After the fun of Wednesday afternoon, it was all business from there on out. PP hit the ball pretty well on Thursday, but his putter didn't cooperate at all. He his 16 greens and ended up only shooting one under par for an opening round 71. Quite disappointing considering how solid the ball striking was.
On Friday, The Kid was in the first group - out at 7:00am. Once again, the ball striking was solid but he didn't get much out of the round - making bogey for six on the final hole, an even par 72 on the day and a bad taste in his mouth going into Saturday's round.
Saturday is known as 'moving day' on the PGA Tour - basically positioning yourself to make that run in the final round. We talked that morning about the importance of getting off to a quick start. PP's birdie/eagle start was just that, however a double bogey on #4 slowed down a lot of the momentum. Still, PP showed great patience dealing with the double and steadied the ship - going out -2 for 34 on the front nine. When he stood on the 17th tee Saturday he was -4 for the tournament with two extremely difficult holes left to play.
His tee shot on #17 was solid, but it left him with a very fast downhill putt which he ran by the hole and three putted - as did many big name players this past weekend. Still, he responded with possibly his best hole of the tournament. He laced a drive up the par four #18, hit a great nine iron which he left six feet from the cup and holed it. PP was the only player to birdie #18 on Saturday and it was a stellar finish compared to Friday's final hole. Jeff Sluman told me on the range afterwards that it was one of the best played holes he's ever seen. Great praise coming from a Tour veteran like Slu.
Double P started Sunday tied for 12th and again, another fast start was in order. -2 after two holes was just what the doctor (in this case, Coach) ordered, followed by pars on #3 and #4. On #5, PP his perhaps his worst drive of the week, resulting in a double bogey. In years passed, this might've been the hole to rattle The Kid and impact the remaining thirteen holes. Not in 2006, though.
He bounced back with a great birdie on #6 and was back on his way again. By the time he got to #17, he was -5 -- again with two difficult holes to play. His nine iron on the 17th hole was five feet left of the pin and 20 feet long, again leaving him a lightning fast putt which sailed six feet past. This was definitely gut check time. PP drained the putt right in the middle, keeping him at -5 and t-3rd going into the final hole of the tournament.
A great drive on #18 and a solid second shot set up an easy two-putt par. His Sunday round of 71 was one of the few under round part of the day... which only exemplifies how solid Stephen Ames' final round 67 was.
All in all it was a great week. PP's ball striking was awesome. He finished the week t-1st for greens in regulation (GIR) and his putter started behaving better on the weekend. Most importantly, he dealt with the pressure of contending in a major championship like a veteran. Not only did The Kid play well, but I got to hang out with my sister AND I predicted PP would 'contend' twice on the Florida swing (Honda and PLAYERS.) Cool.
PP now has two weeks off to savor this one - after playing 10 of the past 11 weeks. Up next, the Hootie and the Blowfish 'Monday After the Masters' tournament and then it's off to Hilton Head for the MCI.
I'm writing this blog from the plane flying from JAX to DFW, sitting next to PP.
As many of you know, I usually spend Monday through Wednesday on the road with PP and my other boy Todd Fischer.
This past week, being such a big tournament - I stayed out for the entire week... and what a great week it was. My sister Josie was on a six week vacation and has never seen PP play on American soil, though she did catch his first British Open last year. Having her in the mix the past few days made the whole PLAYERS Championship experience that much better.
TAIII and Fish always team up during the Tuesday practice round against PP and who ever the fourth may be. This time it happened to be some guy from Fiji by the name of Singh. Armour and Fish were undefeated this year until Vijay and PP teamed up. In the end, it was quite mess as Captain Fiji and The Kid are a pretty solid tandem. I'd take them against anyone.
Fish has the ability to hit a shank on call and throughout the year we've had some fun with that. People watching practice rounds are shocked that a Tour player could actually hit such a bad shot. Being there was a solid gallery out there on Wednesday, we decided to have some fun with it on the 17th hole.
The practice round started with PP, Fish, TAIII and Billy Andrade - who was only going to play nine. Jason Gore joined us on the tenth and brought out told old clubs -- props, if you will -- for the historic 17th tee.
The first order of business was the caddy shot. On Wednesday at the PLAYERS Championship, the caddies all get to hit one shot off the 17th. It's their one and only swing of the day - in front of a couple thousand people and after carrying the bag for sixteen holes, no less. Closest to the pin gets a pool of money donated by the players.
PP's caddy Michael Hartford - a fine player in his own right - stood up there and did our squad proud, nailing a nine iron right into the heart of the green about 12 feet from the cup. The eventual winner left is about six feet away.
After the Great H's stellar shot, it was on to the Tour players. PP, TAIII and JG all hit it on the green. Up next, the Fish man. I stepped in to give him some last minute 'advice' and using one of Gore's 'prop' clubs, proceeded to shank it into the water. The crowd was a little shocked, but we all kept a straight face. I went up to him with more 'advice' and he hit an even worse shank 45 degrees right. He played up the anger and threw his club directly into the lake. By this time the crowed was shocked. JG pulled the other 'prop' club out and told Fish to give it a go with that one.
After purposely hitting his third straight shank into the water, he snapped the club over his knee. It was hilarious. PP was barreled over on the floor wheezing and at that moment, the crowd finally got the joke. Fish took out one of his own clubs and proceeded to knock it on the green, birdie the hole and the crowd responded with a loud ovation. It was priceless...
Tune in tomorrow for Part II of Coach Michael Owen's PLAYER Championship blog entry....
PONTE VEDRA BEACH - The day started with Pat Perez at -4 and tied for 12th behind some of the PGA's most notable names. Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Mike Weir - just to name a few.
By day's end, it was Double P who fought his way to a third place finish at the PLAYERS Championship, tied with Furyk, Camillo Villegas and Henrik Stenson.
Eventual winner Stephen Ames ran away with the tournament (-14), starting the day with a one stroke lead and then netting the best round of the day with a 67. Outside of his performance, second place and beyond were anyone's for the taking. Retief Goosen snagged runner up honors with a final round 69, wrapping up his week -8.
At day's end, Double P's hard fought 71 was stellar under these conditions and considering the world's top talent was shooting upwards in the likes of 77 (Singh) and 78 (Garcia.)
P.P. started his Sunday round netting back to back birdies. Pars were the result on #3 and the treacherous #4, before his second double bogey of the week - this time on #5.
Perez quickly contained himself with a birdie on #6 and three straight pars to close out the front nine at 35.
The back nine was pure consistency with a 36. After a bogey on #10, it was all pars, outside of a clutch birdie putt on #14. Those watching on NBC got to witness this birdie as well as a stellar par save on #17 which in the end was the difference between a third and sixth place tie.
Third place paid $384,000 at the PLAYERS Championship this week.
Next up for Double P -- a well deserved off week. After playing all four in Florida (Doral, Honda, Bay Hill and PLAYERS) it's two weeks off before heading to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Hootie and the Blowfish annual Monday After the Masters tourney and then the MCI in Hilton Head.
Congrats to P.P. on a stellar week and a great run in Florida.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - PP fired a third round 69 on Saturday fueled by five birdies an eagle and nine solid pars.
The only blemishes on the round were a bogeys on #13 and #17 as well as a double on #4.
Perez opened the week with a steady -1 for 71 on Thursday and a hard fought 72 on Friday.
Sunday's tee time will be announced shortly. Sitting at -4 on the tournament, Perez is currently four strokes off the lead, though that could change several times during the duration of the afternoon as many players are still wrapping up their Saturday rounds.
Check back with PatPerezGolf.com for the latest and tune in tomorrow as Double P will make a run at his first Tour win. NBC's coverage begins at 1:30pm ET.
Man, hectic couple of days. Throw in the fact that Internet access has been limited and it's been near impossible to do any of this blogging stuff lately.
Anyways, last few days have been prett cool - outside of the 34th place finish at Bay Hill. Really wanted to play better there, as I have in the past.
Missed the cut by one at Doral, played pretty good at the Honda again - but wanted to score better at Bay Hill. One more week of the Florida swing here at the Players Championship and expecting good things.
Stuck around Orlando on Sunday night as Robert Gamez had his annual celebrity Pro Am set for Monday morning. The Sunday night bash was at the Marriott with the usual suspects there - Hootie, the guys from Sister Hazel and some others. The night ended with a jam session on Daly's bus... as things usually do.
Played the Pro Am on Monday morning and then rode up to Ponte Vedra Beach with JD on the bus the next day. Pulled into town, caught a quick shower and headed over to Vijay Singh's place. He hosts a Monday party for the Players Championship like I do for the Phoenix Open bash at my place in Scottsdale. Lost my shirt in a poker tourney there and called it a night.
Today's practice round was with Vijay, TAIII and Fishbone. Good times with the guys. Tomorrow I am teeing it up with my boy Gore in the Pro Am and we're doing something for Kenny Mayne's show on ESPN. They are going to have us miked, so we're definitely going to be busting on each other - as we always do.
Check your local listings for when it's on. They should have some good sound bites there with us miked for 18 holes.
That's about it for now. Early tee time in the morning, so calling it a night. Gotta be ready for this week. The Players is huge. Would love nothing more than to get my first win at an event like this one.
PatPerezGolf.com has gotten a few emails this week from folks in Florida asking about the logo on his left golf sleeve of his Adidas apparel as well as his Taylor Made golf bag.
The logo is for allCanes.com and P.P. is sporting it this month for the Sunshine State swing as a favor to the guy who runs his website efforts... namely, me.
allCanes.com is a thirty year old family business next door to The U which sells all kinds of Miami Hurricanes football apparel and gear. I launched the website a few years back.
Make no mistake, P.P. is a Sun Devil and product of ASU - especially living in Scottsdale these days - but the Canes are a close second. Not that he really had a choice.
In the years when we were roommates in the mid to late 90s, he was subjected to many long hours of me breaking down film after a loss. He became a fan in those down years and saw the resurgance a few years back when The U won the 2001 National Championship against Nebraska, 37-14 in the 2002 Rose Bowl.
It was an all around special time because it came days after P.P. just earned Medalist honors at Q-School. He came back home to San Diego and a bunch of us headed north to Pasadena for the game. Jason Gore even joined us, squeezed into my Ken Dorsey jersey and we rooted the Canes onto victory.
Above, a shot from the archives of P.P. and I in full tailgate mode pregame. He's playing the role of Dan Morgan and I am doing me best/worst Ed Reed.
A special thanks to P.P. from the allCanes.com family for representing us well and doing us proud this past month.
We're looking forward to one last hurrah this weekend at the Players Championship as he'll be back to his main sponsor Right Toyota starting with the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, SC next month.
Hey Everyone - Happy's St. Patrick Perez' Day. Dropping a quick note from the road. Here in Orlando playing in the Bay Hill Invitational.
Wanted to point out that being on the road, I missed yet another concert back home.
It's an ongoing theme I'll blog and complain about as I never catch a show at home during an off week or the post season - yet the minute I head out on the road again, all my favorite bands come out of the woodworks and show up in San Diego or Scottsdale.
Earlier this month I missed The Cult when they were in San Diego and last night I missed the Pat McGee Band at the Belly Up in Solana Beach.
A few buds went to the show, snapped some pics for me and called during a few of the songs.
Hopefully I'll catch them down the road. My bud Chris turned Daly on to them a few weeks back at my Phoenix Open party and since then, JD hasn't stopped listening to them. He's really into that one song "Haven't Seen For A While."
When he gets a song in his head, get ready to hear it no less than 25 times in on evening. It's shocking. 'His song' used to be Hootie's version of "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You." I think this Pat McGee song just surpassed it.
Word is Daly is trying to get the Pat McGee Band to play a few of his charity events this spring. I know there's something in April and again in June. Hootie, Edwin and all those guys are already signed on so if he can book the PMB, at least I'll catch three good bands all at once.
PatPerezGolf.com has received a handful of emails regarding Double P's swing. At a recent ProAm, PP's coach Michael Owen filmed and breaks down here what he felt was a very stellar shot by his client:
Picture #1 - "PP has great posture here. Feet, hips and shoulders are all perfect aligned." Picture #2 - "In this shot you can see the backswing is on a perfect plane." Picture #3 - "Shorter length backswing we wrote about last week and a square club face at top." Picture #4 - "Club sitting on top of the right forearm - PP's favorite postion to examine during video playback" Picture #5 - "Absolutely solid. Nothing much else to say about this one. Perfect." Picture #6 - "A cut off follow thru as PP was hitting a knock-down shot into a left to right wind."
"For this week's swing tip I'd like to comment on the importance of alignment.
I often tell the amateurs I work with, "PGA" shouldn't stand for "Professional Golfers Association" but instead "POSTURE, GRIP and ALIGNMENT."
When I'm on the road working with PP, there are very few shots that he hits where I am not standing behind him checking his alignment. It sounds like an extremely basic concept, but it has a great effect on the path of the golf swing - which along with the club face, are the two factors which determine the direction of the golf ball.
It always amuses me that I see many PGA Tour Professionals practicing with a club on the ground (making sure they're aligned) - yet the amateurs I see out at Torrey Pines hitting balls feel they don't need the help of the club. Note - if the pros use this tactic when practicing, amateurs might want to incorporate it into their regimen.
There are so many factors that influence the direction of a golf shot. As elementary as it may sound, try practicing with a club on the ground to help your alignment as it can help you eliminate one variable of your swing."
With windy conditions on Sunday, Double P shot a very respectable +1 en route to a 73 on the day and 12th place finish at Mirasol. A 7 on #13 (par 4) was the real difference maker. An impossible lie in the bunker (top of bunker and right under the lip,) Perez scraped out a triple bogey, recorded four more pars for the round, but did birdie #17 to take 12th place outright.
P.P. heads to Orlando today for the Bay Hill Invitational - a tournament he's had past success in, with a 9th place finish in 2002 and 10th place in 2003.
Tune in this week for more news and congrats to PP on his best finish thus far in 2006.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL - Sitting at -1 on the tournament, Double P was quickly +2 on the day after his first two holes. A grim start after entering the day t29th.
Sixteen holes later he found himself at -4 on the day, four strokes off the lead and t8th entering Sunday's round.
Perez birdied #4, #10, #13, #15, #17 and #18 - as well as netting his second eagle in as many tourneys (#6) had him shooting up the leaderboard. While many others wilted down the stretch, Perez closed the back nine with three of his six birdies on the day in his final four holes.
In 2005, Perez wrapped up his week at Mirasol -13 on the tourney - one stroke shy of the -14 it'd have taken to be part of a playoff with Padraig Harrington, Joe Olgilve and Vijay Singh - with Harrington earning his first tour victory.
Will last year's experience be the difference in 2006? Four strokes and seven fierce competitors currently stand between Double P and his first Tour victory.
Tune in tomorrow as Pat tees of at 12:49pm ET and will lay it all on the line, looking for that long awaited inaugural PGA Tour win.
P.P. shot an opening round 72 on Thursday at Mirasol.
Starting on the back nine, Perez shot a 39 - with 5 bogeys, 2 birdies and 2 pars. Sitting at +3 on the day, it would take a yeoman's effort on the front nine to pick up the lost strokes.
After parring #1 and #2, P.P. went on a tear with four straight birdies, putting him at -1 on the day. He netted two more pars on #7 and #8 before bogeying #9 and finishing even on the day.
Friday's tee time will be set shortly. Check back with PatPerezGolf.com later in the afternoon to find out when P.P. goes tomorrow.
Hey Everyone. A quick shout from West Palm. A good couple of days here. Weather is perfect and course here at Mirasol is playing very well. Like the way I was hitting it - especially on the back nine today - and hoping I can recapture some of that 2005 Honda magic when I tee off at 7:57am ET tomorrow.
Laid low Monday and played my practice round Tuesday with Todd Fischer and Chris Riley. Only downer was that I didn't get to go fishing.
Got up at the crack of dawn yesterday to get my playing out of the way so I could hit the water. PGA Tour Pro Hank Kuehne is a local guy and we were supposed to take the boat out and do some deep sea fishing Tuesday afternoon, but things fell through. Rather disappointed about that as I was looking forward to hooking me something big time.
Today was the ProAm with a few Honda dealership owners from around the country. Some really cool guys in my group. Afterwards I headed to a local ball field to take a few swings of my bud Mark Mulder. He's here for spring training and I wanted to see if I could hit off him.
He was probably throwing in the 70s and I went yard on him twice.
Though the field wasn't regulation, it felt good getting a few hits off of an American League All Star pitcher. I'm crashing at his pad this week, so you can guarantee he'll hear a ton about those hits I got off him.
Tomorrow's tee time is pretty early, so it's time to hit the sack and gear up for what I hope is a very big week here in Palm Beach Gardens.
While on the road covering the Doral last week, PatPerezGolf.com witnessed some behind the scenes action. The average golf enthusiast sees these players on the course from Thursday afternoon until late on Sunday. Mondays are usually set for travel, Tuesday is the practice round, Wednesday is the ProAm and come Thursday, it's time to get down to business.
Physical fitness has become routine for those on the PGA Tour. Stamina, endurance and specialized training are all necessities to achieve success at the highest level. Another huge aspect is alignment - which is where the physical therapists enter the picture.
Jeff Banaszak, President of Back9Fitness has been working with Double P for over a year now - keeping him in tip top shape before and after every round. Below is a quote from Jeff regarding what he does for P.P. - and several other PGA Tour Professionals - on a weekly basis.
"As Pat's physical therapist and body work specialist, I provide physical assessment and hands-on treatment - including soft tissue release, joint mobilization techniques and active stretching on a daily and/or weekly basis to assure maximum body function.
Basically, the deal I have with Pat is to personally take care of any physical issues that arise which may limit his performance. I always tell him that being Pat Perez puts a lot of strain on the body from practice to play to his training routine.
Each week Pat can confidently go as hard as possible and feel confident that by tee time Thursday he will be ready to go.
Most of our sessions occur after the rounds in preparation for the next day, although we do spend about 20 minutes on game day before each round doing a specific warm-up routine. I also consult with Pat on his training program provided by Athlete's Performance.
Pat's golf swing - being so dynamic and powerful - puts tremendous stress on his body. Especially when you combine hours of practice and play to perfect it. I think the body work component is an important asset for any player."
Aside from working with Double P on a weekly basis, Jeff Banaszak also works regularly with PGA Tour Professionals Tim Pertrovic, Tommy Armour III, Greg Owen, D.A. Points, and Steve Elkington - traveling over 30 weeks per year to help keep these athletes in top physical shape.
"Headed up to West Palm Beach today from Miami. Pretty frustrated to not make the cut at Doral -- especially with nine birdies and an eagle on Thursday and Friday.
Finished -3 and the cut was -4. #18 on Thursday and #7 on Friday were the real difference makers, but it is what it is.
Insult to injury is that my all time favorite band The Cult played my hometown of San Diego last night and I'm three time zones away. Had some buds who were at the show and they said it was incredible. I swear, when I get my first win I have to look into getting them to play a private party. Doesn't seem I'll ever catch them on the road with my schedule.
All that said, it's time to get geared up for The Honda Classic this week. I finished 4th here in 2005 and had a really good shot at winning the tourney but a few bogeys on the back nine Sunday were a killer.
Got over to South Beach last Friday night, though I'd have preferred to hit the sack early for a Saturday morning tee time. Ended up at the Shore Club and ate dinner at Ago with TA III and a few of my buds. Pretty cool scene there.
Took it over to a new club called Snatch afterwards. I guess it's the new 'place to be' but the only place I wanted to be was on the course Saturday morning.
Wasn't really in all that festive a mood hitting the town Friday night. This Florida swing is all business for me right now. I can't really combine business and pleasure. I save my vacations for the off season. From January through October, it's time to make cuts and earn checks. I set a lot of personal goals this off season and to achieve them, I need to remain focused.
Up in West Palm this week and staying with my bud Mark Mulder. He's renting a place here for spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals, so he offered me a room as he's right around the corner from Mirasol.
Hoping to get it done this week. I know this course well and I like how I'm hitting the ball right now. Just need things to all come together. Hopefully this is the place and now is the time."
"This week I would like to talk about something Double P and I work on constantly - and that's the length of his backswing. Even the best players in the world have some tendencies in their swing that cause them consistency problems and quite often this 'problems' show up from time to time.
When P.P. was a Junior Golf Champion and collegiate golfer, he had a very long back swing - as can be seen in the picture below left. This photo was taken in 1996, the year P.P. and his Arizona State Sun Devils won the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship. The photo of P.P.'s backswing is in fact quite similar to the length of JD's backswing in the photo below right.
When P.P. returned to San Diego from ASU, he felt that the extra length of his backswing was causing him to hit some pretty wayward shots, particularly under pressure - so we set about shortening his swing, making it more compact and effective.
The only way P.P. could keep his swing shorter was to feel that if it was a 'half swing.' He couldn't believe that his so-called half swing was actually a perfect length backswing. He kept telling me it felt too short, so we started filming it so he could see just how good it really looked.
For the following three months, if was if Double P never left the range. He hit thousands upon thousands of balls, working on this half swing until he felt absolutely comfortable with it. From there, it was time to debut this new swing on the course.
As it is with any swing change, it was initially hard to trust it on the course. His game struggled for a couple of months (which I kind of enjoyed as I was able to beat him then and enjoyed rubbing it in.) Of course the more I ribbed him, the harder he worked to master the new, shorter swing.
Eventually he became completely comfortable with the new swing and his confidence grew. Below we compare the kid's longer swing (1996) with a shot taken out at Grayhawk (2005.)
Now when P.P. does hit errant shots, they are nowhere near as wayward as they were with the longer swing. He can also control the distance of his iron shots much better with the shorter version.
These days, if P.P. is struggling with his ball striking i, it may well be due to the fact that the swing is getting a little longer. Golf swings are not God given. They require hard work - even for someone as talented as P.P."
After the fun of Wednesday afternoon, it was all business from there on out. PP hit the ball pretty well on Thursday, but his putter didn't cooperate at all. He his 16 greens and ended up only shooting one under par for an opening round 71. Quite disappointing considering how solid the ball striking was.
Man, hectic couple of days. Throw in the fact that Internet access has been limited and it's been near impossible to do any of this blogging stuff lately.
Double P rolled a 73-72-71-70 en route to a t-34th finish at the 
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL - Sitting at -1 on the tournament, Double P was quickly +2 on the day after his first two holes. A grim start after entering the day t29th.
