Double P :: The Official Blog

MARKHAM, Ontario - Not the strong Sunday finish Pat Perez was probably hoping for, but the sixth year Tour player showed tremendous grit down the stretch for a final round of 70.

After going par, birdie, par, par over the first four holes, PP had an unthinkable Sunday run of bogey, bogey, birdie, double bogey, bogey to close out the front nine. From -1 to +3 in a matter of five holes. Seemed the golf gods were too busy ensuring playing partner Jim Furyk was going to take care of business (-4 after four holes and an Ace in the process), leaving Double P to fend for himself on the final day of the 2007 Canadian Open.

+3 at the turn, the wheels could've fallen completely off. PP sucked it up, fought back and rallied his way to a top ten finish. Perez played a near-flawless back nine, fueled by four birdies and five solid pars.

A three birdie stretch on 11, 12 & 13 got PP back to E and CBS cameras captured a 70-foot chip shot on 17 put PP at -1 on the day, where he'd remain.


OTHER NEWS AND NOTES: 68-70-66-70 proved good enough for a t10th finish and a $115,000 pay day - PP's fifth top ten of 2007... The 70-footer on 17 was the difference between 10th and 15th - a clutch $40,000 putt which could be a difference maker on the money list and in FedEx Cup points as the season winds down... New FedEx Standings coming soon, with PP expected to move up a few slots with official money now at $1,336,935 on the season.

Wednesday at Carnoustie and while most players have spent the past day and a half getting settled in, Double P's clubs were sitting in London's Heathrow Airport, missing the connection he made.

A stressful day and a half, but the clubs are back in the mix and it's time to get down to business.

Tee times have been announced. Group #47 goes off at 3:26 local time on Thursday and features Pat PEREZ ,Yong-Eun YANG and Kevin HARPER.

Friday's tee time is 10:15 local time for the would-be Group #21.

Check the homepage Thursday for Live Scoring and the Live Leaderboard.



PatPerezGolf.com

Below is an interview Double P did for The Armchair Golf Blog last week during his run at the AT&T National. Since then, PP pulled in a t-3rd finish, qualified for this year's British Open and headed out to Silvis, IL for this year's John Deere Classic.

Check out the interview below and email us your questions for a future Q&A!!


Armchair Golf: How are you holding up physically? Is the elbow or anything else giving you any problems?

Both elbows have been nagging me these past few weeks. Not sure how much longer I can go right now. The Cortizone shots are wearing off, so I'll go as long as they can let me. Obviously you don't want to keep getting injections as that will cause long term issues, so I'm doing all the therapy and strengthening I can. We'll see how it all plays out. Once the pain starts impacting my game, that'll pretty much make my decision for me.


Armchair Golf: What was it like playing in the U.S. Open at Oakmont?

Brutal. I was glad to be out there representing the U.S. as it's our country's Open - but all that stuff sort of goes on the back burner when you're out there going 76-78 and missing the cut. At that point it's simply a major and you always want to play on the weekend.


Armchair Golf: How do you feel about conditions at an event like this year's Open where the winner wraps up 72 holes five over par?

It is what it is. There's nothing u can do about it. Everyone is out playing in the same conditions. You know what you're getting into and what you signed up for. It's a major. Conditions are going to be insane. You just have to get out there, play your game and try not to make too many big mistakes that'll completely knock you out of contention.


Armchair Golf: You've been in the hunt recently with a fourth at the Crowne Plaza Invitational and being high on the leader board after three rounds at the Travelers Championship. Do you feel like you're close to breaking through or your first win?

I always think I am, but I'm not worrying about it. This is my sixth year on Tour and I'll get those questions a lot. Especially every time another first timer gets that initial win. I've learned not to sweat it . The wins will come. I'm just sticking to my game and I go into every week knowing I have as good of a chance to win as the other guys out there.

Get out there, give 110%, let chips fall where they may, etc. I'm tired of worrying about it. I'm not going to force it.


Armchair Golf: A little mid-season exam. Grade yourself and comment if you like on these areas of your game:

Driving - Great right now. I'm hitting everything long and straight. I didn't do anything differently last Sunday at the Travelers (final round 76), I was just hitting in the wrong places. More mental than mechanical.

Irons/Approach Shots - Trying to tighten up gap with approach shots. The Irons are fine. I like what I'm doing there.

Short Game/Putting - Pretty good. Putter has been helping out a lot lately. Lots of stuff is falling, which is always nice.

Course Management - Coming around. Pretty solid. I'm happy with my course management as of late.


Armchair Golf: Is there anything in particular you're working on?

Still working on shortening my swing and keeping it in play.




Armchair Golf: How's your short game? What are you working on?

Pretty good. We're working on speed and line of my putting.




Armchair Golf: How many more events will you play this year? What's your game plan?

Hopefully all four FedEx events and hopefully I get into the PGA. I'll play San Antonio but I’m skipping Vegas this year as it’s the week before the new Fry's tourney out at Grayhawk. I definitely want to be rested and ready for that event as it's in my backyard… literally. All in all I should play just shy of a dozen more events this year.


Armchair Golf: You play in a lot of ProAms. What general advice would you give to amateur golfers?

Have fun with it. If you're not doing it for a living or to earn a check, don't kill yourself out there. Some Wednesdays I’m out there playing with the suits and some of these guys are really trying to beat me. It can be pretty funny at times. But seriously, people just need to get out there and enjoy the experience of playing on a tournament-ready course and playing with Tour pros. Don't worry about your score. Enjoy the day.


Armchair Golf: What have you been doing lately to let off steam when you're off the course?

Working out and trying to get healthy. When I'm on the road, it's a routine. There's no real blowing off of steam. Practice. Play. Workout. Rest. Grab dinner. Maybe catch a ball game if I'm in a town where some of my MLB buds live.

It's hotter than hell in Scottsdale right now so when I'm home I spend most of my time out on the lake, on the boat or at the pool. Headed to San Diego in two weeks for Opening Day at Del Mar Race Track and to see some buds back home. The Phillies are playing the Padres when I'm there, so I'll definitely catch up with (Pat) Burrell since he'll be around for a few days. Obviously I'm rooting for my Padres, though.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The interview was conducted before the t-3rd finish which earned Perez a trip to this year's British Open, which takes the place the week he planned on coming to San Diego.)


Armchair Golf: You're a Tour player who proudly talks about the bands you're into and quotes your favorite movies. Any new DVDs in the collection? What's in the current rotation on the iPod?

I need to get the iPod reloaded when I get home. While on the road, I just raid Best Buy weekly and check out whatever's new. Green Day did a great cover of a John Lennon tune. The new Maroon 5 cut is hot. Velvet Revolver just put out a new CD a few days back that I need to pick up. The new Marilyn Manson was released a few weeks ago and my buds the Pat McGee Band just put out their new CD.

When I don't have the iPod fresh and I'm rolling a courtesy car with free XM Radio it’s all about 'Dance Nation' on channel 81. That station is absolute fire.


Armchair Golf: Last but never least, we see you've started selling your new Double P Boxing Glove Hybrid Cover on your site. How’s that going for you?

Pretty cool. I'm still shocked how people have really taken to that and the driver cover. Every practice round, ProAm or tourney, at least a dozen people ask about them every week. It's a trip. I have my caddy telling everyone to head over to PatPerezGolf.com to scoop some up and people are doing just that. It's pretty cool.

In today's PGATour.com News & Notes, Double P got some front page face time and was dubbed the biggest mover of the week, thanks to his t-3rd finish at the AT&T National. PGATour.com Cooodinating Producer Mark Spoor will need to proof and edit the piece a bit, though.

Spoor listed Perez as being in his first season on Tour (it's his sixth). He mentioned that PP is 13th place in final round scoring on tour (an average of 70.10), but was again off base in stating PP's longest streak without a missed cut was two tournaments. PP had a three cut run earlier this year with Pebble Beach, Nissan and Mayakoba and a similar three cut run in 2006 with the Honda, Bay Hill and PLAYERS.

Perez made a career-high seven straight cuts in 2005 as well as going six straight and five straight at two different times in 2004.

Check out the ink below from today's Washington Post in regards to Double P's t-3rd place finish at this weekend's AT&T National. Though we here at PPG aren't thrilled with the played out and passe opening cheap shot regarding the temper, we dug the rest of the article and wanted to reprint here:

Scrappy Perez Finishes Strong to Earn Tie for 3rd

Pat Perez might be known best on the PGA Tour for his temper: He once made an obscene gesture toward his ball during a tournament. More recently, PP, or Double P, as he calls himself, has gained notoriety for the blog on his Web site, PatPerezGolf. com. He told his fans in a recent post about a trip he is planning to San Diego during the first week of August to catch The Cult in concert: "Look for me out there on the 4th. I'll be the guy front row in a sleeping bag with two days stubble going and a bag of Filiberto's [Mexican food] next to him."

After yesterday's round at Congressional Country Club, Perez finally might be known for his golf. The man who uses boxing gloves as head covers moved from a tie for 26th entering the final round into a tie for third at the AT&T National by shooting one of the better rounds of the day, a 3-under-par 67.

His 71-70-69-67 -- 277 earned him $312,000, his biggest paycheck of the year. Now he won't have to rely as much on sales of those boxing glove head covers for "Knock-Out Approach Shots," which can be purchased for $16 on his Web site.

"I was relaxed," Perez said. "I wasn't really trying too hard. Last time I played on Sunday in Connecticut [at the Travelers Championship], I was in fifth place going into the last day and didn't pan out. This was a nice turn of events."

Perez shot a 76 in the final round of the Travelers to wind up in a tie for 36th place. His finish was emblematic of his uneven season. Of the 17 tournaments he had played, Perez finished in the top 10 three times. He also missed the cut seven times and withdrew once. His previous best finish was fourth at the Colonial in May.

By finishing third at the AT&T National, Perez had his best finish on the PGA Tour since 2002, when he finished second at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Buick Classic. He was one of the steadiest players at Congressional this week, particularly yesterday.

"You can't really go after it on this course," Perez said. "You've got to just take what it throws at you. Take advantage of it, and you're going to have a good day."

Perez birdied two of the course's toughest holes -- Nos. 6 and 11 -- as well as Nos. 4 and 18, which ranked among the top 10 most difficult holes this week. Most of his six birdies came by knocking it close to the pin. His longest birdie putt was a 19-footer on No. 11.

"Everything was just kind of good," Perez said. "The putter came around. I hit some fairways."

Perez's top-10 finish also earned him a spot in the British Open at Carnoustie later this month.

OTHER NEWS & NOTES: Double P jumped to 44th in the FedEx Cup rankings with his t-3rd finish. He's at 4,946 points and $1,135,558 on the season... PP's PGATour.com Skill Ratings have shuffled a bit moving to 8 (power), 6.5 (accuracy), 7 (short game) and 7 (putting)... Yesterday's $312,000 payday was Perez's biggest check of 2007 and best finished since t-3rd at the PLAYERS Championship in 2006... PP now has four top tens this season... Perez will participate in this week's John Deere Classic and will head overseas next week for the British Open at Carnoustie.

In his 18th event this season, Pat Perez is gearing up for his tenth Sunday finish of 2007. After going 71-70 to make the cut, PP shot a third round 69 on Saturday and ready to make another final round run. Nine shots off the lead, that inaugral win most likely isn't in the cards, but another top ten or top five would be big time as Double P is trying to set the stage for a solid 2008 season.

Sitting pretty at #64 in the FedEx Cup standings and $823,558 in the bank for 2007, Perez is a few hundred thousand dollars away from securing a spot in next year's Masters, this year's PGA Championship and the 2008 US Open, taking place at Torrey Pines - in PP's backyard back home in San Diego, CA.

Tune in Sunday to see how Double P closes out this year's AT&T National. Up next, the John Deere Classic in Silvis, IL and then back to SD for opening day at Del Mar. Stay tuned for more.