Perez Avoids Bumps in His First Pebble Trip

Everybody seems to agree that the greens this week at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am are leaving something to be desired. Like smoothness.

Because of recent rain, they are soft to begin with, and then you get 180 pros and 180 amateurs walking all over them in spikes and you can see the problem. These greens have more holes in them than an Enron financial report.

It’s a problem that all the players face--how to navigate a golf ball over a bumpy green and try to keep it from going airborne on its way to the hole.

Some are better at it than others and on Friday, the best/luckiest was Pat Perez, who obviously knows a thing or two about doing it the hard way. Perez followed up his opening 66 with a second-round 65 at Pebble Beach and holds a four-shot lead over Lee Janzen after two rounds.

Perez, 25, was the medalist at the last PGA Tour qualifying school and earned his first ticket to the big leagues. When you’re playing well enough to turn in a 13-under 131, the greens simply aren’t a problem, even if it is the first time you’ve played Pebble Beach.

“They’re bumpy, but you just try to steer ‘em in there and you make ‘em,” Perez said.

Janzen’s 67 at Spyglass leaves him alone in second, one shot ahead of Jerry Smith. As for Smith, who had a 69 at Poppy Hills, he says he couldn’t have been any more fortunate and not only because he did it at his least favorite course. “It’s not easy. I made all three three-footers, four-footers and five-footers; you know, the ones you just don’t want to have out here,” he said.

Tiger Woods is 12 shots off the lead, which means Tiger has Perez right where he wants him, or it’s going to be a very long weekend.

Woods turned in a mediocre one-over 73 at Spyglass Hill and is only one-under 143 after 36 holes.

Afterward, Woods said he didn’t really know what was wrong. He did know where the ball was going, it’s just that there wasn’t much he could do about it. “I hit a few left, hit a few right, hit a few fat, long, I had it all,” he said.

Woods, who also complained about the greens, didn’t feel comfortable with his irons or his swing, but didn’t say anything bad about the new prototype titanium driver he’s using this week.

“All you can do is hit good putts and from there, see what happens,” he said. “It’s just one of those things. Sometimes they bounce in if you hit them poorly and sometimes they don’t when you hit them good.”

Woods should have known he was in for an adventurous day on the par-five first hole when he hit into some ice plant, chipped out and managed to save par.

In two rounds, Woods has played the par-five holes in only two under. But that fact didn’t seem to trouble Woods as much as the condition of the greens.

“The greens aren’t as good as they have been in the past,” he said. “The greens are a lot more bumpy than they have been. It was tough to make putts. I mean, I hit good putts and it’s not too often I ever feel nervous over a two-footer. And out here, there is a good chance of missing them.”

For a while on Wednesday, there was a good chance that Perez would miss the tournament. He was sick, played only nine holes at Poppy Hills and seriously thought about withdrawing. Instead, Perez felt well enough to tee it up on Thursday and 66-65 has made him feel better. That’s not what he was thinking about Wednesday night.

“I thought it was going to be a horrible week,” Perez said. “I thought the first two days would be a nightmare.”

In the nightmare category is Phil Mickelson at six-over 150, 19 shots out of the lead, and close to missing the cut. That’s the same situation facing defending champion Davis Love III, who had a 73 at Spyglass and is five over through 36 holes, mostly because of his first-round 76. If Mickelson and Love were all over the place, consider Jesper Parnevik, who had 18 pars at Spyglass. First-round leader Brent Schwarzrock fell eight strokes back with a 75 at Poppy Hills.

Perez isn’t exactly spending the winner’s check yet, which is wise, since there’s a long way to go. But he says there will be a time when it’s going to be his day on a Sunday. “It’s one thing to get to the tour, but it’s also another thing to win. You want to play as well as you can. I’m thankful to be in the position I’m in.”

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