WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 21, 2023

Victor Perez

Austin Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome back Victor Perez to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Last time you were here a fourth-place finish for you. Give us a sense of what it's like to be back in Austin and what you're looking forward to this week.

VICTOR PEREZ: Yeah, obviously I'm very happy to be back. It's a great event. It's obviously nice to play match play for the second time this year after playing the Hero Cup back in Europe.

Yeah, it's great. The course is great. Obviously it's had a bit of rain today, so we'll see how it shakes itself through the week. I think maybe a few thunderstorms and stuff like tat, so we'll see.

Q. Speaking of the Hero Cup, you obviously had a great week there as part of continental Europe, and then went on to win in Abu Dhabi. How did you find that match play set you up for the victory and how do you go about this week in terms of stroke play to match play in your thought process?

VICTOR PEREZ: It's always obviously a little different. I think Scottie won last year and then went on to win the Masters, so there is definitely some added value if you have a great week here, you know, being so close to the first major of the year.

But yeah, the style might be a little different because you obviously only have to beat one guy. Yeah, so I guess we'll see. I guess it depends. Sometimes you don't have to play that well and you can get through a match.

Q. Talking about your group, you're paired with Morikawa, Day, and Svensson. Thoughts on that, and how do you approach the week?

VICTOR PEREZ: There's not any easy group, so I think whichever way you're going to look at it, eventually if you're going to make it all the way you're going to have to beat top 10 and great players.

So there's nowhere to hide and no way to get around, so eventually you're going to have to play some exceptional golf, and hopefully things eventually are going to need to work out. You might get a little lucky, but for the most part you're going to have to play great.

Q. You had some success last year. What was the main sort of takeaway? What did you learn about yourself or this golf course or the format?

VICTOR PEREZ: I mean, I think it's a great course for match play just because of how -- that back nine with par-5s, drivable par-4s, there's obviously a lot of short clubs into greens, so there's obviously a lot of birdie opportunities.

But if you get out of position, sometimes you might win a hole with a par. So I think the course really sets up nicely for the format, which is great.

I think match play sometimes pushes you to the edge because it's very black or white it seems like, for me at least, to where the equation is made up for you. It's either like, well, you hit it to six feet so there's no way to -- I don't need to play any kind of percentage or try to be smart or anything.

It's like I've got to match what the other person is doing, or at least that's how I play match play. I know some guys like to just play their own ball like they would do any other way and see where it falls, but I try to play more the shot and like man to man.

Yeah, I think it's obviously a little different.

Q. How much is the Ryder Cup on your mind all through this year and when you're playing events like this?

VICTOR PEREZ: Yeah, obviously massive being back in Europe this year. I was in that same scenario two years ago going into Whistling Straits, having had a great start, and then I ended up just short.

So I can draw from some of that past experience being close to making the team, and obviously being in a good position this year, I think this is definitely a big event because of the format.

But again, there's so much golf to be played between now and when the qualification process ends, so I think you just still have to put things into perspective.

And I'll be like, wow, if I play great this week then it's a guarantee; if I don't then I have no chance. It's still a long season regardless of what's happening.

Q. I hope I'm remembering this right, but I think you and your family are big rugby people. Curious what you thought of Six Nations this year?

VICTOR PEREZ: Oh, wow, yeah. Yeah, I thought -- obviously France played great. I was delighted at the finish. It was sad they lost the first game to Ireland, but if I were to choose, I'd rather lose this one and do well in the World Cup than the other way around.

Q. I think this is kind of a tenuous connection, but growing up in a team sports environment like that and being so familiar with that, do you think it makes the appeal of something like the Ryder Cup more to you because you had that background, unlike some other golfer who was just playing an individual sport their whole lives?

VICTOR PEREZ: Yeah, I think so. I've grown up playing all sorts of team sports, which are nice because you win together and you lose together, so you get both sides.

I think the wins are greater and the losses are more tragic when you go into a locker room and everybody is sad; whereas I think in golf with the fortune that we have to play so many events every week, you play great, you play bad, the next week is always massive.

Whereas if you lose a final in a team sport then you have to wait a whole year before you play that final again. Yeah, it's an environment I like, and, yeah, I try to draw from it for sure.

Q. You were a psychology major in college, at New Mexico?

VICTOR PEREZ: Yeah.

Q. Do you use that a lot in your golf, and do you use it more in match play where you try to psych out your opponent?

VICTOR PEREZ: Maybe. I don't know. It's a hard question. I don't know if I really use all that much from my college degree or whatever.

But I mean, I don't think you really try to psych out your opponent and try to do something. Eventually you just try to play the best you can. There's no tricks to match play. I don't think you want to turn into this type of player that's known for being like, oh, he's weird when he plays match play and does all sorts of funny stuff to try to win a hole.

I think at the end of the day the best player is probably going to win regardless of what you do, so I try to take this approach more.

Q. You're right on the lip of qualification for the Masters, so are you using this week to hopefully propel you into that?

VICTOR PEREZ: Yeah, I was happy obviously to play in last week, which was a perfect lead-up because I hadn't played since basically the start of February in Europe, so it was nice to get an event before going into this big week.

But yeah, it is a big week. It would obviously be nice to have a great week, get into the top 50 and play the Masters a couple weeks from now. It's a great incentive, definitely a big added bonus if I were to do well.

Q. How old were you when you first played match play, and do you remember just taking to it immediately, or did you have to sort of figure it out?

VICTOR PEREZ: Well, back in France when we're like in junior tournaments, we've played -- I guess our main championship at the end of the year was match play. You do two rounds of stroke play, and then you do a bracket type tennis format where you go up to the thing.

We've played that from under 12, under 14, under 16, under 18, so we've played a lot of match play growing up. It definitely helped.

But again, it's just how much can you really draw from your 12-year-old match play experience. It's hard to say.

THE MODERATOR: Victor, thank you very much for your time. All the best this week.