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

BANK OF AMERICA COLONIAL

May 21, 2004

Craig Perks

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

TODD BUDNICK: Welcome, Craig Perks, after a 1-over 71. Craig you're sitting 5-under par for the tournament, one back of the leader. A little different day than yesterday after your 6-under 64, but I think the weather conditions were also a little bit more difficult.

CRAIG PERKS: It played extremely tough out there. The winds were gusty and swirling, obviously the greens burned up a lot. When you play late in the day after all that traffic, they get a little bumpy, but it was a lot harder than yesterday, no question.

TODD BUDNICK: You made a great comeback. You started the day 4-over after your first five holes and fought back with four more birdies and another bogey. Talk about overcoming that start today.

CRAIG PERKS: I hit a great drive on 1 and hit 4-iron to the green, and hit a very poor shot and couldn't get it on the green for my third. It threw me off because I was feeling great after the tee shot, considering how poorly I hit my driver yesterday. That's what threw me off. And when you get in the horseshoe there, it can snowball in a hurry. I was really driving it extremely well.

I did drive it extremely well today. I tried to remain composed, and at one point I just -- nobody is really doing anything out there, I know Justin was 7-under after 12 or 13 holes, but 6 or 7-under was the lead. I just tried to remain patient. I was proud of myself the way I hung in there and turned what could have been an awful day, down the road day, into still one back of the lead. I get more pleasure out of those. Obviously I'd like to shoot 64, but I'm more proud of what I shot today than yesterday.

Q. Despite the 64 yesterday, you said that your confidence still really wasn't that high. Where were you with that walking off the fifth green? And then the way you finished, with your overall confidence, do you think this round will help that?

CRAIG PERKS: Yes, I got really mad of myself in the middle of the 6th fairway. I hit a great tee shot and never committed to my iron shot. I said, come on, man, you're playing good, you don't have to throw it away. Like I said, I gained a lot more confidence playing the way I did coming back.

Yesterday it was nearly too easy. Everything kind of fell into place. I holed some chips and every time I hit a bad shot I would get back into position. Today it was just a grind, every shot, every hole. Starting today and the conditions I would have taken 1-over. 4-over after 5 I was just trying to break 80. I would agree with you, I gained more confidence. I'm extremely proud to fight back the way I did and now I've really got a great chance coming into the weekend.

Q. Where do you think you found that today, to be able to do that to get back to that mental thing?

CRAIG PERKS: I was playing well, I really was. I hit a great drive on 1, and completely messed up.

And 3, I had a beautiful tee shot and just overclubbed.

And 5, I hit the shot I wanted to hit, but I overcut it. I never hit -- apart from the second shot, I never hit awful shots. They were all good solid shots there, just maybe not the right club or not on my intended line. So it wasn't -- I just kept plugging along and continued to hit great tee shots. I knew it was a tough day, so I just told myself to hang in there, and I did. I did a great job of that.

I think if everyone was shooting 6 or 7 or 8-under today and I was 4-over after 5, it might have been a little different, but I knew par out there today might have been 1- or 2-over. A couple more birdies and I would have been right back to where I need to be.

Q. On 14 there, your second shot, is that the type of shot that keeps these type of rounds together?

CRAIG PERKS: Yes, I got a nice break there. I actually hit a great drive, really solid, and it never turned over with the wind and when I got down there, my caddie said, there is a fence over there, out-of-bounds fence. In the past it probably would have scurried through and gone out of bounds, but it stopped and I had line of flight through the scoreboard and I got a nice break to get it back in play. That typified the day really. I got out of position and got back into position and grinded my rear end off to make pars in there.

Yes, those things keep you going. I could have made a five or six there and not birdied a couple of holes coming in. It was a good break. And you're right, it kind of keeps the momentum going.

Q. Maybe you're just happy to be in a position to contend on the weekend, but I wonder what it's like when there are so many people clustered together here. It really looks like literally dozens and dozens of people.

CRAIG PERKS: I don't really care or look at how many people or who's up there. I know that I'm playing well, and in the past when I have played well, I've performed extremely well out here, so I am playing well. I really didn't feel that much pressure out there today. It might have looked it starting off, but I felt comfortable and as much in control as you could be on a day like today. I'm just looking at what's leading. Who is up there doesn't really concern me.

Q. How much more difficult were the wind conditions today? Obviously you see the scores, as far as how much more in terms of pulling clubs, was it a 2-or-3-club difference?

CRAIG PERKS: It was huge because you had to take into consideration the greens had dried out a lot and the winds were swirling, so you had to pick the correct club at the right time. I fought all day pulling the right club. I took way so much more time trying to pull the right club. Usually I react to the number and pull it and rip it. It was hard, it was hard to pull the right club, and the wind swirled around these trees and then take into consideration how firm and fast the greens are getting, it does make it difficult pulling the right club.

Q. What's been said about you and your game, when you had your good weeks, they've been really good weeks and they don't seem to get away from you once you get it going. What do you think it is?

CRAIG PERKS: I gained confidence early on in my short career out here. When I did play well, I had a second at the Honda and I had a sixth at Disney. When I played like I knew I could then I competed, and obviously I played great at THE PLAYERS and winning there. I'd like that to happen a lot more. That happens once or twice a year. I don't know what it is. I just feel when I play well, I'm in control. I can control my emotions, my short game is great, and when I'm driving it well, I can make some birdies. I don't know, I don't know what it is.

I think some players get -- I probably shouldn't say this, some players get near the win and they're afraid to win or whatever. I don't play very well. I may play well twice a year, so I have to take advantage of it and I've done that. I think that's what it falls back to. Some guys might get up there every single week, and I have to grab every opportunity I can get because I don't get very many of them.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your card.

CRAIG PERKS: I hit a great drive on 1. I had 215 yards and tried to hold a 4-iron against the wind and lost it way to the right and hit trees and it kicked further right. The best I could do is run it into the front bunker there and didn't get it up and down.

3, I hit a beautiful tee shot around the corner, hit an 8-iron that flew through over the green. I kind of expected the wind to -- it kind of swirled around through there. I thought it was more really right to left and in and it was kind of right to left and down, and I didn't get that one.

5, I overcut my 3-wood off the tee into the hazard on the right. I had 220 yards, hit it in the left bunker and didn't get that one up and down.

7, I had a 3-wood down there and I hit an L-wedge to about 10 feet, made that one. It was a really good putt. It kind of wiggled it's way down there and that was a bonus.

11, I hit a great tee shot. I hit 2-iron in the left-hand bunker and got that up and down.

12, another good tee shot, hit 9-iron to four feet, I guess, and made that one.

13, I was kind of in between clubs, I hit it in the back bunker, which you really can't do, and didn't get it up and down.

17 hit a 2-iron and sand wedge to probably about 8, 10 feet left of the hole and managed to wiggle that one in.

TODD BUDNICK: What was the club on 13?

CRAIG PERKS: A 6-iron.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297