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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPENJanuary 30, 2014Pat PerezSCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Pat Perez to the media center. Pat has some hometown ties to both here and Torrey, and it's the second time he shot 65 in the first round here. Last time was 2010. If you could give us some opening comments about your round. PAT PEREZ: It was a good ‑‑I had a little rough start there, and I had some good shots on 1, 2. And 3 I just hit it right where I wanted to in the bunker there on the right. I drew a bad lie and blew it over the green, put it over the green and made a bad 6. I wouldn't say it calmed me down, but I got in a different frame of mind. I didn't really know what was going to happen after that. I knew if I kept hitting good shots and I could give myself some looks, I could make some birdies out there. It was nice. Playing with Joey Snyder, he was on my national team, and Darren Angel, you know, came here with me. We all won the Championship in '96. It was kind of nice to go over old stuff with Joey and new stuff, and, you know, play with Colsaerts who hits it like 50 miles, and it's just unbelievable to watch how that guy hits. It was incredible. It was a nice morning. It was warm for once, it was calm, it was just a nice day. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions. Q. You had to be brimming with confidence coming off of your recent play. I assume you had to be expecting a good week this week? PAT PEREZ: You know, I didn't know. You can have that ‑‑I was so ‑‑I didn't even sleep Sunday night. I had so much adrenaline going. Then I had to drive home. Once I got home, and the party got bigger and bigger on Tuesday, you know, and I didn't sleep. Yesterday I didn't get off the couch at all. Yeah, I just figured if I hit it good‑‑ you know, this course isn't as hard as Torrey, but I knew I was going to hit it good. I warmed up this morning. I got out here early. I hit it great on the range. I thought, we can see what happens. If I make some putts like last week, we can have another good round. Q. I'm not sure what the offseason is in golf anymore, but did you work anything in the "offseason"? PAT PEREZ: I worked with Joe May (phonetic) the last couple months now, and he tried to entirely change my swing, which he has. My swing was always too far left going through and hitting a fade, and he's got me with a face‑open swing out to the right, and it's amazing the difference what I have seen. This course, I have so many bad memories of hitting so many bad shots, because I didn't really know what I was doing, and now I can actually see it. Like 16, where that back pin is, I have been everywhere except near the hole. Today I just thought, you know, same stuff, hit it hard, and it drew off, you know, right off my target, and went to four‑and‑a‑half feet, whatever it was. It was nice to know that I could hit it when I needed to. I've just made a lot of changes. I haven't been working out or anything at all, but I have just been trying to ‑‑ I've hit more balls, done more practice than I ever have in my life the last couple of months. I wasn't really worried about the gym, because I knew I would be golf‑strong if I hit enough balls. I'm hitting it farther, I feel great, and my knees don't hurt now, back doesn't hurt. I'm getting golf‑strong. But I knew that I had to do a lot of work to get out of what I was doing before. Q. With swing changes, it usually takes a while. Has it gone quicker for you? PAT PEREZ: Yeah, a lot quicker. Like last week, they totally changed something else, and on Monday I didn't know if I was going to be able to play. Because I hit half shots for about two hours. I said, Well, how in the hell am I going to get on the course hitting 4‑irons all day hitting half shots? This is not the hope. Okay. And I just started working. Then on Wednesday I started hitting, you know, longer shots. And I go, You know, I might be able to play well. The 67 on Thursday was ‑‑that's got to be one of the best rounds I have ever played, especially out there. Just coming along nicely. You know, I'm not at that point where I expect to be world beating, because I'm always thinking about, what am I going to do? I don't have this thought of an end result, or I should be winning every week. I don't have any of that stuff. I'm just kind of thinking, you know, one shot at a time, and let's try to hit the right shot here and get it started right. It's a real different mindset as far as I don't see the end result, because I know there is a long time to go still. I'm just happy with the progress. Q. How long has this process been so far? PAT PEREZ: It's been about three months now, and it's been a lot of time and a lot of effort, but he's helped me with it, and, you know, I just keep plugging away. I'm just trying to get it right. Q. You said your knees and back don't hurt. Is that because you're swinging different? PAT PEREZ: Swing change. And I'm working with Joey D. again, and I told him, I said, Right now‑‑ we're just stretching more than anything. I said, But I do want to get back into it where ‑‑ you know, if somebody doesn't tell me to do something, I won't do it, especially at the gym. I hate going there. I want to go and eat carne asada and have some drinks and lay on the couch. I really don't want to go to the gym. But with him, he's that great motivation for me to get going. But I told him, I'm not really going to do it until after the West Coast. But stretching twice a day I feel good. You know, I just basically have been focused on the golf only. Q. What's Joey's last name? PAT PEREZ: I don't know how to spell it. D‑o‑v‑i... I don't know how to spell it. It's long. It's like that long. D‑o‑v‑l‑salvi, something like that. Q. Where is he based? PAT PEREZ: He, Joey. Q. Where is he based? PAT PEREZ: Joey is a he. He's in West Palm. He works mainly with Keegan Bradley but has a huge school down in West Palm. He works with Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, those type of guys. Q. You mentioned the '96 Championship. What about your memories? PAT PEREZ: Unbelievable. I told Joey, there were little pictures, I had them blown up, our team and trophy in the middle. And then my roommate, Darren Angel, I have one of us blown up with the trophy in the middle and us smoking cigars. It was awesome. It was unbelievable. It was fun. I would love to do something like that with, you know, Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. I mean, I'm not thinking that far down, but I can just imagine how amazing, watching it every year, how amazing that would be, because that experience was incredible. Q. What's up with that little car you've got in the parking lot out there? PAT PEREZ: That thing is nice (smiling). It's a Toyota Scion iQ. And if you saw one go down the street, you would laugh. But my buddy down here, Jay Francis, owns a dealership, made that thing, and it's like driving a UFO. You cannot believe the attention that thing gets. It's incredible. It's as long as the table. You see this thing go by, they don't know what it is. It's so cool, it's so fun to drive, especially when it's nice weather like this. Q. You actually drive it around? PAT PEREZ: It's a car. It's a car. The tail folds down, and there is a rack that was built that goes on either side. And the rack comes out, and you can put two sets of clubs on the back and drive it on the ‑‑you can drive it on the fairways because it's lighter than a mower. They took everything out, took the top and all the windows. Everything that wasn't needed is gone. Q. How fast does it go? PAT PEREZ: About 80, full stereo, cooler in the back. It's awesome. Q. You can drive it on the course? PAT PEREZ: Oh, yeah. Uh‑huh. Q. You've always been a real emotional guy and wear your emotions on your sleeve. Going through changes like you're talking about takes a lot of patience. Where are you finding that? Has that been difficult? PAT PEREZ: I think it's age. I think I got tired of being tired of being tired of just, you know ‑‑I don't know. I'm just at a different point in my life. I'm at peace now. I got engaged again, I have an unbelievable girl. Family ‑‑everyone is coming around. Golf is getting better. You know, everyone still brings up Pebble and all that stuff. I say, Guys, people can change in 13 years. I don't know if you guys know that. That was my fourth event ever. I was hot, whatever it was. That's who I was then. I'm not that now. So I'm trying to ‑‑when I hit bad shots, now instead of just getting mad, I actually know why the shot was bad. So now I will go and actually reflect on, What caused that? Face was shut, or the path was left. So I'm trying to teach myself while I'm playing now. I'm not saying I'm not going to get mad again, but it's just the way I am. I have always been that way. But getting older, I'm starting to realize there's more important things than a lot of stuff. You know, I'm going to get married again this year, try to have a child next year. I want to try to be a different type of person when there is a child around. That guy, that kid at 24 is kind of gone now. I'm just more calm all the way through life. Q. What sparked the change? Obviously you have gone through a lot on and off the course the last few years. Was there any single moment? PAT PEREZ: No, there's nothing. Nothing really changes. I mean, I've got to go home and still have to do the dishes tonight and clean the house from the party. Nothing really changes. It's just ‑‑I don't know. Something came, something came, I just became calmer. I don't know if I woke up one morning and it just happened. I don't know. I didn't really try to change anything. I just try to go through life and I guess it's a little calmer. Q. It doesn't sound like you're disappointed ‑‑ obviously you didn't win last week, but describe how that is different than maybe in the past. PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I mean, I didn't sleep Sunday night. I was so pissed that I didn't win, because I finally had a chance, you know. 16 I hit a great putt. 17, you know, I can't believe it didn't go in. I birdied 18. I had a chance. I should have had a chance to birdie that hole to win the tournament. I didn't. And I was upset. But I was also extremely pleased at how I could take some changes like that and play that golf course and be in contention, you know, on late Sunday. That's what I always wanted to be is in contention on that hole, on 18, at least have a look at it. You know, I'm disappointed. I'd like to win. I'd like to be there again. You know, but you move forward. I think that's where I've gotten definitely a lot of different things, is whatever happens, you just move forward from it and try not to make the mistake again or just learn from it or just basically move on. That's what I'm trying to do with a lot of things: just move on from things. Q. You mentioned having a party Tuesday, mentioned having a party tonight, a lot of off‑course things. Are they distractions to you? PAT PEREZ: No, that's part of my life. I like having a lot of people around. I'm not a guy that sits by himself in the dark and, you know, watches Golf Channel. That's not me. I've always got sports on. I've got people always going in and out of the house. I just always have been ‑‑ as you saw when I won, there was 50 people there. There's a reason for that. I like having people around. Just always been that way for me. It's not a distraction. It's calming for me. I get totally off the golf, totally get away from everything. I just love having all my buddies around and everything. You know, it's like I said, this thing I'm going through, I'm trying to enjoy more things as I get older. You know, I just never go to the party, the Bird's Nest, never do everything. I missed the cut for eight years. I thought, why don't you just relax and have some fun and see what happens? Obviously the golf is helping with my swing changes, but, yeah, I'm just trying to enjoy things more. I think Ashley has helped me with that a lot. She's younger. She's 26, and she likes to have fun and she's always up and upbeat and has kind of opened my eyes to a lot of new stuff that I wouldn't look at. I go, It's pretty cool, pretty fun. I'm just enjoying life a lot more now. So maybe it's carrying on to the golf course. I'm calmer when I get there. Q. Since you told us about the crazy car, could you tell us about the belts. Show us that belt. PAT PEREZ: My boy Patrick Gibbons, you know, he made me this for this week, ASU. Q. What's it made out of? PAT PEREZ: I think it's python. Pretty sure it's python. Q. What else do you have over there? PAT PEREZ: I have plenty. Patrick Gibbons' company‑‑ it's handmade. He approached me at the beginning of the year and said, I'd love to take on somebody on the tour. I think you've got the perfect kind of edge and perfect everything. He's a great guy and he makes some unbelievable stuff. You know, it's kind of nice to not have to buy a belt, for one, but you get a guy that really wants you to wear it and make you some cool colors and coordinates some different stuff. It's been awesome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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