In the Consolation Match at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and making his tournament debut, 31-seed Victor Perez lost to past champ and 52-seed Matt Kuchar 2-and-1, settling for his second consecutive top 10 on the PGA TOUR.
The non-member and World No. 33 loses his last two matches and departs with a 4-3-0 record for solo 4th. That ties his career-TOUR-best in 13 events with a T4 at last season’s WGC-HSBC in his TOUR debut. The Frenchman, who lives in Scotland, also records back-to-back finishes in the States after a T9 at THE PLAYERS in his last start two weeks ago, which was good for top debutant (of 33) at TPC Sawgrass. After emerging out of Group 16 on Friday, he won both contests on Saturday before losing to eventual champ Billy Horschel in the Sunday morning semifinals. Now relegated to the 3rd-place match against Kuchar, the New Mexico alum still had much to play for, including Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR if he won. He didn’t, of course, and there were no post-round interviews notes published for him as of this writing. The proceeding against the 2013 winner Kuchar was tied thru seven holes with Kuchar winning the first and Perez bouncing back from a mess at 1 with a birdie-2 at 2 from 19'8". Kuchar went 1 UP thru 8 (par-win) and then took command with three wins in a row at 10, 11 and 12, all with birdies. Perez battled back with birdie-wins at 13 and 14, now 2 DOWN, but the festivities would end three holes later with Perez missing birdie from 19'11" to extend.