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FBR OPEN

February 1, 2008

Pat Perez

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Pat Perez to the media center interview room at the 2008 FBR Open. You're obviously here because you're playing very well. You ended last year playing really well. You finished with three Top 30s highlighted by a tie for 6th, I think, at the Frye's Electronics Open. You come back in 2008, first tournament out of the gate a tie for 5th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Here you are today. You've obviously got to feel good about your game.
PAT PEREZ: I do. It's coming around. I've been working hard on my fitness and working hard on my swing, so they're both starting to come around.

Q. You weren't happy it looked like at the end of the day yesterday.
PAT PEREZ: No.

Q. You finished with a bogey yesterday?
PAT PEREZ: I three-putted 17 for par, and I bogeyed to go from 4 to 2. So no, I was not in the greatest of moods when I left here. But I knew I was playing well, so I came out to get them today.

Q. Do you enjoy playing with Tommy? Do you guys kind of vibe out there and feed off each other?
PAT PEREZ: I played with Tommy for the final round of Q-school, and I've probably played with him 200 times since, 250 times. We hang out all the time. We go to dinner, we travel, I stay at his house. I see Tommy a lot, a real lot, probably more than anybody out here. You know, we have a good -- we always play practice rounds, we go to dinner, I see him all the time. Playing with him today was just like playing on Tuesday, which was -- it was comforting. It's always nice to play with someone you get along with and someone that you have a lot of interests with.

Q. Do you still get upset like you used to, or are you kind of mellowing?
PAT PEREZ: No, I'm not. I think it's more of -- wasted energy would be it. I actually don't really care anymore (laughter), to be honest with you. I've just gotten to the point where you're going to hit bad shots, they're going to come at wrong times, and you've just got to deal with it and move on.

Q. Some guys get -- like Calc says he needs a certain amount of steam to blow out there.
PAT PEREZ: I'm not Mr. Cool out there, let's be honest. But I know how much is enough now, put it that way.

Q. You talked about working on the fitness end of things. What exactly have you been doing?
PAT PEREZ: I've got my new guy, Joey D., who was with Vijay for all those years, so I've got him now. I got lucky to get him. It's like boot camp with him, it really is. It's early morning, then golf, and then at night. It's twice a day, and he's on top of it. He's real serious about it, and he believes in me and what we can do, and I think we're going to have a good team.

Q. Do you still live right here in the neighborhood?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah.

Q. Is that a good thing or a bad thing when you're playing? Obviously you played well at Frye's?
PAT PEREZ: I don't know.

Q. Is that a non-factor?
PAT PEREZ: I don't think about it either way.

Q. Do you do those power cords with Joey?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, power cords, ball work, it's all speed, speed stuff, which I've noticed a huge difference. I was hitting 40 by guys the last two days. I can see a huge difference from where I was. Last year on this course and this year on this course, the numbers I had in was just a lot easier.

Q. Shorter irons?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, a lot easier. Par 5s I've got 4-irons into. I've got 6-iron into 3. I've got 3-iron into 15. It's just a lot easier. I can drive 17. It makes your game -- it definitely makes it a lot easier.

Q. When did you start the fitness?
PAT PEREZ: Well, I worked out at Athletes' Performance here in the off-season, and the guy I was working with Jeff Banaszak went with Rory, he's Rory's guy now, so I didn't have anybody. So I just happened to bump into another buddy of mine, and he said Joey is looking for another guy. I said, perfect. This was Hawaii. We started on Tuesday and I finished 4th. I said, hey, we've got to make this happen. If this is how it's going to be, then I'm all yours.

Q. What prompted you to --
PAT PEREZ: Well, nothing really. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of being overweight. I'm not getting any younger and it's not getting easier to lose weight. It's a whole bunch of things. I want to play on Azinger's team this year for sure. That's one thing. I love Zinger, he's great. I think he's going to be an unbelievable coach. But I need to take certain steps to get there. I want to get into Match Play. I'm 64 right now in the world. If Ernie is not playing well and takes 65, I don't want to have to rely on that. I want to be in the 50s. I want to get into Doral, I want to get in the Masters. I want to get into all these tournaments by just getting into them. It's a whole big process, and there's a lot of parts that go with it, but I'm trying everything I can.

Q. When is the Match Play deadline?
PAT PEREZ: After Pebble, after next week.

Q. So this is a big week for you?
PAT PEREZ: The next two are, yeah, this week more than not, because if I play well this week I won't have to play next week. If I was even close, let's say I was 62 or 61, I probably wouldn't play next week just to get in.

Q. Do you like this tournament, 16th hole, Bird's Nest, just the party vibe?
PAT PEREZ: I am a party guy so I do enjoy it, and if I wasn't playing I'd probably be there. The fact that I'm an ASU guy helps as well, because I've got a lot of friends in those tents, ASU guys and sponsors. I've got a lot of friends there. It's still nerve wracking. It's the hardest shot in golf we hit out here. It's only 156 yards, and it's one of the hardest shots you'll hit, the nerves. Because you know if it's not good you're just going to get roused. But it's fun, I love it. If you don't like it then I guess don't play it.

Q. Have you gotten roused here before?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, when I missed my one-and-a-half-footer today on 16 for par I did, but that's how it goes.

Q. How much weight have you lost since you started this?
PAT PEREZ: I haven't really lost any. I've transferred from the stomach up, which is what you want (laughter). I've just gotten a lot stronger.

Q. Can you have a beer or anything like that with this new regime?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, if I win Sunday I'll have more than one (laughter). During tournaments I don't drink at all anymore. But off weeks I'll have some. But if I go on a five-week stretch and I'm working all the time and I'm doing this and this, when I go home I've got to get away from it, I've got to vent, so I'll sit down and have some wine or whatever and get back later in that week. It's not like I checked into the Army, but it's a different routine, and I like it.

Q. Do you think you can get any of your habits to rub off on Daly?
PAT PEREZ: No, it's impossible. He's here right now, too. I love John to death, but I just don't know what it's going to take for him to want to -- he wants to do it, too. That's the thing, he actually does want to do it, but I don't know what it's going to take, a miracle. I have no idea.

Q. Maybe if he sees you doing well?
PAT PEREZ: No, he's seen me do well in the past. I've tried the last two years when he's had no status, "John, come on, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this."

Q. Is he here for the Super Bowl?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, he's doing sponsor stuff. He's got sponsors that are doing stuff. I wish to God he would turn it around because he's so good for the game. It's not the same without him around all the time.

Q. When he comes to town does he call you?
PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I talk to him all the time. I'll probably see him tonight.

Q. What kind of sponsors? Hooters?
PAT PEREZ: No, it's a car company. They're here, so he's doing stuff for them.
DOUG MILNE: If we can just run through your birdies real quick, just give us some clubs.
PAT PEREZ: 1, I hit sand wedge to about two feet and I lost the skin on that hole to Tommy's eagle (laughter).
4, I hit driver, 3-iron just left, chipped in for birdie -- yeah, on 3.
11, I hit driver, 8-iron to about a foot.
13, I hit driver, 4-iron to eight feet, missed the putt, tap-in there.
14, made about a 12-footer.
15, I hit it just short of the green in two, chipped up, made about a six-footer.
Three-putted 16.
17, hit driver just right of the green, chipped up about eight, ten feet, made that.

Q. Did you feel like you got as much as you could or not as much as you could out of that round?
PAT PEREZ: I'm still not comfortable with that putter on Bermuda. I just switched to this new Taylor Made putter. In Hawaii it was unbelievable, but then I get on these kind of greens -- the ball has got to go in absolutely perfect here, so you start missing a couple you start getting a little weary on, you know, your lines or your speed or whatever. I kind of struggled with that on the back.

Q. That putter looks huge.
PAT PEREZ: It is.

Q. What is it that makes it a good putter?
PAT PEREZ: Well, the weight is in the back of it which helps the putter to go through, and then the lines in the face help it roll. So for greens like this it's ideal. You get bumpy greens, like next week, it might be tough. So I don't know.
DOUG MILNE: Well, Pat, congratulations on a great round today and best of luck on the weekend.

End of FastScripts

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