If there’s one player who’s been the butt of plenty of LIV Golf jokes over the past year, it’s Pat Perez.
The PGA Tour veteran was a surprise signing ahead of the league’s second event – at least given the calibre of players they brought in after Centurion – and proceeded to make a bucket load of cash in Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC side despite placing poorly at almost every LIV Golf Invitational.
In the process, Perez has continued to be mocked by many for not pulling his weight while simultaneously taking home millions in the Greg Norman-led series.
But if there’s one thing we can say about Perez, it’s that he’s one of the few openly candid players on LIV’s roster, and one few can blame for defecting to the league given the PGA Tour career he’s had. Heck, the outspoken American even described his move as “like winning the lottery” and wore a shirt covered in dollar bills to his first event.
And now, having landed the inaugural LIV Golf Team Championship to claim another $4 million, it appears many PGA Tour stars feel the same way about Perez, with the American revealing on the “Son of a Butch with Claude Harmon” podcast that several rival players congratulated him after his victory in Miami. And the list may surprise some of you.
“I got a text from Justin Thomas saying, ‘Hey man, I’m so happy for you, congrats.’ And I was like, that’s pretty cool,” Perez said, who also listed Jon Rahm, Padraig Harrington, Webb Simpson and Aaron Baddeley among those who congratulated him.
“I think with guys like Rahm and Justin, they see that look, this guy played 21 years [on the PGA Tour], could be towards the end of his career,” Perez continued. “But the fact that he got a break, he showed up on Sunday and shot 70 at [Trump National] Doral, I think they just recognise that I played well.
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“I think people have realised that here’s a guy who’s kinda been an average player his whole career, [who’s] grinded it out, kept his card forever, and he got a break and he had to show up on Sunday to help his team, and he did.”
The revelation certainly makes you question just how far the animosity between LIV golfers and the PGA Tour faithful has blown out of proportion in recent months. And on top of that, has Rory McIlroy been sending out any texts?
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