Herron, Perez try different approaches to missed opportunities

Imagine the shock and agony he must have felt.

The guy takes a four-stroke lead into the final round only to see it disappear by the time he makes the turn. He fights his way back into contention, has momentum on his side and then throws it all away with one bad swing.

Worse yet, he gets the kind of break no one deserves.

Instead of being able to salvage a par and possibly his chances of winning, the ball is in such an impossible position that his tournament effectively is over. He has to scribble an 8 on his card and watch someone else hoist the trophy.

That was Tim Herron in the Bob Hope Classic on Sunday.

A year ago this week, it was Pat Perez in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

The most glaring difference is how they handled it.

Herron was tied for the lead when his wedge from a fairway bunker sailed over the 16th green and wound up in the crevice of a rock at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

If only he had risked missing it short, even if that meant going into water.

"In hindsight, I could have beat an 8," said Herron, who managed to keep his sense of humor, if not perspective.

Perez not only lost at Pebble Beach, he lost his head.

He also had a four-stroke lead going into the final round. Despite a double bogey on the 14th hole, Perez rallied with birdies on 15th and 17th and was poised to win until his drive sailed into a hedge and narrowly out of bounds.

He hammered his 3-wood into the turf after hitting his fourth shot into the ocean. With a national television audience watching, he tried to snap the club over his knee.

He finished with a triple-bogey 8 and snarled at a sympathetic media who tried to remind him of the 70 good holes he played that week.

"There is nothing good," Perez snapped.

Bobby Jones once said that while golf is played with the outward appearance of great dignity, it remains a game of considerable passion, "either the explosive type, or that which burns inwardly and sears the soul."

Perez is the explosive type.

"Everyone shows a little emotion," he later explained. "I show a little bit more."

Perez returns to Pebble Beach this week just as bitter about his runner-up finish, just as wary of anyone who dares to ask him about circumstances that have happened to everyone who has played the game.

"The media has done nothing but bring up Pebble, but I honestly can't wait until it's over," he said. "After next week, I'm not talking about it. Ever."

Pebble Beach defines who he is -- a big talent with a big temper.

No one knows that as well as Tiger Woods, who grew up playing junior golf against Perez in Southern California.

Woods finished fourth in the 1993 Junior World at Torrey Pines, eight strokes behind Perez. Two weeks later, Perez waxed the field in the PGA Junior at Pinehurst.

"If you had that much talent, it's going to show whether you have a temper or not," Woods said. "If he's playing well, he's going to do well."

And when he's not?

Perez was in the middle of the pack at the PGA Championship when he hit into the water on his 17th hole. Then another splash. His quadruple bogey was followed by a triple bogey, and the next day he toured 18 holes at Hazeltine alone in 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Not surprisingly, he counts John Daly among his close friends on tour.

Perez had six top-10s last year, more than any other rookie.

He also missed 16 cuts.

The 26-year-old product of public courses has a history of doing things his way, no matter whom it might offend.

"I've never belonged to a country club, where you're expected to act a certain way. I never went to formal dinners at the club," Perez said. "I grew up on a public course, where swearing and getting mad doesn't matter. The way I am doesn't bother a lot of people.

"It's not like I do this to impress anybody."

No one can accuse him of that.

Perez helped Arizona State win the NCAA title in 1996, then left school over a disagreement with the coach.

Even now, he remains bitter.

"They kept talking like I wouldn't make it," Perez said. "I've proved them all wrong."

It hasn't been easy. Without money to pay for Q-school, Perez sold sweaters for a golf retail store, then spent six months driving a truck for an equipment manufacturer.

When he finally got his foot in the door, he kicked hard.

Perez won in his first trip to Q-school in 2001, and made an immediate impression in more ways that one. His volatility made him the talk of the tour, and his talent enabled him to earn $1.4 million and finish 40th on the money list, qualifying him for the Masters.

He is at Pebble Beach this week, back where it all began.

"Hopefully, Sunday we'll have something different to talk about," Perez said.

That much can be said for Perez.

He always gives them something to talk about.