Q. Incredible effort today. How do you look back on it?
VICTOR PEREZ: Obviously great round. I don't think there's any shots that I could have picked up on that back nine for sure, even on the front nine. I think I played really well. You know, the course is not particularly easy, and now I have to kind of wait for the last 45 minutes and see how it all shakes out.
Q. What's the weight going to be like for you?
VICTOR PEREZ: Obviously speaking to you guys, and then maybe signing a few photographs and then try to get a little bite to eat because I don't know how it all plays out at the end.
Q. Did you enjoy the spectacle or was it all pressure and stress?
VICTOR PEREZ: I would say I was enjoying up until 14 and once you eagle 14, you're like, oh, sh-t, am I actually in this. Even though I knew the last four holes are brutal it would have been hard to find any kind of birdies.
I was fortunate to hole two putts on 15 and 16 AND par the last two, which are not going to be easy with the wind off the left on 18 and two tough tee shots. Once you're off the fairway it becomes tricky to make a par. It's not the hardest wedge on 18 so guys might be pitching out and still being able to get up-and-down. We'll see how it plays out.
Q. When was the last time people were shouting your name?
VICTOR PEREZ: Yesterday, I would say. No, it was great. I think the Olympics are able to bring not a hundred percent of golf crowd, which I think is great. I think people probably go online, see the golf is on, and decide to buy tickets and come watch, and obviously it's quite entertaining, and I think Paris and Le Golf National has done a great job of having us and hosting the event. It's been such an iconic venue since the 2018 Ryder Cup that I think everybody has seen in some shape or form highlights or at least the winning putt. It was a great week.
Q. What was the best shot you hit all day?
VICTOR PEREZ: Probably the 3-iron into 14 because even after birdieing 12 and 13, you still feel like you need some sort of massive kind of hump, and obviously hitting it down the RIDGE, it is probably the easiest pin, if you can get it feeding down the slope, it was six feet straight, maybe a little right-to-left.
Q. What was your yardage?
VICTOR PEREZ: I probably had 260 yards or something.
Q. How about the cheer on 16?
VICTOR PEREZ: Obviously the amphitheatre at the end, 15, 16, the big crowd right of 18, I think that's what makes Le Golf National so special is coming down the stretch when the crowd is there, and we saw it at the Ryder Cup even more where both mounds were completely covered with people and the grandstands and even the people on the first were trying to look over to 18 which is quite a ways. This theatre at the end created an atmosphere that we don't get to experience that often, that stadium-like atmosphere which I think we all enjoy but we don't get often in golf.
Q. On 17 green, there was a rendition of your National Anthem. How did that make you feel that it was for you?
VICTOR PEREZ: It's request great. I think I was lucky to play with Thorbjørn and Christian today, good friends that I've known since some years on tour and people that have really helped me along the way, kind of enjoying the experience, as well.
So yeah it was great. I told them on the putting green before the round just an FYI guys, it might get a little loud out there and the photographs might get on. But they have dealt with it just as great and were absolute gentlemen.
Q. How did you feel about the send-off on 18?
VICTOR PEREZ: It's great. Obviously if I'm as selfish as every golfer, I wish that putt drops but in the meantime, I'll have to wait and see where it puts me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports