Perry Parker is grateful for golf and an almost 40-year career that was sparked during his time at UC Irvine.

While at UCI, Parker won two individual titles as well as four team titles, earning second-team All-Pacific Coast Athletic Association honors. The double major in economics and political science would go on to play professionally, spending time on the Asian, Australian, Australian Legends, Canadian, Japanese, Nike, and PGA tours. He has qualified for three United States Opens (1992 at Pebble Beach, 1997 at Congressional CC and 1998 at Olympic Club) and one  US Senior Open (2025 at The Broadmoor GC), winning 49 professional events, including three already in 2026 on the Australian Legends PGA Tour. He has played in all 50 states and 40 different countries and still going strong. He has accomplished all of this with the bleeding disorder, Hemophilia. Being a spokesperson for the bleeding disorder community is another passion of his.

While he loves golf, his No. 1 is his family, wife Lori and twins Diana and Scott. They have been able to share in the journey making memories and moments much more special. Lori is also a UC Irvine graduate in English.

We sat down with Parker for a Q&A spotlighting his impressive career ahead of the 2026 Hall of Fame Ceremony on Feb. 13. 

Was there a specific tournament that was influential in your UCI career or was there one that was your favorite?

I would say two tournaments. I wanted to win that annual UCI Invitational at Big Canyon. I was real close. I had the course record there for a number of years and played really well my senior year finishing third and had a chance to win on the last hole, so that was very good memory. 

The other memory was the UC Santa Barbara tournament at Sandpiper, which is one of my favorite courses in the whole world, right on the ocean. There was a guy named Sam Randolph, who was the number one amateur player in the world playing at USC, and Duffy Waldorf and Dennis Paulson, who played on the PGA Tour. I finished second and beat Sam Randolph. That’s kind of the moment I realized that maybe I can play some pretty good golf at a higher level. 

That tournament probably had the most influence on me mentally that I beat Sam Randolph. We had a great tournament as a team. We went on to play well at Stanford right after that. So, it just kind of built momentum and gave me the confidence to feel like I could play pro golf after playing at UCI. 

What are some of things you remember most about your time at UCI?

My favorite time at UCI was the routine of playing golf. We played early in the morning at Big Canyon or Santa Ana at 7:00 a.m. and then go to school and practice in the afternoon. I loved that. One of my fondest memories, though, is kind of a cool memory in UCI lore. 

I used to hit balls at Crawford Hall. We could hit across the field. At that time, Edwin Moses used to train around Crawford Field like Steve Scott and Daley Thompson, all those guys were always there. So, I used to be hitting balls across Crawford Field and Edwin Moses would run by me   doing his eight hundred meter sprints. And he'd always say, “Hey Parker, make sure you don't hit me, man,” and I’d go, “I’m not going to hit you. You're an Olympic champion. Why would I hit you? I know what I'm doing.” So, that was always very cool for me to be hitting balls, while those guys, those great athletes, were training there at Irvine. And I'll always remember that. That was always fun. 

Can you elaborate on how UCI was a really good foundation to get you to the next level.

No doubt about it. I definitely chose the right university, the right atmosphere for me to develop as a person. Academically, it was amazing. As a golfer, when I went to UCI, my goal was that I could play every tournament. I pretty much did play in every single tournament that I was eligible to play in. We were playing with USC, UCLA, Stanford - all the great teams, all the great players. So, I was getting experience of playing against all those great players and that really set the foundation for me to come in as a freshman, as an average, pretty good high school player. I played number one on my team, but I wasn't a great player. I was a good junior golfer and I left UCI as one of the top college players on the West Coast. 

That really was the foundation for me to get better. Having places to practice, having Crawford Hall, where I could go in between classes and go hit balls - that was huge. Just the whole atmosphere. Being home, seeing my brothers (Stacy and Corey, both UCI baseball players) and being with my dad, who was a coach, allowed me to really improve in those four years. I would say my golf game went from being pretty good to really good at the end of my career. And then that's when I considered playing pro golf and I’ve obviously been doing it a long time now.

Did being surrounded by good teammate help propel your game? 

Eric Woods and Ted Norby, Brian Light, Gary Nichols were my teammates and we pushed each other big time. We were all good players. We had competitions every day. We played almost every single day. That’s how we became better and it was fun. We all got along really well and enjoyed being together. We enjoyed practicing. We're still friends to this day. That's five pros out of our program. 

What were your career goals following graduation?

I felt like I was going to give golf a chance. I coached at UCI for three years and played the mini tours that allowed me to be involved with the team and practice with the team and then play the mini tour events.

I started winning lots of tournaments on the mini tour, started making some money. And then in 1991, I went to the Canadian Tour qualifying and got my card and finished top five in the qualifying school. I went on to win five tournaments on the Canadian Tour, and that got me exempt around the world. So that got me going in the right direction so I could play in Australia and Asia and Japan while I was trying to get my PGA Tour card. I just never really wavered from golf. 

You always think there's going to be a backup plan. I've always been good about having other avenues to make money during my career, but it's all been golf related. Right out of UCI, it was all about playing golf and trying to give it my best shot. And I worked really hard. 

When I turned pro, I made a pact with myself. I said, all right, I'm going to treat it like a job. I'm going to go to the course at 8 a.m., and I'm going to take a lunch break from 12 to 1, and then I'm going to practice from 1 to 5. And with my contacts from UCI, Santa Ana Country Club gave me an honorary membership to practice and play out of there, which was huge. Some of the members who had followed me at Irvine offered me that. I would practice every day eight hours a day. I treated it like a job and that's how I became really good. I was already good at Irvine, but I got even better in the next couple of years. 

What would you say has made your career endure so long?

This is my 39th year as a pro. I think it's a couple of different things. Tenacity and dedication and I'm a very hard worker.

I love the game of golf. I think that to be able to do anything well, you have to love it. And I think I love everything about it, even when you have the ups and downs. When I give my speeches in the bleeding disorder community, I talk about adversity and overcoming adversity. And growing up with a bleeding disorder, I was told I could not play sports, could not be physically active when I was a young person. When I was eight years old, that's what the doctors were telling me. 

Luckily for me, my parents allowed me to do stuff and that tenacity and perseverance that I learned as a kid with a bleeding disorder transformed into playing pro golf. Physical fitness has been huge for me. I've always been physically fit. I've always exercised. I've always stretched and done yoga and Pilates. I've always kept my body in good shape and that's allowed me to continue to play. I've just turned 61 and last year in my 60s, my 60th year was arguably my best year ever. I played terrific golf and had a lot of success. That’s amazing.

 When I was a kid, doctors would tell me I couldn't play sports and I wasn’t able to be physically active. A lot of people with bleeding disorders weren't living past their 50th year. And now I'm still playing professional golf -  it is a very proud accomplishment for me - but I think the two main things - my dad who's a coach and played football at University of Michigan and ran track, he had two rules for my brothers and I. Basically, have a good attitude and work hard - and that's pretty much what I've had my entire career - if I maintain that good attitude and I put the work in, eventually you get success. It doesn't always happen all the time, but if you maintain that approach, I think the success happens. And that's really why I've been able to maintain a high level of golf. There have been some ups and downs obviously, but I've pretty much have won a tournament in every decade of my professional golf career and that's very cool.

You mentioned your bleeding disorder talk about how that has affected your golf career.

Well, I have to be very conscious of my bleeding disorder. I was always educated about how to treat myself, how to take care of myself. I never went skiing or snowboarding or did stuff that I would have a good chance of getting hurt. I'm a firm believer that because I was taught at a young age to exercise, jump rope, to be physically active, always be in good shape, that's helped me with my bleeding disorder. As a national spokesperson in that community, now doctors are on board with that and they agree that the better shape you're in, the better your muscles, stronger your muscles are, the less bleeds you're going to have. So, I think that really helped me.

People always ask me, do you think you would have been a better or worse golfer if you didn't have a bleeding disorder? I think the answer to that is, well, this is who I am and this is what I have and I'm much tougher. I feel like I'm much tougher than the guy I'm playing against because of what I've been through and what I've had to handle and that’s an advantage. The roller coaster ride of playing professional golf is something that I have lived out when I was a kid on a roller coaster ride having bleeds and injuries and being out and not be able to do things. I learned how to stay as an even keel on the course as off the course. That has really helped me as an athlete. Obviously, I'd rather not have it, but it has helped me become the person I am and the athlete I am. I'm very tough and tenacious. I never give up. I always have a good attitude. And if you ask anybody that played with me, they would say the same thing. 

Everybody has something to deal with is what I tell our community. So, no matter who you are, you always have something to deal with. This is just what we have to deal with and you just have to learn how to handle it the best way you can.

Talk about being a spokesperson for the bleeding disorder community? 

I started a charity tournament 10 years ago at Pebble Beach that I run every year. We've raised about $200,000 in that event for the bleeding disorder community. It's also a professional tournament. I do about 20 to 25 speaking events a year for different organizations in the bleeding disorder community. I've been doing that for 25 years. I started speaking in 2000 and I've been doing it ever since. I also help other organizations raise funds when I can, when I can go to events and help them raise awareness and be involved in that respect. I've been invited to go to France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Australia to speak. And then I've just been invited to go to Uganda to speak next year, to speak to people that are less fortunate than we are in the United States. Those are very big honors for me to be able to do that. I get letters from kids around the world that have a bleeding disorder that are inspired by me still playing professional golf and still playing tournaments and saying that they're trying to be like me. It’s been amazing. I've had a lot of great moments on the golf course, but I don't think anything's been more rewarding than the work I've done in the bleeding disorder community.

The hemophilia national convention was in Anaheim one year and Corey and I were asked to come and play in a golf tournament and do a clinic. Corey also has a bleeding disorder. After the clinic for kids I spoke at the lunch and the CEO from CSL Bearing, who's the company that sponsors me now, was there. They were trying to start a program called Get in the Game, which is promoting sports in the bleeding disorder community. They were having a problem finding athletes to do it and asked Corey and I if we would want to do it and that's how it started. And that was at Strawberry Farms in Irvine. So, things happen for a reason. Ever since then, I've really have loved the speaking, loved being part of the community. 

One of my proudest things that we started, Corey and I started 21 years ago, was a thing called the Junior National Championship, which is a national sports competition for kids with bleeding disorders. It's the only one in the world and we started that 22 years ago. We have baseball, swimming, basketball, and golf and we bring kids from around the country into one location.

Some of those kids have gone on to be accomplished high school athletes so that's probably one of my proudest things I've ever been a part of is that Junior National Championship. 

Let’s go back to your professional career and tell me some of the highlights.

I've had some amazing moments. Winning my first tournament on the Canadian Tour, that was amazing. I shot 17-under par for four rounds. Never really thought I'd be shooting that low in a tournament and beating some great players. Chris DeMarco, who went on to finish second in the Masters and win a number of times on the Tour, I beat him in a playoff there. That was a moment where I realized, hey, I'm a pro. I can play at the highest level and I can do well.

A few years later after that, I was playing on the Asian Tour and I shot 67, 68 in the first two rounds and got paired with my childhood idol, Tom Watson in the third round, at the Hong Kong Open. My wife, Lori was caddying for me. She was so nervous and was more nervous than I was. I was super pumped about it and he just was amazing. He asked questions and gave me a lot of good advice. He gave me some encouraging words and it was just an amazing day. I'll never forget that day. So that was, that was very cool. I also played with Seve Ballesteros that year on the Asian Tour which was incredible. 

Then qualifying for my first U.S. Open was at Pebble Beach. Tiger Woods was young, 17 and I was 28, I think. I qualified, and he did not and we played together in that qualifying. That was very cool. Then I went to play the U.S. Open at my favorite course in the whole world at Pebble Beach. That was amazing.

A few years later, I qualified for another U S Open at Congressional and I holed out a shot on the ninth hole for Eagle and made the cut. All the guys that made the cut got invited to the White House on Saturday night. I got a picture with President Clinton and my family. That wasn’t something you'd ever think growing up as a kid with a bleeding disorder, you were ever going to get to go to the White House and play in the US Open. 

I worked at Arroyo Trabcuo for 20 years teaching and playing on the side as well, but when I turned 50, I started playing again and, going to Australia, I've won 15 tournaments over there now on the Australian Legends Tour. That's been amazing and really reinvigorated my game. 

I qualified for the U.S. Senior Open and my son Scott caddied for me, my daughter was there, my mom came. That was special. My mom took me to the Broadmoor Invitational, which was a big amateur tournament in 1987, which I got an exemption into the tournament because of how well I played at UCI. I got into that tournament and played pretty good. Then almost 40 years later, I qualify for the US Senior Open at the Broadmoor. My mom comes, she's sitting there and watching me on the first tee tee off. And my son caddied for me. I get emotional thinking about it right now. It was amazing. 

Last year was amazing. I made my 15th hole-in-one. That's a highlight. I never thought I would do that. I did make a hole-in-one when I was at UCI at Big Canyon Country Club. The longest hole-in-one I've ever had was at Big Canyon on the 15th hole with Ted Norby and Eric Woods - my buddies. So that was cool as well. 

Your UCI and golf career has truly been a family affair.

Lori has caddied for me and travels, maybe not as much as she used to, but she travels quite a bit. She pretty much walks the course every time I play. She keeps my stats. She knows what's going on, how I'm playing. She's been a big support. She's never given up on me, even in the roughest of times. So it's been an amazing partnership for sure in that respect. And now that my kids understand what it's like, I had the best compliment my kids gave me after they finished college, and they got jobs they said ‘Dad, we don't know how you did it, man. You played golf. You taught golf. You bought a house. You raised us in Laguna Niguel. I mean, thanks a lot.’  That was nice that my kids could recognize that. That was so cool. 

 You don't even think about that while you're doing it. You just do it. But to hear that at the end is pretty cool. 

What does the UC Irvine and this Hall of Fame induction mean to you?

It's a crowning achievement of a lot of hard work, you know, and it means a lot to me. I'm a proud Anteater. I support the golf team. I go to basketball games. I go to some baseball games. I love the school. And to have my plaque up at Bren Center is going to be an honor. I still can't believe it.

Finding out I was going to be inducted was a very proud moment. When you go to UCI, you're a young person and you don't know what life's going to hand you. You know that foundation that you built at UC Irvine, you know, I have friends from there for life. And it really has taught me to be the person that I am. And it's amazing. So, to be inducted in the Hall of Fame is a real honor.