|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
VALERO TEXAS OPENMarch 27, 2014Pat PerezSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS DOUG MILNE: Okay. Pat Perez, 4-under 68 in what was I would imagine a rather challenging first day here at the Valero Texas Open. You're playing really well this here. Had 3 Top-10s, had a runner up finish and this just kind of seems to be a continuation of your year and without putting tomorrow words in your mouth, just a couple comments on Round 1 today. PAT PEREZ: Yes, this morning it was freezing and felt like it was snowing and we hit balls -- I hit balls in four layers of clothes. Now I'm sweating. It was a tough morning but fog delays and rain delays, I've been through so many now you kind of bide the time and it's nothing you can do about it? You can't get mad. It's going to be a long day after that. So, you kind of take yourself down, at least I take myself down when it's time to go, I try to get ramped up again. DOUG MILNE: How much momentum are you riding from your year so far which, as I mentioned, is off to a really good start? PAT PEREZ: I am. I'm still working on trying to get my club face and club and swing path matched up so I don't really think about, you know, score or what's going on. I'm trying to just try to hit the shot that I need to hit at that time. So, it's different. I used to worry about scoring and all this other stuff. Now I'm just trying to really get my -- I'm just trying to hit the shot that it calls for and, you know, I've been able to hit it pretty good and I get myself in some positions and now I got to try to close one out. DOUG MILNE: We'll take questions. Q. Pat, first of all, you have some local ties here, don't you? PAT PEREZ: My wife does. They're not out here. My dad was born here and he's got three brothers and sisters that are here and I probably got a hundred cousins. I don't know any of them. Q. They're not out here? PAT PEREZ: No. One of my uncles came out once and I've only met him -- I've only met him once, anyway. I've got a lot of family here but I don't know any of them. Q. Did you used to spend like summers here or visit? PAT PEREZ: No. This is the fourth time I've ever been here. Q. Always to play this tournament? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. I met one and then I don't know. They live here somewhere but I've never seen them. I know they're around. Q. Shaking out of the trees? PAT PEREZ: My dad is the youngest of 7. They've all got two, three, four kids and they've got -- I know it's a big family. I just don't know any them. Q. Your dad doesn't live here now? PAT PEREZ: He lives in San Diego. He had to do some stuff with the Wounded Warriors. He likes to come back and see the golf and see his family. I really wasn't going to play here until Sunday when I shot 200. So, I didn't give him enough notice to come out. Q. Take me through the morning then. What was your original tee time? PAT PEREZ: 7:30. First shot off. Q. You woke up and tell us what happened then. Fog is a little -- you know, storms are one thing, fog is kind of hard to predict. PAT PEREZ: I knew it was going -- I was going to be here for awhile. I knew I was going to be here until at least 9. I was up at 4:30. I was on the balcony. It was cold and rainy. Knew it was going to be a long morning. There's nothing you can do. It's fog and even when we teed up we couldn't really see what was going on. It was cold and rainy. It was actually miserable. You know -- I've been through enough. Q. As the fog parted, as it dissipated, your game picked up? PAT PEREZ: Got warm. I lost three layers and I started hitting some good shots and got some feeling back in high hands and feet. You know, I made a couple putts. Me and Willie Mac, we had a fun group out there. Q. Was the highlight your closing birdie, birdie, birdie? PAT PEREZ: I bogied 15. I was a little pissed about that. Hit my 4-wood in the bunker. I made a bad 5 there. Kind of got me recovered for my round. I hit a good shot on 16 and made birdie there I told my caddy I'm going to birdie the next two, birdie the last three and get out of here and happened to do it. Q. Pat, you have obviously gotten off to a good start this year. Lot of those have come on golf courses where everybody pretty -- you played well there. At a certain point did it hit you that hey, it's not just the golf courses that fit my eye, now I'm on these courses where I may not have played that great, my game is really where I want it to be? PAT PEREZ: I've got a pretty good understanding of what my swing is doing and what the ball is doing. I feel like I can play well at any course. Some days I don't have it and it goes sideways and shoot 78 or whatever it is, but, you know, I feel as confident as I ever have with my ball striking and where the ball is going to go and if I can make a couple putts, I feel like I can shoot a pretty good score. Q. So, again, you're really not worried about winning, you know, the Masters, you're just shot by shot working on your game? PAT PEREZ: You can't worry about all that stuff. It's out of your control. You got to have a lot of things go right in week to win. When I won I was No. 1 in putting and had lucky bounces off of the cart path. You got to play well, too, but you have to have a lot of things go right. Lot of things have to go your way for four days. I'm not worried about it. I've won and I'd like to win a lot more. All that stuff, everybody wants to and, you know, I'm just trying not to focus on that and, you know, play a hole at a time and all those cliches that you hear all the time but they really are true. Q. You working with a swing coach? PAT PEREZ: Joseph Mayo, M-A-Y-O. Q. Mayo Clinic? PAT PEREZ: There's another one, too. Yeah. Q. Talk about the course. What was the big problem did, wind after the fog or -- PAT PEREZ: No, there was no problem. It was windy but the course is in phenomenal shape. The greens are about the best I've ever seen just about anywhere. They're receptive and firm and the speed is not out of control. The course is just phenomenal. It's awesome to play. It's fun to play a course that's in that good a shape and especially it's a hard course. Q. So for you it's not -- you don't scoreboard watch, it's all about you shot by shot that helps your focus? PAT PEREZ: I wouldn't say scoreboard watch to watch. If I'm standing around I'll see how someone is doing or might look for a friend or whatever, but Thursday you're not -- you're not worried about, you know, scoreboard. I just kind of looking around and just checking stuff out. Q. What other years have you played here? Do you remember? Play last year? AI didn't play last year. Q. Have you played since it moved out here? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. I know played, I think I had played once, didn't I? DOUG MILNE: Top-5. PAT PEREZ: I finished 4th or 5th like three years ago. DOUG MILNE: '10 or '11? '10. Must have been '10. Q. Scott won. PAT PEREZ: Yeah. I think I played -- what did I play? Must have played a couple over there, might have played four, five over there. Q. LaCantera? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. Q. In 2005 I have a picture with you, it was around 2005, 2006. PAT PEREZ: I think I played decent there, too. I know I was there then when Tommy '3, he won, Tommy Armour. '3 or? 5? One of the two. Q. But 2010 was your best finish as you can recollect? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. DOUG MILNE: I'll look that up. PAT PEREZ: I'm pretty sure it is. Q. So you like this course? PAT PEREZ: I do like this course. It's straight, it's got -- you got to hit it pretty good around here especially with the wind. The wind was blowing a good 20 all day and that makes it tough but a lot of them run either straight into or straight down. You don't get a whole lot of cross wind on this course. Q. When did the fog kind of lift for you, do you remember? I'm not talking about metaphorically. PAT PEREZ: About 4th hole. That was a driver, 2-iron which was nice, par 4. Q. Pat, have you done anything different to prepare yourself for this tournament, have you done anything different or just you've been preparing the same way or does the reason you have a different result because you did something different physically, mentally, you know, you've been training differently, you're exercising, training? PAT PEREZ: I quit training and exercising. I feel better (laughter). I didn't practice a practice round. I got in Tuesday night. I played the course blind. Q. So, in other words it's difficult. Whatever works for you doesn't work for somebody else. PAT PEREZ: No. Everyone got their own thing. Guys like to workout for two hours. I used to do that stuff and always got tired and my body was aching and this and start. You know, I don't eat very well and I don't work out anymore and all that stuff that everybody else does. Lot of guys do. I understand my golf swing and ball flight and all that stuff. That's why I'm playing well this year. I don't hurt, nothing aches. I'm hitting it far. I'm hit it somewhat where I think I should hit it. Q. You look healthier from what I saw you -- PAT PEREZ: I don't know about that. That's not from doing anything special. Q. So that's the reason why golf is so complex, because there's not a formula to accomplish -- PAT PEREZ: Tiger works out harder than anybody and he won 14 Majors and that's worked for him. I don't know. You know, I don't know. Then everyone copied what he did and, you know, very few -- will catch his 14 Majors but Tiger is a very rare individual when it comes to golf and they come along every blue moon and you look at guys like Tim Herron. He has been out here 18 years. Would anybody follow what he does? Nobody would follow what he does. The guy has been out here, won four times, out every year. If he was walking by, you would never guess he plays golf. So I mean you got both ends of the spectrum there and -- Q.  Colin Montgomery. PAT PEREZ: Whole bunch of guys. Some guys workout, some don't. I don't think there's any formula other than knowing where your ball goes and getting it in the hole as fast as possible. Q. When did you kind of get away from that or just heck with it? PAT PEREZ: When I started working with Joe I kind of got away from the gym because we did so much work on my golf swing by the time I got done I was tired. Q. How long ago was that? PAT PEREZ: Right at Sea Island. I got done with Vegas and played miserable. Really upset. DOUG MILNE: October of last year. PAT PEREZ: I thought -- I was worried about what was going to happen in the future. Then I happened to run into Joe at TPC Scottsdale and since then I put more work into my game to try and hit the shots that I want. By the time I'm done I'm just tired. I want to go and relax. I've been out here 8, 9 hours practicing all day, everyday. I'm hitting it, I'm hitting it plenty far, that I think. I'm not going to be one of these long drive guys that hit it, Dustin Johnson or Garrigus, 340, 350, never going to be me. That's fine. I can keep it in play and know where it's going I might have a chance to beat them. That's what -- that's the approach I have right now. I may change but for right now that's what I'm doing. DOUG MILNE: All right. Pat, we'll let you go hit the gym (laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|