The Official 'Double P' Blog

By Steve Elling
CBSSports.com Senior Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The clubhead cover on Pat Perez's driver is a boxing glove, which, despite his reputation as a guy with a short fuse and pugnacious attitude, is apropos of nothing, he insists.

So be it, since in the third round of the Wachovia Championship, he was less the fighter and more of a scrambling cut man.

Hours after Perez made the 36-hole cut on the number, he torched the Quail Hollow Club and threatened the course record before matching the best round of the week with a 7-under 65 on Saturday morning, jumping squarely back into the mix heading into the final round.

In no uncertain terms, he expressed his opinion of the PGA Tour's ever-evolving cut policy, which has twice been revised in 2008 and left plenty of players grousing in both instances.

"The cut rule was ridiculous, stupid," Perez said. "Guys have been bitching about it all year."

Often with good reason, as his scintillating third round underscored. The tour annals are littered with occasional stories of players who caught fire on the weekend to get back in contention after making the cut by the slimmest of margins. Most recently, Chris Couch rallied on the weekend two years ago to win in New Orleans after making the cut on the number.

Perez pointed a finger in his own chest to illustrate the lunacy of the evolving rule. I'm Exhibit A, he said.

"Seven or eight back is nothing," he said. "That could be nine holes."

After starting the day 10 shots off the lead, he'd just cemented that fact with his little black pencil by shooting 30 on the front nine.

Perez was one of 87 players to make the cut Friday night, a staggering number compared to the ideal standard around 70 players and ties. Because of slow play and occasional difficulty finishing in the scheduled television broadcast window, the cut policy was dramatically overhauled in the offseason.

In January, the revision debuted amid a firestorm of criticism. The rule called for the field to be trimmed to the low 70 players and ties, but in the event that more than 78 earned the right to play on the weekend, the number would instead be reduced to those with scores closest to 70th place. In the year's first full-field event in Hawaii, 18 players were sent home who would have played on the weekend a year earlier.

By the ninth week of the season, it had been overhauled again, thanks to near-universal screeching from the rank-and-file players, who felt they were being denied a chance to earn a check. As it currently stands, when 36-hole survivors number more than 78 players, a Saturday cut is used to pare to the number closest to 70 and ties.

Perez had three-jacked the final green of the second round, seemingly to miss the cut by one shot, and fired his putter at his bag, with the club caroming wildly. Perez said he walked into the scoring center and "beat the hell out of a trash can."

Then he got a phone call. The cutline had moved and he was one of 21 players tied at 1-over 145 who earned a late-afternoon reprieve.

"You know, I think it was a stupid rule, and I'm glad they changed it back," he said. "I was telling my buddy Ron last night, you're going to have some guys come out early in the morning and they're going to shoot 6, 7 under and they're going to be right back in the tournament."

Perez was determined to be that guy. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he played ultra-aggressively and birdied six of the first seven holes. When he holed out from 81 yards for an eagle on No. 15, he was within a shot of the lead and 9 under for the day.

Had he not bogeyed the last two holes, he'd have broken the course record. As it was, he tied the front-nine mark with a 30. It was bound to occur sooner or later, with somebody who entered the weekend on the razor's edge. There are too many good players on tour. World No. 5 Adam Scott made the cut on the number and shot 66, also giving himself an outside shot Sunday.

"It does happen," Perez said. "That's the thing, you get lucky, you get out there early, you get out at 7 o'clock, you get some sleep, you've got no wind. Greens are perfect and you can take advantage of it, and I just happened to."

Stewart Cink, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, noted that even with 87 players on the course in twosomes Saturday, play seemed to be moving along well enough. But where do you draw the cutline, exactly?

"When I was out there today, I was thinking, why are we having a cut today, because we're playing twosomes," Cink said. "Everybody is going to finish unless there's a rainstorm."

For next year, another storm of sorts is in the pipeline. The tour is considering paring the cut number to 65 players and ties. Whatever number is selected will be unsatisfactory in some camps, of course.

"When they're (bunched) that close together, it's just so hard to come up with a cut at all," Cink said. "If you do the old 10 shot rule like in the past, you're going to have 120 guys make the cut sometimes."

As for the here and now, Perez remains in position to mount wild rallies on a couple of fronts. At No. 58 in the world rankings, he needs to move up eight spots over the next few weeks in order to secure an automatic invitation to the U.S. Open, which will be staged on his home course outside San Diego, Torrey Pines.

"I can take care of a lot of things tomorrow," Perez said.

Thankfully, he'll get the chance to try.

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Those bogeys on the final two holes Saturday didn't exactly leave a good taste in Pat Perez's mouth.

Considering that 24 hours earlier, Perez wondered if he would even make the cut at the Wachovia Championship, the stumbling finish might be a tad easier to swallow, though.

Perez's round of 65 was the low round of the tournament to date and vaulted him into contention at 6 under. He played the front nine in 30, tying for the lowest ever at Quail Hollow Club, and finished more than two hours before the leaders teed off.

"I finally made a couple putts," Perez said. "It's out there. There was a little wind. The pins, except for a couple, like 8 was ridiculous, but the rest of them were pretty accessible. You can make some birdies out there."

When Perez left the course after three-putting the 18th hole to shoot 73 on Friday, though, he wasn't a happy camper. He thought he might be heading for Florida -- and next week's PLAYERS Championship -- early.

The fiery Perez, who has a pair of head covers that look like boxing gloves, even admitted to a few well-placed swipes at an unsuspecting trash can. He got a call that he had made the cut on the number, though, and he plotted his strategy with one of his friends.

"I told him, look, I promise you you're going to find at least three or four guys that come out and shoot 67, 66 and get right back in the tournament," said Perez, who was up at 5 a.m. for his 7:45 date with Charles Warren.

"It's going to blow in the afternoon and the guys are going to be right back in the tournament, and I just happen to be one of them. That's how it goes."

The last man to make the cut on the number and win a PGA TOUR event was Chris Couch at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Perez, who like Couch that year, is looking for his first PGA TOUR win, would love to be the next.

If that happens, Perez will undoubtedly point to a putter that awoke from the doldrums on Saturday. He made eight birdies, one eagle and three bogeys while using just 25 putts.

Perez set the tone for the morning when he birdied his first four holes, and six of his first seven. The birdie putts ranged from 17 inches to 27 feet.

"That's what it is for me -- it's putting," Perez said. "I hit it as good as anybody. I'm going to hit it fine. I'm going to hit it in the fairway. I'm going to get it on the greens. You have to make your putts out here.

"The short game is the whole thing out here. Look at Adam Scott last week. Two huge clutch putts to win. That's what it takes. He could easily have missed that 9-footer and been over."

Of course, Perez didn't even need to use the flat stick on the par-5 15th when he holed a wedge from 81 yards.

"I knew it was going to be good," he recalled. "It's such a funnel area where that pin is, and I thought, I know I can get it to within six, eight feet. It hit perfect, and I thought it was going to spin and I assumed there was going to be a little bit of a roar, but I didn't expect it to go in. I'll take it."

A three-putt at the 17th and a drive into the fairway bunker at No. 18 -- two finishing holes he said are "right up there with TPC (Sawgrass)" in terms of difficulty -- cost Perez a chance at the course record, though. So it remains at 64, shot by Kirk Triplett (2004), Bo Van Pelt (2006) and Rory Sabbatini (2007).

Still, Perez knows he got everything out of his round. He's particularly pleased with the way he doggedly kept pushing forward after he got under par.

"That's what makes Tiger so unbelievable," Perez said. "If he's 1 under, if he's 10 under, he's still going to play as aggressive as he wants to -- and he should. He doesn't think about, oh, no, I'm 5 under, let's cozy in. He wants to get to 12. That's the thing. That's what I'm working on the most.

" ... Why not? You're playing good. Why get nervous? Let's make some more birdies. You've got to be aggressive. It's a cutthroat game. You've got to keep going for it."

Just like Perez did on Saturday.

Pat Perez entered Friday afternoon riding that cut line. Saturday morning, he finds himself a few strokes off the current lead and officially in the hunt at this year's Wachovia Championship.

E looked like the magic number this weekend, but that slowly crept to +1 by day's end on Friday. After an opening round 72 for Perez and sitting pretty at -1 after 15 in round two, it looked like smooth sailing in regards to seeing the weekend. A bogey-par-bogey run down the stretch changed all that, putting PP at +1 after 36.

Come Saturday, Perez rattled off six birdies in his first seven holes and the tear was on. -6 at the turn, PP picked up another birdie on #10, gave a stroke back on #13 and went birdie-eagle on #14 and #15 to put him at -9 on the day.

From there, the three hardest holes at Quail Hollow followed, with Perez going par-bogey-bogey to close out a stellar third round of 65.

Next up, the waiting game. Perez is currently two off the lead - which will obviously shift as the day progresses. The only guarantee - a later final round tee time than the 7:54am ET start Perez saw on Saturday.

Tune in Sunday for final round action at this year's Wachovia Championship.

Pat Perez was hanging tough early in the opening round of the Byron Nelson Championship. After opening with three straight pars, Perez bogeyed #4, birdied #5 and netted five straight pars as was E before another birdie on #11.

Perez held at -1 until the wind started howling during the final few holes of his round. The result was three bogeys and a double for Double. -1 quickly became +4 and Perez now has his work cut out for him on Friday. The projected cut is currently +2 so a second round 67 or 68 needs to be in the cards if PP wants to see the weekend in Irving.

Tune in at 12pm CT Friday and follow Pat's scorecard all day by clicking here.

Check out the footage on PGATour.com when Fred Albers interviewed Pat Perez on XM Radio and going -8 for 64 in his Sunday round at the Shell Houston Open. Click here to watch the video and read the transcript below:

Fred Albers: Pat, you didn't leave much meat on the bone out there today, although you say it could've been lower?

PP: Yeah, I hit in the water on six and made bogey there. I had a stretch of 11, 12... I missed from about six feet. I missed a ten-footer on 11. I rolled it right over the edge for eagle on 13... 15, I had fifteen feet.

It was a good day. I made my fair share. I made a couple long ones... but you always say, "what if?"

Fred Albers: I'm gonna say -8 qualifies as a very good day. Was there any indication this round was coming?

PP: Not any chance whatsoever...

Fred Albers: That's golf. You never know when it's gonna bite you or when it's gonna pat you on the back.

PP: I've been hitting the ball great the last two weeks. I just haven't been able to get the ball in the hole. I was leading in greens last week and finished 12th... this week I hit a lot of greens and I'm just not getting the ball in the hole. I said today, I'm just gonna roll it.

Once you see a couple go in, you start to actually believe you can make one (finally) so that's what kind of happened to me. It kind of snowballed today and I know I was hitting it well, so...

There's some tough pins out there but you can make a 25 or 30 footer out here like nothing because the greens are so good...

Fred Albers: I thought all week the course lends itself to a quick start 1, 2, 3, 4 and that's exactly how you started today - with four birdies

PP: It was nice to get off to that kind of start. Five's a good hole, six is kinda tough, seven's tough... It's a good course. It'll reward your good shots and if you can putt you can shoot nothing out there.

Fred Albers: Probably not enough to get you into Augusta next week, but probably gives you some good feelings with an off week.

PP: Yeah, I'm gonna take two weeks off. I needed to finish about third last week to get into Augusta. as I'm 60 in the world now. Yeah, I'm disappointed but that's my favorite one to watch so we'll have some fun.

Fred Albers: You're having a good year and can still have a great year. Have a good week.

PP: Thanks.

After posting 69-73-72 in the first three rounds of the Shell Houston Open, Pat Perez is off to a 'blistering' start on Sunday. Perez opened with four straight birdies and then a par-bogey-par stretch before birdies on his next three holes.

A front round 31 set up what could be an exciting back nine. Follow PP's scorecard the rest of today to see how low the kid can go. Seven strokes off the lead with seven to play doesn't have Perez on the fast track for his inaugural victory, but a top five finish could be in the cards after what looks like a stellar Sunday.

Stay tuned.

Pat Perez is in Humble, TX this week coming off a T12th finish at last week's Zurich Classic in New Orleans. A top five finish was needed to crack the Top 50 in the World Golf Rankings, so The Masters appears to be out of reach for Perez... unless he can notch his first Tour victory this week at the Shell.

PGATour.com's T.J. Auclair seems to think this is the week Perez gets it done - again, picking him as his sleeper of the week. Auclair writes:

"I just love watching this guy play. He's gotten much better about playing with his emotions on his sleeve, but he's intense. Intensity, to me, equals someone who cares. I'm not saying Perez cares more about winning than his fellow competitors. What I am saying is that he's just too good not to have won yet. After a tie for 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he's clearly swinging it well. Don't be surprised if he sneaks up on the field in Houston."

Preach on, T.J.

Redstone G.C. is one of the longer courses on Tour and a hell of a warm up for next week's event in Augusta. It's a bombers course and one spot remains in the Masters' field if this week's winner isn't already in the field. The incentive is there for somebody and a 'W' is there for the taking.

Could this be the week? Tune in tomorrow when PP tees it up at 1:30pm local time.

Pat Perez felt he needed a top five finish at this week's Zurich Classic if he was going to crack the top fifty in the World Rankings and qualify for The Masters in two weeks.

That being the case, he's off to a solid start and Augusta might not be too far away.

After opening with a 71 on Thursday, Perez fired a Friday round of 70 - closing with a clutch birdie on the day's final hole. -3 entering the weekend, PP is currently five shots off the lead.

Perez's five birdies over two days have him T72nd in that respective category, while 29 pars have him T1st. With 31.5 putts per round, Perez is tied for 80th that category. Perez is ranked first for the entire field regarding greens in regulation, averaging 86.1 over two days.

Saturday's tee time is set for 10:45am CT and Perez is paired up with Harrison Frazar.

PP checking in here. It's been a while since I've written, so I wanted to drop a line. Every since I picked up the iPhone, I haven't always dragged my laptop out on the road with me. I just need something to check email and follow the live leaderboard during the tourney and I can do all that on my phone. Headed to New Orleans today and only out for two weeks, so I brought the laptop and felt it was time to chime in.

Just spent a week back home in Scottsdale after two straight Florida events. Wound up T31 at Bay Hill after a double on the final hole. That cost me a few bucks and some ranking points, but I'm hitting it well right now and I can live with that. The putts just aren't falling. When they do, look out.

I've played in eight events this season and I've made six cuts. I'm currently #62 in the world, which prompted this trek to the Zurich. This is the last week to qualify for The Masters and I need to slide up twelve spots to qualify. I'm guessing it'll take a top five finish this week to make that a reality. It might take some aggressive play for that to happen, so tune in this week. Things could get interesting.

I definitely enjoyed my down time back home this week. It was necessary. Weather was perfect in Scottsdale and it gave me some time to tool around with my cars and hang with friends. I picked up a Ferrari 430 a few months back and definitely miss driving it when I'm on the road tooling around in a courtesy car. Definitely got in some drive time last week.

Played some golf, grilled up some steaks at the house and went out a few nights with some local buds. Joined a new club back home and spent some time up there working on my game. Last Friday we had a surprise 40th birthday party for my guy Jay Francis over at Right Toyota, one of my sponsors.

Played some golf during the day while the party planning was underway and was in charge of keeping Jay away from all things party-related. Things went off without a hitch and Friday turned out to be a blast. You should've seen my red plaid jacket. I'll get my guy to post a pic as soon as he can. That thing is ca$h money.

Time to get back to business. Big week ahead and I know what I need to do to get in The Masters. Haven't been to Augusta since 2003 and never thought it'd take this long to get back. Dying to get back in and ready to do what I need to do at the Zurich this week to make it happen.

Pat Perez was feeling it on Thursday, but the putts just weren't dropping. A few lip outs were the difference between a respectable round and a +3 round of 73.

On Friday, Perez left nothing to chance. Playing aggressive and going for the pin, PP started hot with birdies on three of his first six holes. His lone blemish of the day came in the form of a double bogey on the par-3 #17, but Perez responded with a birdie on#18 putting him at -2 at the turn.

Another birdie on the par-4 #1 before the shot of the day - an Ace on #2, a par-3.

Perez wrapped up Friday with a -5 round of 65. He's currently T19th entering Saturday and is seven shots off the lead. Tomorrow's tee times will be announced shortly. Check back later.