Pat Perez had a great career on the PGA Tour. In 515 career starts, he had three wins and 64 top-10s, and earned nearly $30 million. But when LIV Golf came knocking in 2022, Perez, then 46, couldn’t resist the siren song of a mega-payday. “It’s like winning the lottery for me,” he said.
As a member of Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces, Perez lasted three years on tour, never finishing better than 28th in the individual rankings. After the 2024 season, when Perez finished a lowly 48th, the 4Aces cut him. But he was not out of work for long. LIV relied on Perez’s outgoing personality and offered him a job as a commentator on its broadcast team.
When we say Perez took off his clubs for a microphone, we mean he literally didn’t touch them — for nearly a year. From January 2025 to the end of September of that year, Perez said he did not throw a single fade, draw, punch or jab. not A golf shot.
“I didn’t even think about it,” he said earlier this week. “I never thought I’d be able to play on tour again, so I just thought, you know what, I’ll just hang around and do TV and then we’ll see where it’s at.”
The “tour” in question was the PGA Tour and its sister properties, namely the PGA Tour Champions, which Perez, before signing with LIV, would have been eligible to play when he turned 50 in March 2026. But when he joined LIV, the PGA Tour suspended him. At the end of 2025, Perez applied for reinstatement on the PGA Tour. The tournament accepted his request but with a caveat: He would have to sit out the entire 2026 season, meaning Perez would lose his first qualification in 10 months for the Champions League.
“I said, OK, ‘I appreciate the opportunity,'” Perez said. “Then I got back into it a little bit. Then I realized I could play three majors.” They will three of the five senior executives NO run by the PGA Tour: the PGA Senior Championship (which is conducted by the PGA of America), the US Senior Open (USGA) and the Senior Open Championship (R&A).
Perez was speaking this week from the first of that trio of events, the Senior PGA at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. “Really my focus changed in August (2025) to prepare for this week,” Perez said Wednesday. “I started counting down the days. I have 144 days and then I have to start training. I have to start training harder and understand the balls and the clubs and all this other stuff and get ready for this week.”
That meant finding time to work out at his Scottsdale, Ariz., club, Silverleaf, between sending his kids to and from school and settling into a new home, a process that includes unpacking and organizing. his huge collection of Jordan sneakers. There has also been the small matter of re-acclimating his body and mind to the game after such a long break.
When his LIV playing career ended, Perez thought his playing career, period, was over. At the time, he couldn’t see a path back to top-level professional golf. “I said, ‘You know what, I’ve got nothing to play,'” he recalled thinking. So, as he entered the world with LIV, he left his clubs at home and focused on calling golf instead of playing it. “When I got home, the boys said, ‘Are you going to play?’ I said, ‘No, I’m just not playing. I have no interest in it now. I have nothing to prepare for because again, like I said, I didn’t think this opportunity would come.”
Cold turkey for nine months.
Which made the return to the game no small feat.
“It took a while,” he said. “My hand strength was gone. My arm strength was gone. Shoulders hurt. Back pain. All muscles I hadn’t used in so long. And being 49, that’s not easy either.”
Perez said he had a six-month plan, which has culminated in the start of the Senior PGA this week. The plan is working. On Thursday, Perez opened with a three-under 69, which was just four behind the low round of the day. On Friday, he shot a 70 to move to five under. As of this writing, he was tied for 9th, five behind co-leaders Scott Hend and Brian Gay.
Whatever happens this week and in his other two major starts this year, Perez will be back in 2027 with a new lease on his touring life and a full schedule ahead of him.
“I probably won’t miss an event next year,” he said. “From what I hear, this tournament you want to hit hard from 50 to 55. Since I’m short of 50, I’ll probably hit it hard the first three years and then see where we are.”
;)
