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AT&T NATIONALJuly 5, 2008Tom Pernice, Jr.BETHESDA, MARYLAND JOAN vT ALEXANDER: We would like to thank Tom for joining us for a few minutes in the media center at the AT&T National, 10-under par leading going into Sunday, must be a pretty good feeling. TOM PERNICE, JR.: Sounds good. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Just talk about today. I know you didn't quite get out of your game today what you wanted to, but you're still right there. TOM PERNICE, JR.: Well, you play the game long enough, that happens. The last 12 or 13 holes, I hit the ball really nice and gave myself a lot of opportunities, but just didn't hole any of the putts. My speed was a little bit off, which caused me to miss some. I misread a few, and some of the putts, when you get above the hole are pretty tricky here. So all in all, very happy. A little shaky starting off. Missed a couple fairways and ended up bogeying 6 from missing the fairway. After that, I feel like I really hit the ball pretty good, gave myself a lot of chances, and I think going forward tomorrow, that's what I need to do. I just need to hole some putts and get some momentum going and go from there. Q. Sort of the good/bad scenario in terms of how many times have you had a round where you shot under par on a golf course that's relatively difficult and didn't make a putt over five feet; that's pretty impressive ball-striking. TOM PERNICE, JR.: I wasn't aware of that. Like I said, towards the end of the day, I really hit a lot of good shots. I missed I think the fairway at 1 and 4 today, and got it on the greens at least. The opportunities were there, and like I said, I feel pretty good about my ball-striking, and I feel good over the putt or I need to do just a little better job with the speed and some of the reads. I'm looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow, and it's been a long time. So, been working hard and be interesting to see how it goes tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it. Q. What went out on 2, where you sought relief, and did that hurt your concentration throughout the rest of your round? I believe it was the second hole, either the second or third where you hit into the second cut off the green? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Well, my ball was just off the back fringe basically, and it was in a sodded area on a seam, so we just asked for relief there. We got relief and dropped it just three or four inches from there and I was able to chip it up and make the putt. No, that didn't have any effect at all. Q. You said it's been a long time. Has it been a long time since you've been in the final group before? When is the last time that happened? And you've been around this game for a long time; is that an advantage to you? TOM PERNICE, JR.: I think last year I was leading going into the last round at Flint at the Buick, and I played pretty poorly; I shot a couple over last year. So, you know, I don't know if it's an advantage or not. There's a bunch of guys on the leaderboard that are four or five shots back that have a great opportunity. I've got to go out there and perform better and shoot a good score to win a golf tournament. I can't worry about anything else. It's just a matter of me being able to control my emotions and go out there and be able to execute and do what I need to do. Q. Given that it has been a while, does it make it a little easier that you guys are cueing it up early tomorrow morning and don't have to sit around and think about it all day; that you can get up and go at it early? TOM PERNICE, JR.: I don't think so. We play at such a variety of times, I don't think that it matters one way or the other. I like having plenty of time and so it doesn't bother me to tee off late in the afternoon. We tee off anywhere from 6:50 to 2:00, and I think if you play enough, I don't think it's really going to make a difference. But I think there is some bad weather so we need to try to beat it. Q. Would you talk about your birdie on 17 and what kind of lie you had on 18; was that a good shot, an ordinary shot? TOM PERNICE, JR.: I think I hit a pretty good tee shot on 18 actually. The wind has been right-to-left and today it was left-to-right. Misjudged that and hit it left in the rough. It was not a great lie, but I was trying to land it ten or so yards short of the green and knew it would run you have a little bit. I knew if it ran up short, it wouldn't be a problem. Ended up having a bad lie but it had a lot of grass around it on both sides; so I just tried to smash a 9-iron out of there and land it short and let it chase up. It worked out okay. 17, beautiful 7-iron I cut in there, pretty good number, I just needed to trust it. And I had a pretty similar number that I had on 15 going up the hill, but with the adjustment uphill and downhill, it worked out to be the same. Hit a beautiful shot to about a foot or two. That was nice, a little bit of redemption or some of my good shots today. So that was obviously nice. Q. How much grass did you have to putt through on 18? TOM PERNICE, JR.: It was about a yard or two off the front edge, so not much. They are mowed pretty short here, so really didn't have much effect and it was downhill three fourths of the way. Q. Surprise you when Jeff took the driver out at 17? TOM PERNICE, JR.: I know some of the long drivers do. I heard J.B. had done it earlier. The wind was behind us today and had it been across most of the week. No, I've seen how far he can hit it and I know him well enough, so I didn't think about it. Q. Did you think about it? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Did I? No. (Laughing). JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Can we go through your birdies and bogeys? TOM PERNICE, JR.: On 6 I bogeyed, pulled it just into the left rough. That's somewhat of an iffy lie. Thought I could cut my 7-wood out of there and cut it into the middle of the green. I got a little steep and pulled it and ended up there just short; the bunker is on the left. Didn't hit too bad of a pitch out of the rough and ran by eight or nine feet and just didn't hit it hard enough and it broke across the hole. No. 8, I hit a wedge, I don't know, it was probably 12, 15 feet probably just below the hole on 8 and rolled that one in. And then 17 was, I don't know, a couple feet probably, so not a lot of excitement there, but you know, it was a pretty clean round really starting on No. 7 in terms of ball-striking-wise. I hit a good shot also on No. 5. So it wasn't too terrible. Q. How much do players like lift, clean and place? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Oh, I don't think we like to play it as a rule. You know, if the conditions are -- no, I don't think we like to play it. I think when they are getting mud on the ball, they definitely like to play lift, clean and place, but as a rule, I think the players like to play the way we are used to playing and the game the way it's meant to be played. So, you know, we probably play it too often out here in my opinion, but I think they are on the cautious side in case it would have rained all day. The rules aren't more mud on the ball. It's for the course being unplayable is what lift, clean and place is for. Like sometimes our TOUR officials are on the cautious side a little bit too much. But that's their call, not mine. Q. Was that the case today? Could you have played it without it? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Yeah, I didn't have any mud on my bull all day today. But I don't know what the forecast was. It could have had a possibility of rain all day, so they could easily have been going that direction. Q. Trying to get a sense for tomorrow, a couple of times you've been around the lead, Disney comes to mind, Memphis was another one; as long as you've been out here, it seems like there's so many people around. At what point throughout your career when you've been in contention do you realize that there's no point in looking ahead; you've just got to go post a score? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Well, I think it's pretty much that way most every week out here. Very few weeks is there one guy that's running away with the tournament. Scores, especially this year, have been bunched quite a bit and there's a lot of people that have the opportunity to win golf tournaments. Ultimately on Sunday, you have to step up to the plate and get it done. I think most of us know that. You know, I think to me, that's what is so amazing about Tiger is Tiger gets himself there all the time and continues to step to the plate and gets it done. That to me is the most amazing thing about Tiger is not only does he get himself in contention all the time, but you know, he gets the job done. He has the knowledge and I think the trust in himself and he seems to get it done most of the time. My hat is off for him to be able to do that. Q. On a setup like this, how many guys are in it, do you think; how deep do you go? TOM PERNICE, JR.: You know, I don't know, but I'm sure somebody that's five shots back can go out and post a good score; you never know. I shot 63 earlier in the week, so that's 7-under, and a guy gets to 12, possibly, you never know. Q. Where it Brooke sing this year, the National Anthem? TOM PERNICE, JR.: The National Anthem, the week of Memphis -- she sang at the Padres on the Wednesday night of that, and she sang the National Anthem on Sunday of Memphis at Dodger Stadium. She is trying to do a little bit of promoting to help Derrek Lee from the Chicago Cubs. His daughter of three years old has the same disease that Brooke has, so Brooke is trying to bring awareness to his charity, which is Project 3000, and because of the new research that's going on, they are finding cures for her disease through gene therapy. But there are 3,000 people that have this disease they estimate, but they don't realize there's a cure. And they need the blood samples to continue the gene therapy. So Brooke is trying to help Derrek and we are trying to help Derrek Lee with his charity, Project 3000 to bring awareness to these people that have this disease that thought there was no possible cure; and there are, and all we need to identify is the gene and his charity will pay for the blood work. So she's trying to help Derrek, and it helps the process for the gene therapy process that's going on. I played good on Sunday and had to hang around and missed it but Berman got a copy of the CD from ESPN and I got to see it. I called her and I didn't feel too good about it and she said, "Hey, you played that good. You might have a chance." And by that time I think Sergio got in and posted a better score and I couldn't catch him. No, she's doing awesome. Q. Should we assume the voice comes from mom? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Neither one of us. It's a gift from the Father up above. She's an amazing girl, and awful proud of her. Q. Is there a time limit on that in terms of when it can help her? TOM PERNICE, JR.: They are doing some research right now and have found for her particular gene that she has, because there's several particular genes that cause this disease, and they are doing research right now in Europe. And there's three or four people that are having good success with her particular gene. So there are some great opportunities around the corner. We're excited. It could be a ways away, but there's some pretty exciting stuff happening with the gene therapy. We are just trying to help Derrek and his family, because he's in a little bit of a panic because his daughter originally could see, and now she's lost sight in one eye and starting to lose it in the other. We are trying to do what we can for Derrek and his family because we've been there and there are some possibilities; and it would be sad if all these people that have this disease aren't aware of the opportunities and they don't find cures for this because of lack of blood to be able to test them. So we're trying to do what we can to help, and it's exciting. Q. How did you get hooked up with Derrek? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Through the ways of the Foundation For Fighting Blindness and the Carver Institute and the people that are doing this. We got on the Internet and saw that Derrek Lee had gone on this, and Sydney, my wife had gone and met with he and his wife and found out about it and his charity and we've tried to do what we can to help. Both of those games, the Cubs were playing the Padres that day, so they were able to put up on the scoreboard about Project 3000 and what's going on with Derrek and that and Brooke. And then the Cubs, the weekend at Dodger Stadium and she was able to basically do the same thing. So we're just trying to get the information out there. I think it's on Derrek's Web site, Derrek Lee of the Cubs, so it's pretty exciting stuff that they are doing. We are hopeful and see what happens. Q. Did Brooke grow up a Dodger fan? TOM PERNICE, JR.: Brooke doesn't care much about sports. She's a music buff and a history buff. She's an unbelievable history buff from World War II to Civil War. She sits and reads books on CDs all day, every day, that's all she does. She's not much into sports. But she's a true patriarch. She loves singing the National Anthem, so it was fun for her. JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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