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BANK OF AMERICA COLONIAL

May 20, 2004

Craig Perks

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Currently in the clubhouse Craig Perks, 6-under 64, no bogeys, 24 putts. It looked like a great day on the golf course for you.

CRAIG PERKS: I got off to a great start. I hit a poor drive on 11. I got it down there and hit a sand wedge real close, and that kind of got me going. I did struggle with the driver a little bit, but hit some really, really good iron shots. And my short game was as good as it always has been.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I know you're looking to make your first big breakthrough of the season, do you feel like you're on the verge of that?

CRAIG PERKS: Not really. I've been working harder than I ever have. I saw some good things last week, although the results really don't show it. I'm still really struggling with my driver, but I've been working hard. I think what paid off today, I didn't have to drive every hole. I hit a lot of 3-woods and 2-irons. I hit solid iron shots. This is a tougher golf course. It's certainly a second shot golf course and it's easier if you're playing from the fairways. But to answer your question, I didn't see it coming, but it's certainly not from lack of hard work.

Q. When you won THE PLAYERS, you decided to go through an overhaul of your swing. I'm wondering if you could talk about the problem and where you are with that now.

CRAIG PERKS: Well, it was something that I thought necessary, had to be done. If you go back and look at my ball-striking statistics nearly every year on Tour, they were very, very poor, and I think what happened when I did make those changes, I lost the ability to score, to play this game. And I was still very, very mechanical over every shot last year. And at the end of last year I was so disappointed with the way I played, I just said I'm not going to worry about it, I'm going to spend the whole off season and work on my short game. It didn't really make any difference, I was still hitting it poor.

I mean, it's certainly a game of confidence. When you continue to play poorly week after week after week, you lose -- I certainly lost a lot of confidence. What I've done is -- I didn't at the very start of the year, I didn't go back to the guy that I tried to overhaul my swing with, so I didn't see him in about 6 months. And after the Honda -- well, actually after the Masters, I was so disappointed with the way I was playing -- I played with Adam Scott and Stewart Cink in the Masters, and I was very, very impressed with the way they played.

Their stature is a little bit similar to mine, but they played completely different. Adam has a nice draw on the ball, and Stewart has a fade, and I thought maybe it's time to go see Butch. He was kind enough to let me go out there the Monday of Charlotte, and I spent four or five hours out there with him. And it was a really, really great. The bottom line, he's got me pointed in the right direction. It was just one day with him, but you've got to let all those things go. And I had tendencies in my golf swing that you can't try and change on the golf course. I think that's what I learned really over the full extent of the time of when I really did make those huge changes in August of '02.

Q. What you're trying to accomplish now --

CRAIG PERKS: When I tried to overhaul my swing, I took -- the way I setup to the entire back string and entire through swing and I changed everything. It's so difficult to play that way. I just would go through so many check points over the shot, instead of worrying about where the travel was and so forth.

What I got from Butch is I have tendencies, we all have tendencies, and not to worry about improving the whole package, just try to improve the things I don't do very well consistently. I got back to not really worrying too much -- my short game has always been incredibly good and I worked hard on the off season and it's as good as it's always been, and today I made some great putts and great iron shots. Everyone has got tendencies, it doesn't matter what they are, and I'm going to try to improve those instead of overhauling the entire golf swing.

Q. Having won a fantastic event with the strongest field in golf, how difficult was it for you to decide to make those changes? It seems there are guys all over the TOUR that do the same thing. It's like you reach the point where you want to make a change for the long haul or something like that, but how far tough is that decision?

CRAIG PERKS: It wasn't difficult at all for me. When I looked at my statistics at the end of 2002, even though I was 36 on the money list. I was 195th in ball striking. There were only nine guys that hit it worse than I do. I knew I needed to do something. I think the way I went about it was incorrect. I should have just stuck with a method and made minor changes instead of completely overhauling the whole thing from day one. Just making little changes and going to something else, instead of starting with the setup and backswing, instead of doing it all at once. It wasn't a bad decision, but the way I went about it in hindsight was incorrect.

Q. How many glimmers of hope did you see this year?

CRAIG PERKS: Well, actually, to be honest with you, the results don't show it, I played recently well on the West Coast, I missed three cuts by a shot, and I couldn't putt it in the ocean to save my life. I played well at Doral. When I get to Florida I play well. I didn't play that well, but I played okay at the Honda, and then I absolutely lost it at Bay Hill. And from that point out, it's been a horrendous slide. Even when I won in '02, I am going to work as hard as anybody out here, and I'm going to work on the right things. I had no confidence. I was just seeing so many bad shots, bad shot after bad shot.

Like I said, I've worked hard. I feel like when I could actually get on a roll and hit some solid shots, I could gain some confidence. Not that I hit it great today off the tee, but I hit so many great iron shots, I thought if I could get it anywhere around the fairway, I would hit a great shot.

Q. With your struggles with the confidence, what's the farthest off the deep end you've gone?

CRAIG PERKS: Well, I would say the lowest of the low this year was at Augusta. Somehow I was actually playing quite well, I was 1-under for the day, 3-over for the tournament standing on the 18th tee and I managed to get the drive in the fairway. And I hit my nemesis, which is a big hook left of the green and ended up making double bogey and missing the cut by one. There ended up being 44 guys on the number, so I could have been one player, but it was one shot. That was completely the lowest I felt absolutely -- I mean, I don't know, I was just nearly lifeless. I just had no energy, I had no passion, no nothing.

After that one hole, I was really excited about the way I was playing up to that point, but that was the epitome of how my game was. I could play okay, but when it came to crunch time I missed up. That's when I tried to get ahold of Butch. I watched two guys play different styles of games who both work with him and I thought, well, this is not the way it has to be, everyone has to do this, and that's kind of what I was going through with Steven when I was working with him for 18 months.

That was the lowest of the low. I never gave up, I never quit. I love to compete, love to be out here competing against the best players in the world. And obviously with my win at THE PLAYERS it allowed me the opportunity to play out here three more years, and I love being out here, love playing and this is what we play for.

I've had a lot of lows, but I still feel when I play well, like today, like even at Doral after a couple of days, and certainly at THE PLAYERS, I can compete. I just don't play very well very often, hopefully now I can gain some confidence from this and continue on the right path.

Q. You talked about coming here and the driver, that's been your worst problem. How many drivers did you hit today? And also it seems like you've improved the category that caused the swing changes in the first place. Your ball-striking obviously is the best part of your game right now?

CRAIG PERKS: Not at all. It's still my short game, chipping probably and then my putting, but my iron game was very, very good today. I hit driver today 7 times, I think. I hit about two of them good. I seemed to miss them in the right place. Like I said, I had some great breaks today when I hit the driver out of position.

For a perfect example, on No. 6 and 7, I drove it way left on 6. I had a clear shot and made a 35-, 40-footer or something.

On 7, I drove it way to the right, clear shot, over some sheets, just barely over the back of the green and chipped it in. The days that haven't been going so well, it would be clear underneath a tree and I would have had to chip it out and made 5. Like I said, I had some good breaks and I took advantage of them.

Q. You mentioned the driver, is it technique you think, has it become confidence, mental, have you tested a lot of drivers?

CRAIG PERKS: I have had the same driver for years. It's not the equipment.

Q. It's mental, I guess?

CRAIG PERKS: I think it's both. I think I have a flaw there that we're working on it. I hang back at it and my hands get very, very active, but it's confidence too, because I don't know where it's going. One time, for some reason, I will try to hit a nice draw and block it to the right, and on another hole it will go left when I need to go right. It's a point of actually not knowing where to aim or not knowing where to go. When I stand up there and make a good swing, I hit beautiful drives, it just didn't happen so much. So it's certainly confidence, and there is a little mechanical flaw there.

Q. On seven other tee boxes I guess you were able to hit something else. Did you mostly go to the 2-iron?

CRAIG PERKS: I think I hit 2-iron maybe three times and the 3-wood four times. I was able to get those pretty much in play. On No. 9, I hit a great shot, but it went through the fairway into the bunker. Maybe I'll hit 2-iron off every tee tomorrow.

Q. A lot has been made about how this course is different than courses you guys usually play. You mentioned your irons made a difference for you today, do you like the change of having to depend so much on your iron play like you did?

CRAIG PERKS: I think it's refreshing to play a golf course like this. Obviously this is a very traditional golf course with a lot of history and it's stood the test of time. We need to have a wide variety of golf courses on the PGA TOUR. I think there are a lot of golf course like Hilton Head and Riviera and certainly a place like this, Westchester, and it's nice to have a mix. I don't have a problem playing -- I play well and poorly at any course. To me it's how you're playing. I don't have a problem not hitting driver on every hole and I don't have a problem standing on every hole and smacking drivers as hard as you can. It's refreshing to have change.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Let's go through your round and we'll follow-up with one or two last questions. Start on the back side, birdie on 11, par 5.

CRAIG PERKS: I drove it to the left, but it got past the bunkers and I laid it up with a 4-iron. I hit sand wedge from 100 yards to about a foot. That was nice.

17, I hit a 2-iron and a beautiful 8-iron in there and made probably about a 15 footer, maybe.

18, I lost one to the right with a 3-wood off the tee and it hit the tree and kicked way back into the fairway and I had 200 yards, a running 5-iron up the green, and it went over the green and I chipped it in. It was certainly a bonus.

Q. You chipped in from behind the green?

CRAIG PERKS: Just barely over the green, so 15, 20 feet probably.

No. 3, I hit a beautiful drive there, it shocked me, high draw around the corner. Hit probably the best iron of the day, 9-iron right over the flag to about eight feet behind the hole and knocked it in.

7, I hit 3-wood to the right, had a perfect opening around the trees and had a perfect opening, 9-iron just barely over the green, and chipped it in again, just on the upslope from behind the green, so about 20 feet.

Q. What are your expectations when you come out here tomorrow? It seems you don't really know what to expect from one day to the other.

CRAIG PERKS: I do know if I can play well I can compete. In the past, I had a great idea of what I need to do with the driver and certainly with my irons to try and hit good shots, I'm unable to do it right now. Any time I think a round like this, it certainly gives me confidence. It shows me I can still play. Sometimes after a long, long dry spell like I've had, you maybe start to doubt yourself, so it's nice to -- and I've done it every year out here. There's not that many I've played well, but when I do play well, I win or I finish second or fifth at Doral. I know if I can play well, I can compete.

Q. Two chip-in birdies in the same round, it sounds like things have been going away from me, it's probably been a while since you've had that, what does that do mentally for you?

CRAIG PERKS: I can tell you this, if I hadn't chipped the way I had in the past and this year, certainly I wouldn't be breaking 80 any day. It's not surprising at all the way I'm chipping, two just happened to fall today. I know that if I can -- like I said, if I can manage to get it anywhere around the green, I'm going to get it up-and-down. I have so much confidence in my chipping just because I've had so many chip shots and I've had to chip so much. It's a nice thing, I think that's what helped with my iron game today, that I knew -- although you have to be real precise, even if I wasn't, I was going to get more confidence with the iron shots I did.

Q. What did Butch say when you saw him, you need help or you're pretty close?

CRAIG PERKS: He said I've checked your stats the last two years and there's not one good stat in 30 stats I've looked at, and I can sense and understand your frustration. Like I said, I spent 5 hours with him, and the way he handled the lesson was great. He looked at swings right at the start on video, didn't really say too much, and we made some changes. And then what impressed me the most is he kept printing -- he would take these pictures and write this stuff on the screen and keep printing. I had no idea what he was doing. At the end of the day he handed me the library of photos, probably 40 or 50, and every one had my bad swing on the left screen with the changes and the good things I was starting to do on the right. It was such a great visual aid. I could see what was better and what it will help me to do.

It was one of the best lessons I've ever had just because I had such visual enforcement when I left there. I've studied those pictures every single night and I have a good path that I'm on and right now I've got to see some better shots and gain some confidence and I'll be on my way.

Q. Are you going to see him again?

CRAIG PERKS: He is a very, very busy man and I think that's what I appreciate most, is that he took time out of his busy schedule to let me in and spend four or five hours with him. What impresses me even more is he's probably called me six or seven times, I saw you had a good round, you struggled here, I saw you drive. I feel like he's showing a tremendous amount of interest even after one 5-hour lesson. I'm not playing next week. This is the fifth week I've played in a row so hopefully I can get out there and see him next week.

Q. You hooked up with him at Wachovia. Did you go out to Vegas?

CRAIG PERKS: I flew from New Orleans. Late Sunday night I flew to Vegas and spent Monday with him and flew all the way from Vegas to Charlotte to get in Monday night.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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