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Three-time PGA Tour winner Pat Perez is one of the more easy-going, no bullshit, tell you like it is kind of guys in golf. He’s certainly not one to ever hold back with the media, which is one of the reasons he’s so well-liked among fans.
Like the rest of us, Perez is just passing the time until the PGA Tour hits the restart button on the season. In an interview with ESPN’s Bob Harig, the 44-year-old revealed that he’s had zero desire to play golf at all during the break while also explaining he would be shocked if the Tour does actually return to action the week of June 8 as it recently proposed.
On top of discussing some of the more pressing topics regarding the state of the entire world right now, Perez offered up some thoughts about Tiger Woods. He went into detail about how the younger generation of players out there may not fully understand who he was both coming up through junior golf and during his prime.
Perez grew up in Southern California and played a lot of junior golf with Woods so he knows first-hand just what kind of killer-instinct Woods showed back then and certainly during his prime.
“Tiger knew he was going to beat the s— out everybody,” Perez said. “These kids today have a skewed view of who he was. They weren’t around him. He had this way about him. All business. He didn’t hardly talk to anybody. Didn’t hang out with anybody. He was there to win.
It’s unclear as to who ‘these kids today’ are that Perez is talking about, but he went on to say that even if players such as Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas wanted a shot at a prime Woods back in the day then their confidence would have taken a hit.
“These kids today say they wish they had a run at him on a Sunday. You could wish that! It wasn’t going to be the way you thought it was going to be. As a whole, anybody who got there with him on Sunday … it was over. It would have shot their confidence, especially at young age. The JTs [Justin Thomas], Rorys … it’s got to affect your confidence. It was like [Michael] Jordan. All business.”
Perez, who’s all-time hero and idol is Michael Jordan, said he hopes Woods gets his own ‘The Last Dance’ type documentary one day.