home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 9, 2004

Pat Perez

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Pat Perez, thanks for joining us. First round 68, good score for you, but probably more importantly you got your first round in and you get a chance to rest a little bit.

PAT PEREZ: I didn't -- I wasn't going to play. I had food poisoning yesterday, and without the delay I wouldn't have played at all no, way. I didn't sleep last night more than maybe an hour the whole night. I mean, it was brutal. And, you know just hoping it was going to rain all night, and it did. So I got lucky, I got real lucky to be here today.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Played well today overall?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, it's pretty much how I have been playing; I just haven't been scoring. I made the putts today that I haven't been making, which turns 74 into 68, it's that simple. It was just nice to finally get out there. Things went well for 18 holes. I had two 3-putts, but it was playing so hard that bogeys were going to come.

Q. Just describe the conditions of the course today as a result of the rain and the challenges it presented to you.

PAT PEREZ: Very hard. It was -- the course, the greens took it real well. The fairways were soft. The rough is long. I think the biggest thing was the wind. The wind was just howling out there all day. When we got to the range this morning, it was brutal. We knew it was going to be a long day. I tell you, it was a struggle, to say the least, out there.

Q. The fairways, the superintendent here was saying that was the biggest chore, getting those ready, how did you find them?

PAT PEREZ: I think they were awesome. I actually talked to him before I played on Tuesday and he said the course was good. I got out there and played, I tell you, it was nice. The fairways are awesome. The greens are rolling superb. The course is in great shape, great shape.

Q. Was putting really the difference for you today, when you look at three of your last four events, I think you've missed the cut.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah.

Q. Today, was it just the putter got going?

PAT PEREZ: It's been like that all year. I had a bad stretch there from February to April, and then I made ten of 11 cuts and only made -- I think I only made 200,000, making ten cuts. So I just four bad weekends, not making the putts. I think I'm ranked like 150th in putting this year which is not good. My first two, I was 11th. So that's really the big difference.

I'm hitting it a lot better than I have been ever, but just don't put it in the hole fast enough. That's the difference, and today was the difference of making the 4- or 5-footers and a couple 20-footers. It was actually real nice to see.

Q. When the wind is up like that, obviously it requires a lot of patience. Does that maybe favor some of the more experienced players, and is that of a drawback perhaps for a player with a little less experience like yourself to adjust to that?

PAT PEREZ: No. It basically favors the guy with patience. I really have no patience. I don't know, I guess not feeling very well helps me with that. I did the same thing at Pebble. I was as sick as can be at Pebble, and it's almost like I wasn't worried about playing. I was just worried about getting around. I really didn't feel that much pressure today and I haven't felt that in a long time. So I guess if I could figure that out, how to do that another three days, I'll be all right.

To answer your question, it's just being as patient as you can be. You're going to get some bad breaks. The wind is going to get you some way or another. It's just not getting upset because it's obviously happening to everybody out there.

Q. Was it something you ate?

PAT PEREZ: I think it was Gino's Pizza -- I don't know if it was the pizza my coach came in on Tuesday; he got sick. He thought it was the airplane food he ate. He was sick as a dog anyway. Then I went out that night, we went out Tuesday for dinner and I felt fine. I woke up the next morning, got to the course, 20 minutes later, I had a fever, throwing up; it was a horrible, horrible feeling. I don't know if it was a bug or the pizza. I never met a piece of pizza I didn't like, but somehow it made me sick.

Q. Tell us what airline you flew that actually gives you food. (Laughter.)

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, what did he fly -- he was flying American. He ate some -- I've told everyone, don't ever eat the airplane food. It's terrible. He had this chicken parmesan type thing. I said, this thing must have been sitting there for two months. But you don't eat the food on the plane, that's for sure.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your round. You started on the back side with a bogey on No. 10.

PAT PEREZ: Birdie putt, right out of the gate. Old me would have been done. Old me would have gone to the car. I figured I might as well stick it out. I hit driver, 3-wood, wedge. Wind was howling and thought it would go further than it did. The putt, it looked like the wind just picked it up and carried it just past the hole. Started off with a 3-putt there.

And birdied 11. Hit driver and a little 8-iron about 20 feet.

14, driver, 2-iron, about ten feet.

17, 3-putt, driver, 2-iron about 25 feet above the hole and ran it by about six feet and missed it.

18, driver, 7-iron, about 25 feet just past it, 2-putt.

8, driver, 5-iron about five feet.

9, 3-wood, 8-iron to about 12 feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Any other good par saves?

PAT PEREZ: I had a good one on 15. I was buried in the short rough. That pin is right on the other side of that mound there. I hit wedge, I thought the wind was going down. It was going straight into the wind on 14. Good one there.

That's about it. It's pretty neat and simple. I got up-and-down from the bunker on 7.

Q. When did you get rid of the old you?

PAT PEREZ: The old me? Probably this morning when I threw it all up. (Laughter.)

No, I didn't get mad today. I've been working on not getting as mad and frustrated and down. Just waiting for it all to come together. You know, it's hard at times, but it's a lot easier when you see putts going in.

Q. Are you still going to be like a go-for-broke kind of guy out there?

PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah. That's what got me here. My first year was my best year and that's what I did. Basically, you have to. If you play for pars out here, you're not going to be playing out here much longer. That's the way it is. Even par gets you nothing out here.

Q. If the wind is not up tomorrow, will this course play quite a bit differently?

PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah. A lot different.

Q. A lot easier?

PAT PEREZ: It will play easier -- it will play easier because the fairways are still real wet and you can go at the pins a little more. But the wind is just brutal. It's two or three clubs' difference on some holes.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Pat Perez, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297