and I know if it's good or not. I knew the new driver was going to be really good, and my 3-wood I was hitting left but the shaft was just a little weaker than my driver, so that Voodoo shaft is awesome. I put it in, and I hit it pretty good today, so I'm excited that I got to match up those two clubs.

Q. Obviously you haven't gone out and played in another tournament yet, but just generally speaking, do you feel like a more confident person as a result of winning?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, definitely. You know, you always have confidence when you win, especially on the PGA TOUR. You know, you're playing against the best in the world. You know, yeah, it just gives you a sense of -- you belong now, you've proven yourself, not necessarily to everybody but to yourself, and you feel like -- how can you not have confidence when you win a major tournament like that and then get congratulated by the King? It was a pretty special day.

Q. By the same token, you probably have had confidence that this was going to come, that eventually it was going to happen, right?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of good tournaments over seven years, and just -- last week, the difference was I just made the putts. I've hit it good for a long time, and I just haven't made any putts at the right time, and I made them last week. That's really the difference.
But yeah, I've always had confidence that I could do it, and it was just a matter of time before I got myself in contention a couple more times, and I would just be comfortable being there and I would be comfortable with my game and make it happen.

Q. On that last putt you made it pretty easy on yourself.
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, that was nice to have, that short one. It was nice to have to make 5 anyway on a downwind par-5. After I hit the second shot, it was just full relief, and I could enjoy that 200-yard walk.

Q. Can you just talk about the 16th hole? Do you like the atmosphere of this tournament, kind of unique on the PGA TOUR?
PAT PEREZ: How do you actually answer it, so the fans will like it, or do you answer it truthfully? If you say anything about the hole, you're going to get killed when you get there. I like it. I think it's loud, it's football. The only reason it becomes that way is how it's talked about. Everyone keeps saying it's the loudest hole in golf and everyone is crazy and everyone does this, so everyone continues to do more every year to make it as loud and obnoxious as possible.
I don't really mind it. I went to ASU so I've kind of got that on my side. But it's nerve-wracking, that hole. It's not that hard of a hole, and you get up there and you feel like you're are hitting on a dime. It's cool. You get it once a year, and it's such a cool-looking hole now with the stadium effect. You've got to like it. You either like it or you don't play.

Q. Is there such a thing as momentum from winning a tournament in golf?
PAT PEREZ: Kind of. I mean, it's kind of similar in golf, but it's not. I've never played well here. I love the tournament, the Thunderbirds are great, the tournament is phenomenal, but I just don't play the course well. Nothing fits my eye out there. I don't know why. These guys shoot 25-under out here, and I'm lucky to break par. It just doesn't -- hopefully this week it will, but I haven't really played well in the past, so I don't really expect too much.

Q. Just want to know, does a win early in the year, how much does that ease up for you for the rest of the year as far as scheduling?
PAT PEREZ: It doesn't really change much. I mean, it basically gives me a three-year exemption. I get in the Masters and I get in some World Golf stuff, but I'm 3 now in the FedExCup. I'd like to have that at the end of the year. I'd take that because the best I've been is 40 or something like that. Now I have pressure to stay on top. I don't want to be 3 now and then be 100 by the end of the FedEx. That wouldn't be any good.
You try to hit different levels as you go through the year. The first one obviously is take care of your card, and then from there you want to be -- you want to get in all the invitationals, and you want to be high up in the FedEx and you want to win. These are all things, and then you start playing for different things. You want to play well in majors, you want to be on the Ryder Cup team, you want to be on The Presidents Cup team. These are all kind of just deals -- this is one step for me, and I did it early enough now that now I can win, I'd like to win again.
I'd really love to play on Freddie's team. I was with him in the off-season a little bit these last couple months and I'm playing with him this week. He knows I want to play on his team, and those are bigger goals, so in order to do that I've got to continue to play well. But winning early definitely gives me confidence for most of the year.
DOUG MILNE: Pat, congratulations, and thanks for coming in.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297