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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 7, 2020

Rod Perry

Orlando, Florida

Q. 76 for the day is the scoring average today.
ROD PERRY: I believe it. Yeah, yeah.

Q. The finish yesterday, we didn't get a chance to catch up to you last night, that's got to be pretty satisfying?
ROD PERRY: Yeah, I kind of knew I needed to play well coming in. I made the mistake over the last 25 years of watching the cut line. I ignore that now. I don't even think about it. If I make it, great. If I miss it, walk in Monday. So I think playing with some freedom and not thinking about that cut line or that short-term goal and then knowing I had to play well, because, I mean, let's face it, you have to out here. At my level I have to play very well to make weekends. And I was fortunate just to have a really good chance at eagle there on 16 and then made a good club decision playing short of the hole on 17 and just had a perfect putt uphill, left-to-right, and kind of played my way down the 18th away from the water.

Q. Good playing?
ROD PERRY: Thanks.

Q. What was the first tournament you played in?
ROD PERRY: The Ginn sur Mer. So we had Bobby Ginn's tournament in 2006, 2007, up in Palm Coast, it was kind of a hometown event for me because I live like 20 minutes south of there. So, yeah, it was a nice way to start and I made the cut on the number, having to come back on Saturday morning to play the last hole and made a big, big putt to make the cut on the number that year.

Q. That was the first one?
ROD PERRY: That was the first one.

Q. You thought they were all going to be like that?
ROD PERRY: But players have gotten better and better and better since then and I'm getting older and older and older.

Q. You made it once before here, right?
ROD PERRY: Yeah, I made it once before. I had a chance to come over and play here quite a bit during the year. Brian Dorn and the guys here put on some nice events with Gregor over at Lake Nona, so I feel very comfortable here. I probably played more rounds here than Tiger.

Q. Where you do you live?
ROD PERRY: I'm in Port Orange, just south of Daytona.

Q. And what's your day job?
ROD PERRY: I'm a normal club pro, man. I mean, it's a small club called Crane Lakes. If you guys are over come by, play golf, drink beer, have fun. But I do everything -- I got two great assistants, don't get me wrong -- great golf shop staff, great outside supervisor, very laid back blue collar club. It's in very, very good shape year round. But as the head pro you guys know you have to do a lot of different things.

Q. How do you keep the game semi sharp, sharp?
ROD PERRY: Thankfully it's the type of job I do have the freedom to kind of come and go and play when I need to or most of the time when I want to. And, unfortunately, it's a lot of sacrifice with the kids and the wife and stuff and playing section events and chapter events and pro-am with guys just like you. And I've just never wanted to give that part of the profession up. I've always thought it was very important to me in case I do lose my job I've always kind of got that to fall back on.

Q. How long have you been at Crane Lakes?
ROD PERRY: Seven years.

Q. Where were you above?
ROD PERRY: City course in Daytona. I taught 800 lessons a year.

Q. How many do you do now?
ROD PERRY: I do about 400 now.

Q. So a little bit easier for you, a little bit more freedom?
ROD PERRY: It is. You guys know, this Florida sun, you spend so much time out here in it, it beats you down after awhile. I had the opportunity to stop teaching full-time and take the more traditional, kind of all-around club job, it was a good opportunity to get out of the sun a little bit.

Q. How many kids?
ROD PERRY: Two.

Q. We know it was hard today, but how did you manage?
ROD PERRY: Well derrick I got Derek, he's a TOUR caddie, he's got a lot of experience out here, been together for about a year and a half now and he's just telling me, hey, it's hard for everybody and that's kind of been my motto this whole week. When the wind blows and it gets very difficult it's difficult on me but it's also difficult on Rory. It's difficult on everybody out here. You guys are seeing the scoring average go through the roof. The greens are extremely firm, super fast. I mean, you're going to see more 3-putts on 18 than you will 1-putts. It's just really hard and it's that way for everybody.

Q. Did you kind of play within yourself the first two days?
ROD PERRY: No, I played out of my gourd, I played really good, I did. Luck was on my side, I made some really good shots. And I've been playing better, I've got some good swing thoughts going on right now and I kind of knew good golf was in my future but thankfully it was the first two days.

Q. I lost complete track of the PGA moving to May. What does that do with the --
ROD PERRY: It's tough because our national championship's in April. So it's out in Texas in April at Barton Creek and then we got basically about a three-week turnaround between that and the PGA. So that's really tough. And, I mean, talking to the Golf Channel and talking to the people on TOUR, I think it's a welcome move to kind of get the bigger events in a shorter span of time for the guys and then leave August for the Olympics. There's no great answer.

Q. Nobody consulted you on it, right?
ROD PERRY: No, no.

Q. Do you have any aspirations on the Champions Tour?
ROD PERRY: I got a 12-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, I'm 46 now, so add four I'll have four cars on the road, four insurances. So I think golf will always be an important part of my life, but I think the five of us know what that Champions Tour is for. We see a guy like Scott Parel who is playing fantastic golf, having kind of a second career, but there's just not many opportunities for guys like him or me, so.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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