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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 13, 2017

Pat Perez

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Obviously a very good round, but how much have the conditions changed from yesterday to today at all?
PAT PEREZ: There's no wind this morning. The greens aren't any softer. It's going to be just as tough this afternoon. The greens are very firm, some pin locations are really tough, it's just we had a little bits of rain, but it was like nothing. It didn't even do anything to them. They were still very firm and they're getting fast. I don't think too much.

Q. This is your best round here, ever, in your career --
PAT PEREZ: Thanks.

Q. You've had some good finishes and some not so good. How would you characterize your relationship with this golf course?
PAT PEREZ: I think like everybody else. It's tough to get through it. The course is hard. It's a hard course. Doesn't fit my eye on almost any shot, like everybody else. That's how it was designed. So you know who loves it? Maybe the winner on Sunday? That's about it. It's a hard course. It was designed to penalize you and challenge trouble and that kind of stuff and that's what it does and it makes it uneasy for you. There's not a shot out there that I'm comfortable hitting.

Q. 18, you didn't really hit a bad shot on any of those, did you?
PAT PEREZ: I hit the chip too hard. I was just trying to land it about 10 feet on and let it roll back and hopefully make 4. But I got lucky I made 5.

Q. At a place that keeps you so off balance, what does it feel like to get it?
PAT PEREZ: I don't know, I still don't feel like I won. I played great, but the wind was down and tomorrow's going to be just as hard and I got all the same thoughts that I've had for 14 times here of where the ball's going to go and couldn't go and all that kind of stuff. So I'm not really over excited about -- it would be nice to have a chance and that kind of stuff, but it's not like, oh, I'm going to go get it tomorrow. Not that kind of stuff. I'm looking forward -- I had a flight booked, I thought I was going to be out of here early tomorrow or even tonight, but now I got to change all that.

Q. You had a great match there.
PAT PEREZ: He's my boy, he's great. He had a little struggle there on 13, 14, but he's great. I love fun twosomes like that.

Q. William McGirt said earlier this week that you almost have to get lucky here to have a good week.
PAT PEREZ: You have to have some luck to win any week. I believe that because I had some luck when I won both of them and, yeah, you need a bounce here and there, you need the ball to actually stop as opposed to rolling off the green or getting a lie in the pine straw where -- I don't know.

Q. Did any of your birdies out there today involve that kind of lucky bounce in any way?
PAT PEREZ: Well I hit a terrible shot on 4 and it just hit that far over the railroad tie. I knew right when I hit it, I thought I missed it and I thought it was going to be right in the water. And I turned 6 into a 3. So I got lucky there. But no, not really, I never really get -- I screwed up 11. I didn't get up-and-down from the bunker there. Good birdie on 12, 13, and I thought that I got kind of lucky on 15. 16 I hit a great chip, missed that one. But no, nothing really today. It makes up for Thursday Friday, I had plenty of those.

Q. They always say the course doesn't real favor dinkers or bombers.
PAT PEREZ: Anybody.

Q. But does it usually identify the guy that plays the best?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, the guy who plays the best wins, for sure. And it doesn't favor anybody, because Tim Clark has won and Tiger and Jason Day have won. So Tim Clark's got four head covers, so -- but he knows where they're going. He knows where they're going. He hits that, he hits those hybrids straighter than I hit my wedge. He's incredible. And he putted well. He got on a firm, fast course and he won. He was definitely the best that week. Then you get Tiger winning twice and you have seen it up-and-down the line. But definitely the best player of the week wins.

Q. It's supposed to rain this afternoon pretty hard --
PAT PEREZ: Perfect, I'll be in bed.

Q. For a couple hours. Do you think that will have an impact and do you think it will be --
PAT PEREZ: No, it's like watering the street.

Q. The greens are that hard?
PAT PEREZ: Because with this wind, with this wind it won't matter. Water the street and it will be dry in 10 minutes.

Q. Why has this year been so good for you?
PAT PEREZ: I'm not really going to go into it. I'm not going to go into it.

Q. Saving it for the radio show?
PAT PEREZ: No, I'm done with the radio show, too.

Q. What's the main thing?
PAT PEREZ: Proving wrong. Proving people wrong, for one. Two, I'm just tired. I'm tired of opinions, I'm tired of -- I'm just tired of a lot of things. And I just got past it all and I just -- I won't tell you what I'm, what I say, but I have a whole different outlook at life after being gone for a little bit and really not one person caring, other than my caddie or my wife. When I came back, to be dropped by Callaway and other stuff MGM kept me, which is great, because they're awesome. But to be kind of like told at 40, you can't do it, you can't come back, we don't really believe in you, this kind of stuff, it really can get you upset. And it's a hell of a motivator to come back after being on TOUR that long and saying, you know what, I think the best is ahead of me and I'm really going to do my absolute all to prove everybody wrong and be successful and then when I get back on top, which I am, I don't have to say anything.

Q. Was there any part of you that had to convince yourself that they weren't right?
PAT PEREZ: No.

Q. Was there a part of you that wondered?
PAT PEREZ: Not at all.

Q. How come?
PAT PEREZ: Because that's just me. Because nobody believes in me more than I do, for sure. Nobody's going to give me a chance more than I am. It's always nice, because I've never been in the top, so I've never been in any talks of like top players or a guy that's never won a Major, I've always been kind of an under, a guy that never gets talked about. And that's fine, I actually like it, because I don't have to worry about anything, nobody expects me to do interviews, nobody expects me to be on the podium, nobody expects me to do anything, I can go about my business and do what I want. It's great. I don't worry about those things, I just try to do what I can. I got a lot of friends out here, I root for them all, the guys are great out here, I've got a hell of a support group at home. I don't need to worry about what anybody says or does, I'm literally not worried about it at all anymore. It's actually, I can't tell you how free I feel. I've never been this free to actually just kind of play. Over my 16-year career I've always been worried, what's that guy going to say, what's he going to think. I don't care about any of that anymore, I just don't. I'm 41, I'm on the back nine for sure, I'm just excited about playing well, making a lot of money and I'm going to try to cash in this year and do whatever I can to set myself up.

Q. Was there a point when you were going through the surgery and all that stuff that when that belief waned at all?
PAT PEREZ: It wasn't belief, it's more of, am I going to be able to come back. You don't really know what's going to happen. There's three things in the surgery. You got to get a doctor, you hope that -- you got to hope he does well. And then you got to hope that you can recover. Because you see these guys, they have been out five, seven years, they say they can't do it. I got lucky in all of those. I was able to with my Doctor Russell Chick was incredible, my therapy went well, the guys I worked with in the therapy. And then I healed well and I was back in seven months. It really is hard -- and then I won in the same year. I mean, to go to the ultimate bottom where you think, God, am I ever going to be able to hit a shot again, to being on top of the mountain, I mean, it's just incredible. Last year was like nothing. I was in so much pain during the west coast, I felt terrible, I didn't make any cuts, I didn't make any money. And then I had surgery and I'm thinking, God, am I going to be able to come back and do this again. Ever. Because you don't know until you hit the ground if it's going to pop again or something going to happen. I went through it slowly. And then I was full steam and then Callaway dropped me and then I started to get more mad and then I was determined. And then Todd Rhinehart gave me a spot in Malaysia and that was unbelievable of him, because I really didn't deserve one. And I finished 33rd, and then 7th in Vegas and I thought, you know, I can do this. And then I put the PXG's in and went down and went down to Mayakoba and won and I cannot believe what's transpired in seven months here. The ultimately low to the ultimate top and stay there most of the year has been really nice. It's been awesome.

Q. (No Microphone.)
PAT PEREZ: Unbelievable. I didn't talk to him. But it was, I was so happy for him. John's like an older brother to me, so it was, it was great. It was awesome. Tommy played well too which was great. So we all did pretty good last week.

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