THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon,
everybody. We are fortunate to have Tom
Pernice, Jr., with us in the Media Center.
Tom posted 4 under on the day, and he is 6 under for the championship,
just two back on the lead as it currently stands. A solid round today, Tom.
Assess today's round for us, if you
will.
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Obviously, I had a clean card until the three‑putt
on 18. So first and foremost, that kind
of makes it nice. Wasn't really in too
much trouble today. Didn't have a lot of
issues, really, if you will.
Couple fortunate lies when I did
miss the fairway, but worked out. That's
the main thing. I didn't have any bogeys
until 18. So that makes life a little
easier.
THE MODERATOR: Size up the course for us, if you will. Is it playing consistently from Thursday to
Friday?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Yesterday afternoon it was baked out pretty
good. It wasn't quite as baked out
today. The wind picked up the last eight
or nine holes and made it tricky enough.
Some of the pins are up close to the
sides of the edges of the green, where if you short‑sight yourself, you've got
no chance. You have to be aware.
THE MODERATOR: Why don't we open it up for questions.
Q.
Hi, Tom. How far will be too far
to catch Mr. Langer tomorrow? I mean,
what is it five down? Do you have a
thought on that?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: I haven't even looked at the scoreboard to
see where he's at. All I can do is try
to control my golf ball and my score.
I know Bernhard is playing well, and
he's probably going to go play good again.
I'll know that I need to go out and play good. There's not a whole lot you can do here. You have to be patient at certain times and
take advantage if you can on the par 5s.
I haven't quite got the 15th
hole. I've forgot it in the fairways
three days. I'm 1 over there so that's
been a little disappointing. But you
never know here. You need to drive the
ball on the fairway. You start missing
the fairways, it can be difficult.
I just feel like I have to go out
and play a good round and see what happens.
Q.
What do you like about this golf course?
Why does it seem to fit your game a little bit?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: I like coming to Michigan, I guess, in
summer.
Q.
You won down the road from here, didn't you?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Yeah, it was my first win. So I play well here.
You just have to be pretty much
aware of where the pins are on the greens and where to position your ball. It sure helps to be on the fairways to be
able to control your ball to put your ball in the right spot.
I like old style, traditional style
golf courses. So just that in itself, I
think I really enjoyed the look of it.
Q.
There have been some hiccups on the back. What's the key to getting around the back
without any serious trouble, would you say?
Is it 12 or 13?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Well, 12's one of the most beautiful looking
par 4s and difficult par 4s that you'll ever play. You just have to stand up there and you have
to hit a good tee shot. Get a demanding
long iron and mid‑iron in for your second shot in to a green that's got a lot
of slope on it. That's a great hole in
itself.
Sixteen's a good hole. You have to drive it up there on top. Got a very narrow green to hit into. 17's a really tricky green, and they've had three
brutal ones there so far.
And then 18, I mean, you've got the
green there at 18 that's difficult and somewhat of an awkward tee shot. So you've got some holes there that are a
little bit different and challenge you.
Q.
Fred Couples was in here a little while ago and he said because it's
Bernhard who's out in front, it changes his thinking because he doesn't think
it's very likely that Bernhard is going to back up tomorrow. Do you agree with that? Because it's somebody that plays like him
that you're going to have to be a little more aggressive to chase him down.
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Well, I just assume that ‑‑ Bernhard is
a great player, and he's playing well, and you just would assume he's going to
continue to play well. It's a crazy
game.
But like I said, I'm going to have
to go out tomorrow and have a good day regardless one way or the other. There's a lot of other people. You got Freddy up there, you've got Pavin,
you've got Funk. I mean, besides
Bernhard.
So I can't control all that. I need to go out and try to play it, put my
head down and play a good game tomorrow and see what happens.
Q.
Tom, if you do have to go out try to be a little bit aggressive, is this
the kind of place you could really do that?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Yeah.
Not every hole. If you've got it
on the fairway, you've got some iron shots to where you could try to put the
ball in the right spots and give yourself some good putts.
There's a lot of holes where you
can't hit it in there stiff all the time or try to. You've got to position the ball and put the
ball in the right spot to try to make some putts. To shoot a good score, you're going to have
to hole some putts at some point. That's
kind of what you have to do.
Q.
Conversely, with the slopes of the greens and so forth, is it real
tough, even if he's 4, 5 ahead, if he puts himself in some bad spots, to try to
hold his position too?
TOM PERNICE, JR.: We've all played a long time. It's not the easiest place to be in the lead
with a four‑ or five‑shot lead sometimes.
He's a great player and pretty methodical and can control his ball. He's obviously playing well.
There ain't a lot I can do about
that. I just need to go out and try to
play well again tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: Tom, thank you. Nice charge today.
TOM PERNICE, JR.: Thank you.
I appreciate it.