BUICK OPEN

August 9, 2001

Craig Perks

CRAIG PERKS: My thoughts start of the day I was going to be aggressive off the tee. I took driver on, I guess 12 and 14 and tried to really take advantage of the par 5s that were downwind. And I just got off to a good start birdied 10 and bogeyed 12 after a poor tee shot -- I drove it well and took advantage of the par 5s and the greens were getting torn up a little bit in the afternoon and I made a lot of good putts, made a lot of good, you know, 4-, 5-footers for par. Then I made some good birdie putts.

CRAIG PERKS: The greens certainly are soft but they are firming up. I wouldn't say there's no rough. Obviously it's dry so you can get through it a little bit easier than it would be if it was damp. I thought the wind was tricky out there today. It really was. A lot of the tee shots were crossing left-to-right, right-to-left and these fairways although generous, they are tough to hit. You have got to kind of maneuver the ball in there and if you get five or ten yards out of the fairway you have got (inaudible) and trees, although they look generous I find them to be tighter than what they look. I think if the greens continue -- if they were firm starting today and with the wind drying them out they were extremely firm then it would be a lot more difficult but you are right they were (inaudible) coming out of the fairway.

CRAIG PERKS: I think the birdies help a little bit. Certainly not -- no question it was hot out there. I actually think was hotter on Tuesday than it was today because there were more birdies today, but we are drinking bottles of water every hole and we are never going to the bathroom. I think it is hotter out there then where I am from in Louisiana. So it's certainly hot, no question about it.

CRAIG PERKS: I would say -- I would say it would have a little something to do with it. I felt we actually played quicker than in the past or in general, we never really seemed to wait on any tee. A couple of par 5s maybe coming home that were reachable we waited, but I don't think the round was any slower than it normally is.

CRAIG PERKS: I certainly hope so. I have really started to play well although if you look at my record I missed a bunch of cuts. There's a lot of them by basically one shot, maybe two, and just coming down the stretch in a lot of those tournaments I couldn't make the birdie that I had to or couldn't drive it in the fairway where I had to. Although it's been a very inconsistent season I felt like I played reasonably well, if you can say that by missing cuts. I have started -- it's probably been about the last four weeks or so I have really started to drive the ball a lot better, got a lot of confidence in my driver. Actually struggled with my putting. Today I really putted well. Past three, four weeks I have struggled with the putting. I have a lot of confidence. I can drive it well. It sets me up for my own game. I hit a lot of good iron shots. Obviously when you make the putts it all comes together.

CRAIG PERKS: I think if you can drive it well and take advantage of the par 5s - obviously they were downwind today so they were reachable but no question -- like I said, I find these fairways generous but tough to hit because if you are five yards out of the fairway normally you just hacking out of the rough, where here if you are, you are in the trees, you have got no shot at all. And there's a lot of left-to-right little right-to-left and actually a lot of these holes today the wind was on the right-to-left holes, the wind was left-to-right and on the left-to-right holes the wind was right-to-left. I found them difficult to hit. But I had been driving it well, so I took advantage of that.

CRAIG PERKS: It does seem a long time ago but I think what it's done -- last year I had made hardly anything coming into this time of year and I really played well towards the end of the year to finish 136. This year I played well at the start of the year -- not -- to be honest but I didn't play well at the Honda. I just took advantage of the good shots, made the putts. I felt like I played as well as at the Honda these last 3, 4, maybe 5 weeks, I just haven't made the putts. So there's no panic yet. No question. I feel like I am playing well. I feel like I can compete out here. Maybe with 95% of the players, it is -- just the rest of it is a lot more -- I need to gain more experience. But no, I am not panicking yet and I feel like this is not luck, this is just how I have been playing and I have kind of took advantage of some good shots today.

CRAIG PERKS: Well, I think the greens in the past -- I have only played here last year. I found these greens some of the hardest -- hardest or firmest and toughest to putt. These greens are a lot softer than they have been from last year. So that made it more -- a little bit easier to play this afternoon. I think if they started off firm and with the wind they nearly would have been, you know, you couldn't keep it on the green. I think the advantage I have tomorrow morning is that there's probably not going to be as much wind and they are going to be a lot smoother. I guess you'd say they got baked up and see a lot of footprints, they probably need a lot of water. But I mean, I think you -- any time that you play well in the afternoon you do have an advantage in the morning because you are getting out without any wind on perfect greens, we are second off. You have just got to keep playing well. If you don't play well it's not an advantage at all. It is a good way to start the event, doesn't matter when you tee off.