Pat Perez Golf player
Patrick A. Perez (born March 1, 1976) is an American professional golfer.Perez was born in Phoenix, Arizona and is of Mexican American descent. He experienced his first PGA Tour victory in 2009 at the Bob Hope Classic. He has finished second twice, including a memorable runner-up result at Pebble Beach when his back-nine collapse led him to attempt to break a club over his leg.His career high in the Official World Golf Ranking was 49th in 2009.On January 22, 2009, Perez finished the first 36 holes of the Bob Hope Classic with a 124 (-20), the lowest score in PGA Tour history through two rounds, relative to par. The start set or tied several records, including tying the record for low score (124) in consecutive rounds. But on January 24, Steve Stricker broke the latter record of 124 with a 61-62 for 123 combined two rounds (third and fourth rounds). Perez went on to win the tournament by three strokes over John Merrick, a win secured when Perez hit his second shot on the par 5 18th hole from 200 yards to 3 feet to win with a closing eagle for his first tour win.Perez also experienced a championship of another sort first-hand. As a neighbor of baseball player Pat Burrell, he had been very close to the Philadelphia Phillies for several years. In a January 2010 interview, he revealed, "I was part of that (2008) team (that won the World Series) because I know all of the guys, I had my locker there, I would come and see them all the time. I would really root for them like I was part of the team." When asked if he had the locker during spring training, he replied "No, the whole thing. I would hit balls with Jimmy Rollins, go out on the field and play catch, whatever. I was like one of them team for that year." When Burrell left as a free agent after the 2008 season and signed with the Tampa Bay Rays, Perez called the news "Worse than me getting hurt."