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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 19, 2018

Pat Perez

Austin, Texas

Q. Do you get fired up for match play?
PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah. It's just that it's the idea of -- to win the whole thing, you've got beat some great players. You just have to, because everybody in this field is a great player. So the idea of -- to actually have a chance to beat some great players is pretty cool, especially the fact they're friends and this and that. But it's such a cool idea, just the whole tournament, it's awesome.

Q. Do you like the round robin format as well?
PAT PEREZ: I don't like it as well, but, you know, because last year I lost in a playoff to the guy I beat. So Jason Day obviously pulled out because of the whole thing with his mom, and that's unfortunate. But then other two guys get a win, and then I lose to Westwood, but I beat Leishman, and then Leishman won the playoff. So it's like -- I understand why they're doing it, but the single elimination is tough. It works for basketball. It works in football. It works in every other sport. But I know why they do it, and that's fine. It's not my call.

Q. Do you get a little more fired up in this format than maybe you would on a Thursday of a (inaudible)?
PAT PEREZ: No. You know, I don't really have -- no, I'm just fired up because it's just cool to be in this tournament, for one. To be one of the top 64 in the world is great, anyway. Because so many years I wasn't in the tournament. And now that I am, it's awesome.

The fact that I know all the guys as well as I do, it'll just be fun. I know their games, not that that's going to matter. But I'm going to go out and play, I'm going to try to play aggressive. I love the format because you can play more aggressive, and you can go for opportunities -- if you don't pull off in a normal tournament, it could cost you the cut or it could cost you whatever here and there. Here it could just cost you a hole.

Q. If you kind of thew away a good round in stroke play, bogeyed two of the last three, 73, walked off the course, what's the time you need to kind of get your head straight compared with that, compared with losing a match in match play?
PAT PEREZ: They're both about the same. If I lose the match and I've got to -- especially if it's a match that costs me going on, it's the same thing. Same thing. Because let's say I bogeyed two of the last three and shoot 73 and I miss the cut, same thing, you still lose and you're gone.

Q. What happened to Westwood last year, he beat you --
PAT PEREZ: He beat me -- actually, no, he beat me in the match that I played with him. And I just beat Leishman who won Bay Hill. And then we all went into a playoff because Jason Day pulled out and they all got a win, so we all had two wins, which was the most stress for me, because I actually had to face Jason right out of the gate. But obviously the whole thing with his mother and the whole deal.

But when you have three guys that tie and then you go to a playoff and then you lose to a guy that you beat, it's kind of a -- that's kind of maybe the only problem with it.

Q. (Inaudible.)
PAT PEREZ: It's like 15 guys. One? Are you kidding me? There are so many guys.

Q. Are any of those guys in your group?
PAT PEREZ: All 15 in my group. I'm talking about just in the whole thing.

Q. Is there a style of play --
PAT PEREZ: I've played with Dustin so many times now, I've never beat him. I finally had any chance in Mexico on Saturday and I choked. I bogeyed 16, doubled 17. And I tied him. I was so pissed because I finally had a chance to beat him in one round and I didn't beat him. He played terrible and I still didn't beat him.

You never know in match play. If you get a hot putter, that's what you need is a hot putter to win this thing. DJ can do it all, Rahm can do it all, Thomas can do it all, obviously Rory can do it all. There's so many great players that they just turn on any minute can win this thing. This is as hard to win as trying to pick the Kentucky Derby. It's the same thing. There's so many great players playing so well, I don't know how you do it. If anybody gets hot with their putter in the short game, who knows? Who knows?

Q. Have you ever picked a Derby winner?
PAT PEREZ: No, never been close. Never been close. I've always got the wrong horse, always. I always think right in the middle is nice, 10, 11, 12 is always nice. No.

But this thing is great. This tournament is fantastic because anybody can win, even though Dustin won last year as the No. 1 player in the world.

Q. Since they've gone to the round robin, you've had Rory win in San Francisco, Jason win here, and Dustin win here. Any coincidence since they've gone to this round robin format --
PAT PEREZ: That's the thing, if you look at Dustin in any tournament, if he has a bad nine holes or 12 holes or whatever, he recovers and then when he recovers, it's on. It's like, no, I played Saturday nine. I'm like, this thing is over. I knew it was over.

Q. He beat you.
PAT PEREZ: I knew it was over. But the thing I would love to see, I would love to see like a Dustin and Rory go at it. I'd love to see -- I'd love to see like a Dustin and Rory. I'd love to see these big hitters go at it. That would be great. I wish they were in kind of the same bracket. Dustin and Rory or Jason Day and Rory, these long guys just pound it one after another, and see who can actually show up in the short game and win.

Q. (Inaudible.)
PAT PEREZ: He's going to fly me by 40. He's hitting way by me. But Jason was by me all day, too, and I beat him by -- I was 3 up through 6 last year.

But this thing is different. This course is different. You've got to hit it long, but you've also got to be in the right place. You've got to make some putts. It's such a cool format. I don't want to say you don't know who is going to win, you have kind of an idea. If you get a hot putter, who knows.

Q. What about the idea that there could be an upset on Wednesday?
PAT PEREZ: It was an upset last Wednesday, UMBC beat Villanova. It doesn't matter. Upsets are becoming more and more. I mean -- obviously we haven't seen the whole thing here yet, but Ian Poulter is 58, playing Fleetwood. I would not bet against Poulter in a match play format, based on his past. Fleetwood is a phenomenal player, we know that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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