DUBLIN, Ohio — No way did a young Pat Perez picture himself where he popped up Thursday, strolling the exquisitely manicured golf course that Jack Nicklaus built and grabbing, albeit briefly, a share of the lead in the first round of the 40th Memorial Tournament.
Perez, 39, grew up as one of golf’s day laborers, picking up range balls and cleaning carts at Torrey Pines Golf Course near his San Diego home. His co-workers included men twice his age who were rougher than five-day stubble. Courtly clubs like Muirfield Village, with its homemade milkshakes and royal golf roots, were so outside Perez’s comfort zone they might as well have been foreign countries.