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VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 14, 2014Pat PerezPALM HARBOR, FLORIDA Q.  Pat, you get in at even par on the day. You had an adventure on 6 and 7. Start there with what happened on the two double bogies. PAT PEREZ: I've been working on not tipping the shaft over coming down until the club gets vertical. I did it twice and then you can't hit that far out of play here. I did twice and just move on and keep going, I guess. Two bad holes, bad timing. I got to 5-under which tried to move up the board a little more and all of a sudden now back at 1 and just had to grind it out. Q. You hit a big shot at 13, chip-in on 1 for birdie. Describe what you did there. PAT PEREZ: I've been working with Joe Mayo on my short game there. I used to have the ball too far back with the face shut and not try to move it up three, four balls and keep the face open so I could hit it high and soft and it was just a perfect shot. I didn't have much green to work with. That's the shot I've been working on. Luckily, it went in. Q. Finally you get in at 3-under. We don't know where it's going to be at the end of the day. How good do you feel going into the weekend? PAT PEREZ: I feel pretty good. I didn't play that great. I didn't hit it that good. It was tough out there with the wind. I didn't have my best stuff. I got it around and hit it in some good spots, made a couple putts here and there. Pretty good. Q. Four birdies and a couple double bogies all adds up to even par here in the second round. How pleased are you with a bit of a rollercoaster today? PAT PEREZ: I am. I started off good then I had a couple hiccups there in the middle of the front-9 but, you know, I grind it out on the back-9 and got it in at even with not hitting it that great today and I just kind of start. Q. Thursday a different day of weather from the morning to the afternoon. What did you see here on Friday and how did the course play differently? PAT PEREZ: We had about 7 holes, 8 holes with no wind. Chilly. Not like yesterday but it was chilly. Then the wind started to pick up about 11 and it got blowing pretty good out there, about 20 miles an hour, I think. It's hard. It was a hard course and they had the tees all the way back. Moved them up yesterday for the wind and today they had them back and the wind picked up. I don't think they expected it but it was -- it's a grind out there. Q. A few weeks off before this tournament. What's the most difficult thing in shaking off the rust on a golf course that is as challenging as this? PAT PEREZ: Just stick to your game plan. I had the same thoughts I was working on on the West Coast. If I can get the club and the face in the same position, at least I have an idea of where it's going to start. Just keep building off that and, you know, with the wind and the course being tough and pins being tucked, you got to have a good game plan. Q. What were you saying about the two swings? PAT PEREZ: You know, we've been working on matching the face and the path. My path was too far left with a shut face. Now I'm trying to swing with an open face. Q. You're talking about chip shops? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. Yeah. I never had the ball too far up so I never used the bounce. Never could get the ball high enough, quick enough to stop. So, I've been doing a lot of short game. Jerry Kelly helped me with that before even we went to Hawaii. He did the same thing. He kind of helped we with some stuff with Joe Mayo. I've just been working on -- I've been getting up and down a lot from hard spots and basically learning how to chip. I guess I never really had the right technique. Now I have a little bit of it. Q. Were you one of the ones that had a hard time coming off the grooves? PAT PEREZ: No. It was so steep anyway I could still spin it. Now that it's not, I don't even really notice it. I don't know where the line is with the grooves anyway but -- even bermuda with the old grooves you still get flyers but I haven't really noticed anything. Q. The two swings on the double bogies, you said you did two things. Pretty technical about it. PAT PEREZ: I need to get the club to where it doesn't -- the club doesn't get vertical coming down. When it gets vertical, the face shuts. That's where I had hooks, bigs hooks. Doesn't do that. If the club stays on plane and the face stays open, the path goes to the right but it can't hook. That's where before I didn't know that information so I thought I come over the top and it's actually not correct. The shaft gets vertical and the face goes left. That's how -- Q.  Closed club face. PAT PEREZ: That's how it starts left and hooks. That's been my big problem. Q. Joe your swing coach as well as short game guy? PAT PEREZ: Yeah. He's everything. Q. You've had a bunch of good finishes this year. What's the key behind all that? PAT PEREZ: Understanding where the ball starts. My starting line is totally different from last year. Q. How so? PAT PEREZ: It starts more right. Starts probably I'd say a good 15 degrees right of where it did last year. I can actually hit a proper draw. Before I could never hit a draw. Joe has taught me to swing more to the right with the open face which gets my club more on plane coming down. I used to fall back and flip it through. Now I go forward and hold the face open which allows me to hit, I guess some people call it a push draw, but it's just a proper draw. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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