Victor

Perez

The 29-year-old Perez, who also won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, started the day at Bernardus Golf tied for the lead with England’s Matt Wallace (T-5) and finished with a 3-under 69 to stand at 13-under 275. Fox, who pushed his way to the top of the leaderboard with four birdies and one eagle over his first 14 holes, made double bogey at 18 for a 4-under 68 and opened the door for Perez. The two matched birdies through three trips down No. 18 in the playoff, with Perez holing birdie putts from 15 feet and 30 feet to stay alive. They switched to the No. 17 for the fourth playoff hole, where Perez rolled in another long putt for birdie at the par-3 while Fox missed his birdie attempt. “There’s a fair amount of fortune, I’ve got to be honest with myself, holing all those long putts in the playoff,” said Perez, who qualified for The 150th Open Championship in July alongside Fox and Adrian Meronk as the top three finishers in the top 10 not already exempt. It will mark Perez’s second appearance in The Open (MC, 2021). He’s listed in the field for this week’s Porsche European Open at Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg, Germany.

The 29-year-old Perez, No. 52 in the world rankings, arrives in Scotland off a T-49 finish in the BMW PGA Championship. It marked the fifth straight made cut for Perez, during which he’s posted two top-20 results – finishing T-13 at the Cazoo Classic and T-18 at the Italian Open. On the season, Perez has made 10 cuts in 15 starts with two top 10s. He was T-4 at the Saudi International in February and finished fourth in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March. He missed the cut in all four majors this past season, but he’s still on pace to make the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai as he currently stands 37th in the Race to Dubai. At the 2019 Dunhill Links, Perez carded a 2-under 70 on the Old Course at St. Andrews to reach 22-under 266 and beat England’s Matthew Southgate by a shot. Southgate made bogey on two of his final five holes.

The 28-year-old Frenchman arrives in England for the Cazoo Classic at London Golf Club off a lackluster performance at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he finished 61st. Perez is aiming for a return to the form that earned him two top-five finishes earlier this year (T-4 at Saudi International, solo fourth at WGC-Match Play), while also hoping to improve his Ryder Cup chances. He currently sits four spots outside the automatic qualification spots on the European Points list at No. 8. “I’m excited about playing in England again,” he recently told European media. “The fans were incredible at Royal St. George’s, and I know London Golf Club is not far away from there so I’m sure they will be incredibly supportive once again. It’s a golf course I’ve never played but I have heard good things about it, and I’m hoping to get my game back on track as we reach an important part of the season.” On the season, Perez has made six cuts in 11 ET starts with two top 10s. He’s 6-for-12 in PGA Tour action and finished T-9 at The Players. His lone ET win came at the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

The Frenchman enters the week with missed cuts in five of his last six starts, worldwide. The lone payday was a T59 at the Scottish Open. That comes directly on the heels of some of the best finishes of his carer. Early in the season he twirled a T9 at THE PLAYERS and backed it up two weeks later with a 4th-place finish at the WGC-Match Play. This slump is coming at the worst possible time, as Perez is still 54 Non-Member FedExCup Points away from earning Special Temporary Membership. He made his debut at TPC Southwind last year, failing to break par en route to a solo 65th.

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.

Kuchar (6-1-0) bounces back from a 1 DOWN loss in the semis to bag his 35th career podium in 476 events, first since the above-mentioned Genesis 21 starts ago, where he led or co-led after each of the first three rounds. It’s his first top-10 finish of the season in 12 starts, and also his first top 10 since the Genesis. This was the Georgia Tech alum’s 11th Match Play and fourth top 3, second straight after solo 2nd at the last edition played in 2019. Overall, it was his 38th WGC event and 14th top 10 (36.8%). Perez, who loses his final two matches (4-3-0) and settles for 4th-place, matches a career-TOUR-best with T4 at last season’s WGC-HSBC in his TOUR debut. Kuchar won the first (with bogey) and never trailed. Perez tied him with a bounce-back birdie-3 at 2 from 19'8" and the match would remain that way thru the seventh. Kuchar, the 2013 winner at Dove Mountain, went 1 UP with a win at 8 (par) and 2 UP with birdie-3 at 10 from 11'10". He went back-to-back with birdie-2 at 11 (8'4"), now 3 UP, and then notched the hat-trick with birdie-4 at 12 (5'9"). Perez battled back with birdie-wins at 13, his first win in 10 holes, and 14, now 2 DOWN, but could get no closer. The Frenchman had a chance to extend at the par-3 17th, but missed birdie from 19'11".

The Frenchman, who lives in Scotland, won Group 16 on Friday and then made easy work of 41-seed and debutant Robert MacIntyre 5-and-4 earlier today. He’ll face 32-seed Billy Horschel on Sunday, who bettered 21-seed Tommy Fleetwood in extra holes. Garcia bows out in the quarters for a second straight time, and departs with a 3-2-0 mark for T5. Perez, a University of New Mexico alum, improves to 4-1-0, and is a one-time winner on the European Tour in 52 career events (2019 Alfred Dunhill Link Championship). His career best of two top 10s in 12 PGA TOUR events is T4 at last season’s WGC-HSBC in his TOUR debut, and most recently, finished T9 at THE PLAYERS two weeks ago, which was top first-timer of 33. Garcia won the first hole (with par) but Perez won back-to-back at 2 (birdie from 12'8") and 3 to go 1 UP. Garcia tied the match with birdie-3 at 5 (from 4'0"), but Perez won the sixth with birdie-4 (12'1") and never was tied again. He went 2 UP with a par-win at 8, and after Garcia missed birdie at 12 for a win (from 6'5"), Perez laid up to the drivable par-4 13th and Garcia went for it and splashed, leading to a 3 DOWN deficit. Perez would close him out two holes later with another laser to 7'5" for the birdie-win.

Garcia, now 3-1-0, has reached the quarters for a second straight time, joining a T5 in the last edition in 2019, where he won Group 16 as a 26-seed (2-1-0) but got bounced by eventual runner-up and 23-seed Matt Kuchar in the quarters. Hughes exits with a T9 and a 2-1-1 mark as the winner of Group 9. Garcia, who won Group 8 yesterday with a walk-off ace in a playoff over 18-seed Lee Westwood, was 1 UP early on with a birdie-win at 1, but the Canadian flipped the script to go 1 UP after birdie wins at 5 and 6 from 6'2 and 7'6, respectively. Garcia quickly tied with birdie-2 at 7, and then went 1 UP with a par-win at 9, and 2 UP with another par-win at 10. Hughes got back to 1 DOWN with birdie-2 at 11 (18'10") but the Spaniard took control with back-to-back wins at 13 and 14, now 3 UP. Hughes still had some fight left in him, winning the 16th, now 2 DOWN with two-to-play, but the contest would end with pars at the 17th.

The Frenchman, who lives in Scotland, is making his fifth overall WGC appearance with best of T4 at last season’s HSBC in his TOUR and WGC debut. He checked in off a T9 at THE PLAYERS two weeks ago, which was top debutant (of 33) at TPC Sawgrass. In a battle of first-timers in this format, Perez won the first three holes and never trailed, or for that matter, never was tied. Im fought back to 1 DOWN with hole wins at 5 and 7, both with birdies, but Perez struck back on eight with a par-win, now 2 UP, and was back to 3 UP after birdie-3 at 10 from 6'11". The South Korean was game again, winning back-to-back holes at 12 (eagle from 29'1") and 13 (tap-in birdie) to get back to 1 DOWN, but Perez won the 16th with birdie (not conceded) from 2'4" to go 2 UP with three to play, and the contest would end one hole later after Im missed birdie from 18'2", leaving the New Mexico alum two putts for the win from 10'1". Perez will face 41-seed and fellow first-timer Robert MacIntyre in the Round of 16 on Saturday, MacIntyre the winner of Group 1 that included World No. 1 and past champ Dustin Johnson.

This was the Frenchman’s 12th career PGA TOUR event and second top 10, joining a T4 at last season’s WGC-HSBC in his TOUR debut, where he was solo 2nd after 18 holes (65-71-71-66). Of 33 total first-timers this week at TPC Sawgrass, he was the only top-10 finisher after posting progressively better rounds of 73-71-69-67, including a made cut (T50) on the number. For the week, he tallied one eagle and 17 birdies versus 11 bogeys, and ranked 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee (2.349), 22nd in SG: Around (2.088), and 29th in SG: Putting (2.454). On Sunday, he began T27, five short of the overnight top 10, and landed 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation. The University of New Mexico alum gained 0.998 strokes off-the-tee, 1.051 around, and 2.386 on-the-green. He squared a lone, walk-off bogey-5 at 18, outflanked by six birdies at 3, 4, 9, 11, 13 and 16, three from between 13 and 22 feet. While technically his event debut, the 28-year-old did open up last season’s edition with 3-under 69 before the tourney was scrapped late Thursday evening due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. He checked in this week off a T68 at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he was T7 after 18 holes, and recorded laps of 69-74-78-75, the 78 in R3 included an 11 at the par-5 sixth, and a bounce-back birdie-2 at the seventh.