The always rowdy FBR Open (...it'll always be the Phoenix Open) is underway and Pat Perez got off to a rather solid start, going -2 for an opening round 69.
Today's 69 was PP's best opening round at the FBR since his rookie season (2002) when he opened with a 71. His best overall round at the FBR came on Friday in 2006 when he followed up Thursday's 74 with a second round 68.
Perez opened with five straight pars today, before netting back-to-back birdies on #6 and #7. Two more pars had him -2 at the turn.
A quick birdie on #13 was followed up with a bogey-par-birdie stretch. Four more clutch pars had Perez -3 entering #18, but an untimely bogey on the day's final hole put him back at -2 on the day.
Check out our exclusive Pat Perez photo gallery from last week's Buick Invitational. Up next, our inside the ropes shots from last week's practice round. Stay tuned.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger is switching the format with hopes of giving his American team an edge, going back to alternate shot in the opening matches for the first time since 1999.
"I felt like the Americans had an edge in alternate shot," Azinger said Wednesday at the FBR Open. "And I think it's partly responsible for why Europe has gotten off to a pretty hot start."
The Ryder Cup will be played Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla, and the home captain gets to decide the order.
Alternate shot, or foursomes, had been used in the first sessions every year since 1981 until European captain Seve Ballesteros opened with better ball (fourballs) in 1997 at Valderrama. U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw switched back to alternate shot in 1999 at Brookline, but the last three Ryder Cup matches have started with better ball.
Europe has won the last three Ryder Cup matches, and five of the last six. The Americans have not led after the first of five sessions since 1991 at Kiawah Island.
Azinger said he also would work with the Valhalla superintendent on setting up the golf course. He credited Europe in recent years, particularly at The Belfry in 2002, for setting up the course that made fairways extremely narrow beyond 290 yards, which negated some of the power of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other big hitters.
He said the PGA of America has given him freedom to set the course up however it fits his team.
"Maybe if everybody hits it as straight as Jim Furyk ... I don't know if I can narrow the fairways, but I can sure have the rough deep," Azinger said. "But if I have a bunch of Bubba Watsons, J.B. Holmes, Pat Perez, Phil Mickelson, guys that crank it and bomb it, maybe there won't be rough. I don't know yet. We'll see."
Azinger already has made one drastic change to the selection process, taking only the top eight players and basing the points entirely on money, with most of the points earned in 2008. Only money earned at the majors counted in 2007.
"The Buick was a tough week for Pat Perez. After a great few days of preparation, he just failed to play the way he can on Thursday and Friday, which I know was a huge disappointment to him. He struggled driving the ball which makes the South course so very, very hard.
PP stayed in town until Monday afternoon, play in a ProAm benefiting San Diego Junior Golf at The Farms in Rancho Santa Fe.
On Tuesday, he played with my other boy Jason Gore and David Berganio. Both Pat and Jason hit the ball very well the entire day. At Torrey, PP struggled losing the driver to the right, so we worked on trying to draw the ball off the tee, which he seemed very comfortable doing and had great results.
On Wednesday neither PP or J were in the Pro AM, so we went to Pat's club (Estancia) where the boys played about 14 holes. Definitely much more beneficial than standing on the range all day pounding balls and in the end, both of them look ready to go this week.
As many of you know TPC Scottsdale has not treated PP too well over the years but this year is gonna be different !!!!"
Pat Perez had his work cut out for him Friday if he was going to see the weekend at the 2008 Buick Invitational. A triple bogey on Thursday's final hole seemed to set the tone for a difficult Friday round of 74.
After opening bogey-birdie-bogey, PP made par the next six holes and rounded the turn +1.
From there, bogey-par-bogey equaled +3 after twelve holes. Perez made par the next five holes and netted his second birdie of the day (fourth in two days) on #18.
Next up, a trek back to Scottsdale to tighten things up before next week's FBR Open.
Pat Perez hung tough the majority of the day in the opening round of the Buick Invitational, but the day's final hole proved to be the back breaker.
PP opened with a birdie on #10 and rode -1 the first five holes of the day. An errant drive on #15 resulted in a few extra shots, causing a double bogey. -1 quickly became +1.
Perez hung tough with a back-to-back pars, but a bogey on #18 had him +2 at the turn.
On the front nine, it was five straight pars to maintain and stay strong at +2 on a very difficult South Course at Torrey Pines. A clutch birdie on #6 had Perez back on +1 on the day. Back-to-back bogeys on #7 and #8 were even tolerable with a birdie opportunity on #9 - a par five.
Unfortunately, another errant tee shot on the day's final hole found its way into the trees and never came down. After an extensive search, PP headed back to the tee box, absorbed the penalty strokes and battled his way to a triple bogey. The result, an opening round 78.
Up Friday, the North Course and a yeoman's effort to scrap his way into playing this weekend. Stay tuned tomorrow. Tee time is 9:30am.
Long time PGA Tour caddy Steve Duplantis was killed this morning in Del Mar. In town for the Buick Invitational and caddying for Eric Axley, Duplantis was struck by a cab when crossing the street and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Team Perez offer it's condolences to the Duplantis family, his daughter Sierra, his friends and all who knew him. A very tragic day for the PGA Tour family. Keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. He will be missed.
John Swantek of PGATour.com has chosen Pat Perez as his 'sleeper' for this week's Buick Invitational. Swantek cites strong 2007 outings at classic, old style layouts - Riviera (8th place finish), Colonial (4th place finish) and Congressional (T3rd place finish). Torrey Pines is home base and Swantek thinks the "San Diego kid" has a shot to get it done this week.
It may be Buick week, but today is all about The Great H. Double P's longtime caddy and even longer time amigo Michael Hartford is all growns up today, turning the ripe ol' age of 33.
Show some b'day love in the 'Comments' section below to hardest working and most patient caddy on the PGA Tour!
Buick Invitational week is underway. As coach Michael Owen mentioned in his blog below, this is pretty much the 'sixth major' for Pat Perez. Torrey Pines is home and a win at the Buick would be as good as it gets.
More to come at PatPerezGolf.com this week. Check back for photos from Tuesday's practice round as well as extensive coverage from the hometown course. Also, make sure to check the North County Times later in the week for an exclusive on Double P from golf columnist Marc Figueroa.
Coach O talks Torrey Pines and Buick Invitational...
To the entire golfing world the first major of the year is the Masters at Augusta National. However to Pat Perez, the year's first "major" is this week at Torrey Pines.
I first met Pat at the driving range at Torrey when he was a bright-eyed 13-year old who dreamed of playing on the PGA Tour and particularly, the Buick Invitational. Even back then, anyone could see he had all the talent required to be a Tour player although he was not good enough to beat me!
How things have changed.
PP arrived in San Diego on this past Saturday afternoon. After the five-hour trek from Scottsdale, he came straight up to Torrey where we had a session on the range. I am glad to say he is still swinging well . After practice it was one of many taco runs this week - to our favorite stop EL COTIXAN - better known to us as, "El Cotch".
Sunday, golf played second fiddle to football - the AFC Championship game - and what a disappointment that was. Who knows what might have happened with a fully fit LaDanian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers...
Monday PP is playing a Pro-Am in Palm Desert, driving back to San Diego and then we start serious practice on Tuesday, followed by a Wednesday Pro-Am.
I think PP will have another good week as long as he doesn't try too hard to play well, being as Torrey means so much to him.
Pat Perez wrapped up this year's Sony Open eight under. The result, a T4th place finished and $208,688 payday. Double P picked up 984 FedEx Cup points, putting him at T10th after one event.
PP will not play this week's Bob Hope Classic and instead will return to Scottsdale to rest up a few days before heading to San Diego next weekend to get an early jump on Buick Invitational preparations.
More to come. Stay tuned and please post your congrats below in the comments section.
A third round 67 was the name of the game for Pat Perez. Saturday's round of three under landed him in the top ten entering the final round of this year's Sony Open.
Three straight pars and a bogey had PP +1 after four, but birdies on 6, 9, 10 and 18 were the difference maker. The bogey on four proved to be Saturday's only blemish. Perez has only bogeyed once in his past thirty-three holes and birdied nine times.
Sunday's final round tee time is 12:30pm HT. Check the front page for leaderboard info and live scoring.
Six birdies were the name of the game today during the second round of the Sony Open.
After going birdie-bogey-bogey out the gate, Double P rattled off five birdies over the next 11 holes and remained bogey-free the rest of the day.
Coach O was out there to take in all the action the past two days and shot over some post-round notes from Thursday's opening round:
"Just watched PP play his first round of the year. He looked a little rusty at times. All the off-season practice is very different than actually playing in a Tour event. He got off to a great start with two birdies but lost his way a little in the middle of the round and ended up making a great birdie 4 on the last. To me the exciting part was how calm pp remained in the middle of the round when he was struggling. Pat looked very composed at all times out there which I believe is the final piece in his journey to victory."
Saturday's tee time is set for 12:55pm HT and Pat Perez is paired up with Jerry Kelly for round three at the Sony. Tune in tomorrow for more.
Pat Perez rolled an opening round 69 at the Sony Open.
PP opened on hole #10 went birdie-birdie out the gate. A bogey on #13 and birdie on #18 had him -2 at the turn.
Bogey-par-par-bogey had PP back at even but a birdie on Thursday's final hole had him -1 on the event. The leader (K.J. Choi) entered the club house at -6.
Friday's tee time is set for 8:20am HT. Stay tuned for me.
Happy New Year to all. I'm writing this blog whilst sitting on a plane Monday morning with Mr. Michael Hartford, on our way to meet Pat in Honolulu.
During the off season PP and I worked a few times out in Scottsdale. Pat has never liked his footwork on the downswing and feels his right heel comes too far off the ground, causing him to have problems maintaining his spine angle. The result - him losing some shots to the right, particularly with the longer clubs.
He's been working pretty hard on this the last few weeks ... so much so that he remained in Scottsdale last Sunday to work on things solo while I was front and center at The Q watching the Bolts in the Playoffs with our buddy JD from New York, in PP's place.
We'll see how things are looking Tuesday morning when PP plays his first practice round of the year, with one of my other horses, Robert Gamez.
After a very solid 2007 season, I know PP has some pretty lofty goals for this year. His main goal - as with every year - is to win golf tournaments. However there are a few other carrots!!!
PP is currently 70th in the World Golf Rankings. Top 64 would get him into the Match Play event in Tucson, mid-February and of course Top 50 gets him into all majors, including the US Open at Torrey Pines, which would mean a lot to him. There's plenty to play for these next six weeks.
If PP can have another injury-free season, there's no doubt in my mind that he can achieve all his goals for 2008.
Here's to a quick start on the west coast. Check in next week after the Sony wraps.
Happy New Years to all. Double P is currently en route to Honolulu for this year's Sony Open and his first event of the 2008 PGA Tour season. PP will chime in at some point this week, so stay tuned.
2008 marks year seven on Tour for Pat Perez and the Sony Open has proven to be the perfect event to kick off PP's season. In 2007, Perez nabbed a T10 finish and banked $130,000 in his first event of the season.
In six Sony Open appearances, Perez has scored four top 20 finishes (one top 10) and has made the cut five of six times.
After a rigorous off-season spent training at Athlete's Performance back home in Scottsdale, PP is hoping the hard work will pay off immediately with another strong showing this week.
More to come as the Sony gets underway this week. Stay tuned.
The always rowdy FBR Open (...it'll always be the Phoenix Open) is underway and Pat Perez got off to a rather solid start, going -2 for an opening round 69.
