Still, some fans were scrutinizing Monday’s announcement and a story at our sister site For The Win, part of the USA Today Sports network, highlighted the perceived snubs:
Perez earned his third DP World Tour title in dramatic fashion on Sunday.
Victor Perez claimed his third DP World Tour win thanks to “probably the greatest shot I’ve ever hit” on the 17th hole during Sunday’s final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Frenchman began the final round a shot off the pace at Yas Links Abu Dhabi but joined the mix early thanks to a consecutive birdies on both Nos. 1 and 2 as well as Nos. 6 and 7 to take a two-shot advantage. Min Woo Lee and Sebastian Soderberg kept the pressure on, and after a three-putt bogey on No. 14, Perez reclaimed his lead with a birdie on the 15th.
The shot of the day, however, came at the par-3 17th, where Perez holed out for what would be a crucial late birdie from the bunker to take a two-shot lead to the 18th.
Victor Perez's incredible bunker shot today with French commentary 🇫🇷😂
Perez made a late bogey on the 18th to sign for a 6-under 66 and earn a one-shot win at 18 under over Lee (68) and Soderberg (66). Old enough to play on the Champions tour, Padraig Harrington finished fourth at 16 under, with Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren T-5 at 14 under. Sami Valimaki shot a course record 10-under 62 to finish inside the top 10.
The win puts Perez in prime position to compete for a spot on the European Ryder Cup team when the biennial bout heads for Italy in the fall. He’s currently second on the European Points list.
“It’s a great year ahead,” said Perez, who also became the first French winner of a Rolex Series event. “There’s a lot of big things coming up. I’ve had a really good off-season, I’ve worked really hard, and it’s just great.”
The DP World Tour will hold its third straight event in the Middle East next week with the 2023 Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Jan. 26-29.
Billy Horschel defeated Scottie Scheffler in the final match to claim the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play title on Sunday in Austin, Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas — So much for excruciating work, long hours and exhaustive prep being the only paths to success in the golf world.
Billy Horschel primed for a busy week at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play with the exact opposite approach — taking his family for a much-needed spring break vacation in his home state of Florida.
Who’s to challenge the results? Horschel put together a week to remember at Austin Country Club, winning weekend matches over Kevin Streelman, Tommy Fleetwood and then Victor Perez to reach the final.
As the winds picked up on Sunday afternoon, Horschel looked rested and relaxed as he downed Scottie Scheffler, 2 and 1, to claim the title. Horschel, who hadn’t won a sanctioned PGA Tour event since taking the 2018 Zurich Classic with Scott Piercy and an individual title since the 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson, credited the extended break for the hop in his step.
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“I think mentally it was the key. I played really well at Concession; felt good about my game, and go to Bay Hill and Players and play really bad,” Horschel said on Sunday. “So it was just a great mental reboot to spend time with family, my kids, my aunt and uncle, my cousins and their kids. It was just nice. I don’t think we’ve been on a family vacation I don’t think ever because of me that didn’t have clubs involved.
“So everyone had a great time, and I’m sure there will be more of this after seeing the success I’ve had this week.”
Horschel didn’t come into the week with a great track record at the WGC Match Play event, winning a single round in 2014 when the tournament was still sudden death, and then failing to get out of pool play in his three subsequent starts.
But the University of Florida product grinded out the win, battling Scheffler as each made a number of missteps through swirling winds. Horschel thinks he’s got the game to succeed in this event for years to come.
“I think I should be a good match play player. I have been. I have spells where I played really good in matches. I think when you putt really well, you putt really well inside 10 feet, something I do really well, I think it makes it tough to, if you don’t give holes away, it makes it tough on your opponents,” he said. “And I just haven’t done a few things correct in certain matches in previous years to be able to get to the point I am now and so I think I’m learning from those. I’m hoping I am.”
Scheffler was making his debut in the event, but he maneuvered around Austin Country Club like he knew the place — because he does. Scheffler played collegiately at the University of Texas, which is just a short ride away from Pete Dye-designed course.
Scottie Scheffler during the semifinal match of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club. (Photo: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports)
Scheffler won his pool then delivered knockouts to Ian Poulter, Jon Rahm and Matt Kuchar to reach the final. Although he’s yet to win on the PGA Tour, Scheffler came in as the 30th seed in this event and was the top remaining seed of the Sunday semifinalists. The runner-up finish marks his best to date; he finished T-3 at the 2019 Bermuda Championship and alone in third at the 2020 The American Express.
And although he was unhappy with his final round, which included a pair of costly bogeys on Nos. 7 and 9, he still enjoyed the company.
“I love playing golf with Billy. He is one of my favorite guys out here,” said Scheffler, who was the 2020 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
Scheffler was a spectator at this event while playing for the Longhorns, something he looked back fondly on.
“All I really remember was coming out here with my buddies and wife and just kind of having a good time walking around seeing shots, kind of messing around, gambling a little bit and having some fun,” he said. “I don’t think we watched anybody in particular but just kind of walked the course and had some fun.”
Meanwhile, Kuchar — who has a long history of success at this event, capturing the title in 2013, and reaching the final in 2019 before falling to Kevin Kisner — won the consolation match over Perez, 2 and 1.
Thirteen major champions showed up. Only Sergio Garcia remained late Saturday, and he fell to obscure but talented Victor Perez.
Austin doesn’t take its unofficial motto lightly.
Or its golf.
So in keeping with its quirky host city, the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play has kept it weird. And highly competitive.
And to play off a recent popular PGA Tour slogan, it’s been weirder than most.
In this tournament’s brief five-year history, there hasn’t been a more unorthodox Dell Match Play event than this one, and that’s even with the bizarre quality that match play tournaments can often feature.
How weird has it been?
So odd that six of the eight quarterfinalists were seeded 30th or lower.
It didn’t get any more normal Saturday.
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And Texas’ Scottie Scheffler, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour, knocked off third-seeded and former No. 1 in the world Jon Rahm 3 and 1 late Saturday, and 31st-seeded Frenchman Victor Perez downed Sergio Garcia 4 and 3 to become the first golfer to clinch a spot in Sunday’s semifinals.
Get this:
Gone by the weekend were 18 of the top 20 players in the world, including No. 1 Dustin Johnson, No. 2 Justin Thomas and pretty much every other hot golfer you care to name. At No. 30, Scheffler is the highest remaining seed in the field.
Ian Poulter shot a Saturday round of 3 under par. And lost.
Poulter was also decked out in a lilac shirt and pink pants. OK, so that’s more the norm. Nothing to see there.
Three-time major champion Jordan Spieth advanced to the round of 16 for only the second time in five years and failed to move on, while Scheffler, who’s still seeking his first PGA Tour win in his two years, keeps on playing through. He’s been so dominant, he didn’t trail for a single hole against Rahm and on the day made 15 birdies in 31 holes.
South African Dylan Frittelli, another Texas ex, was the last entrant into the field of 64 and first to advance but never got into a groove Saturday morning and fell decisively to Tommy Fleetwood 4 and 3.
Dylan Frittelli hits from the No. 3 tee during a third-round match at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship. (Photo: David J. Phillip/Associated Press)
As for Fleetwood, Mr. Calm buried an ace on the par-3 fourth hole Saturday. And didn’t even react. Or was that a yawn? Talk about missing out on a photo op.
Of the eight players who won their early Saturday matches and moved into the final eight, six were seeded 30th or worse, and Matt Kuchar (52) and Brian Harman (54) were in the last dozen players ranked.
But the last two Dell winners were seeded 48th (Kevin Kisner in 2019) and 35th (Bubba Watson in 2018), so that’s another pattern that might continue. They’re all good.
On Saturday, Watson birdied four of his first six holes and led 4 up after five holes. And lost.
Harman, who eliminated Watson in an all-Georgia Bulldog, all-lefty confrontation, did the honors with eight birdies in a row. It would have been an eye-popping nine, but his 19-foot offering on the 14th green needed one more ball rotation.
“It’s nice to get the best of him today,” Harman said of Watson, “because I think he’s about 10-0 against me.” Make that 10-1.
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Spieth birdied the first two holes, then scuffled with his putting the rest of the day for the most part, leaving nearly every roller short. His four-year drought continues, but he’ll have another chance in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio next week, his last tuneup before the Masters.
Thirteen major champions showed up at Austin Country Club on Monday. Only Sergio Garcia remained late Saturday, and he fell to obscure but talented Frenchman Victor Perez, the 31st seed.
If it was strange, it was going to happen this week.
We got hail Wednesday night.
Bryson DeChambeau on Friday ricocheted a tee shot at No. 10 off an oak tree limb and onto the adjacent putting green.
Upsets ruled the week, which is the beauty — and the bite — of match play.
That strangeness trend continued Saturday when Spieth, who has regained his form this season, bowed out of the competition against Kuchar, a former WGC champion and the 2019 finalist to winner Kevin Kisner, on the pivotal 18th hole. But second-year Tour player and former fellow Longhorn Scheffler, who’s going to win a major or two someday, remains in the field by reaching the semifinals.
Scheffler continued his weeklong tear. And he’s been battle-tested but never trailed for a single hole against Rahm.
He’s been dominant with crisp, accurate drives and outstanding putting, and he’s playing stress-free in group play.
He never trailed a single hole in his opening-round victory over 2016 Dell champion Jason Day either and was never farther behind than 1 down against Andy Sullivan. Scheffler was pushed to the limit by Xander Schauffele, 3 down after 13, but he won three of the next five holes to prevail
To even advance to the quarterfinals, Scheffler had to hold off Poulter, a match-play machine, 5 and 4. The former Longhorn put on a clinic Saturday, staying aggressive and forcing the Englishman to try to keep up.
“I kept the intensity up all day,” Scheffler said. “You could tell by the look in his eye that he wasn’t giving in at all. He was just waiting for a spark.”
Poulter had his chances but never could come up for air.
It was so frustrating for Poulter that he rolled in long-distance putts of 42 and 35 feet on the back nine. And halved both holes. That’s how clutch the dynamic Scheffler has been.
Scheffler was last year’s PGA Tour rookie of the year for a reason and might be closing in on his first victory.
So it wasn’t surprising when he was locked in a battle with the third-seeded Rahm, the only top seed in the 16 groups to advance to the knockout stages on the weekend, and led 2 up through 11 holes of their quarterfinal match. The Spaniard was also the only one of the top 20 ranked players to keep playing. The new norm, if you will.
“That shows, I mean, at this stage of the tournament nobody is giving it to you,” Rahm said. “You have to win it.”
The Final Four includes all seeds of 30 or higher heading into Sunday’s final day of action at Austin Country Club.
AUSTIN, Texas — Those hoping this was the year the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play would produce two semifinal matches between top seeds were likely disappointed with Saturday’s results — but the day held plenty of excitement.
The Final Four includes all seeds of 30 or higher as we head into Sunday’s final day of action at Austin Country Club.
Victor Perez had some trouble Saturday during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Bay Hill’s sixth hole.
ORLANDO – There was nothing out of the ordinary during the first five holes of Victor Perez’s third round on Saturday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Then things went nutso.
It all started going sideways for Perez on the par-5 6th hole that hugs a large lake. Perez hit his first ball into the ball. Then hit another ball into the water. Finally, after finding land from the tee box with his fifth shot, he hit another ball into the water.
After taking his third penalty drop, he found a greenside bunker with his eighth shot. He needed three more shots – a putt just inside four feet ending the disaster – to make a sextuple-bogey 11.
It wasn’t the worst score ever taken on the hole. Not by a long shot. In 1998, John Daly carded an 18.
To Perez’s credit, he stepped to the tee of the next hole, the 201-yard, par-3 seventh, and hit iron to 18 feet and made birdie.
So that’s 11-2 on the scorecard, folks.
Perez was 6 over for his round after the seventh hole and 5 over for the tournament.
The pgatour.com scorecard showing the 11 that Victor Perez posted on the par-5 sixth hole during the third round of the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The European Tour holds its final event of the 2020 season in the United Arab Emirates and Victor Perez is off to an early lead.
With the Race to Dubai title in sight, Victor Perez jumped to an early lead at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai after carding 5-under 67 Thursday at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
In the European Tour’s final event of the 2020 season, Perez recorded six birdies and one bogey during the first round to hold a one-shot lead after 18 holes. He gained the lead after carding his sixth birdie of the day on the par-3 17th.
Tied in second at 4 under are Matthew Fitzpatrick, Erik Van Rooyen and Robert MacIntyre after all carded 68s in the United Arab Emirates. Sitting T-5 at 3 under are Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Kaymer and Sami Valimaki. Patrick Reed and Lee Westwood are among the nine players to sit T-9 at 2 under.
If the season ended after Thursday’s first round, Victor Perez is primed to win both the DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai. Entering this week’s event in Dubai, Reed sat in first place in Race to Dubai points. (2,427.7) followed by Fleetwood (1,967.7), Collin Morikawa (1,881.7), Westwood (1,783.0), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (1,717.7), respectively. Perez sat in sixth entering the tournament with 1,713.9 points.
Rory McIlroy and 13 other European Tour players thanked the essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic with a heartfelt video.
“I am not your hero.”
That was the message a handful of European Tour players wanted to relay to their fans and followers on Saturday night.
Message received, gentlemen. Loud and clear.
The tour released a video on social media sure to tug at your heartstrings, with 14 players thanking “the essential workers we all take for granted” for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.
The players thanked everyone from healthcare professionals to social workers and shop workers to food producers and pleaded for fans to follow the advice of the World Health Organization and respective governments around the world to stay home.
“If we do that, we can save lives and become heroes,” Rory McIlroy said to end the video.
The video included appearances from: McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Thomas Bjorn, Victor Perez, Charl Schwartzel, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.
With the Masters postponed, and no clear idea of whether it will be played in 2020, Victor Perez is trying to keep it all in perspective.
Victor Perez won his first European Tour title at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in September. Runner-up finishes followed at the Turkish Airlines Open in November and the HSBC Championship in January. Perez had climbed all the way to No. 40 in the Official World Golf Ranking when the sport came to an abrupt stop for coronavirus precautions.
Perez, 27, was among 23 men who were slated to make their Masters debut next month. The Frenchman qualified for the Masters by getting into the top 50 in the final OWGR of 2019. With the Masters now postponed, and without any clear idea of when or if it will still be played in 2020, Perez is trying to keep things in perspective.
“Health is far more important than any tournament but it comes at a difficult time because if maybe this had happened in December, some of the big tournaments would not have been affected as much,” Perez told the PA news agency, according to the European Tour.
One way that Perez is trying to keep his head up is by looking at his Masters qualification as the start of a new era in his career. He’s “planning on playing the tournament for the next 20 years or whatever.” He’ll compete at Augusta at some point.
Perez has already played it, having made the trip to Georgia two weeks ago to a get a look at the place.
“The tournament might be on a date that’s completely different than what everybody else is used to and I think it will make the course somewhat different to what everyone knows. Being a first-timer there could be an advantage I can get from it,” Perez reasoned.
“We had rented a house and my girlfriend, my agent and my trainer were going to be there.
“Being my first major I was trying to keep it really small, try to keep it as golf-related as possible like how I’ve been behaving ever since I turned pro, because I know the stress level is going to be as high as it’s ever been.”
The Masters wasn’t the only big break Perez was looking for. He was also hoping his solid play would position him nicely for a Ryder Cup selection. For now, that biennial event is still on for September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin
Perez was in the crowd for the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris, which the Europeans won.
“As a European it’s something that we take a lot of pride in and something that I’m really looking forward to,” he added.
“I can’t tell if canceling tournaments plays into my advantage or not, time will tell, I just know that eventually the best players are going to be on the team and it’s going to be a matter of being prepared and executing when it happens.”
The only sure thing is that the waiting game continues.
Victor Perez shot a second consecutive 65 and leads Saudi International heading into the weekend.
Victor Perez shot a second consecutive round of 5-under 65 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia and leads the Saudi International heading into the weekend.
Perez first won on the European Tour in September at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Now he’s looking for more.
Perez is one shot ahead of Gavin Green.
“I feel like I’m getting more confident and it’s about getting reps,” he said after his round.
Perez leads Graeme McDowell by two shots. McDowell unwittingly stirred up some controversy on Friday by conducting a live on-course TV interview for Sky Sports, which caused him to fall behind pace. He was later given a slow-play warning.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson is T-8, five shots off the lead. Phil Mickelson, who shot an opening 66, followed with a 70 and is T-12, six shots back.
Other notables include Sergio Garcia in a tie for 18th at 3 under and World No. 1 Brooks Koepka in a tie for 38th at 1 under.
