Perez claims maiden victory

Perez: maiden victory

Final leaderboard:
(US unless stated)
P Perez -33
J Merrick -30
S Stricker -28
M Weir (Can) -28

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Pat Perez took advantage of a final round collapse from overnight leader Steve Stricker to clinch his maiden PGA Tour title at the Bob Hope Classic.

Stricker had started the fifth and final round with a three-shot advantage over the field, but blew his chances with a five-over-par 77 that included a triple-bogey seven and a quadruple-bogey eight.

By contrast, Perez recorded a three-under-par 69 as he finished three shots clear of nearest challenger John Merrick (67) and closed out victory in some style with an eagle at his last hole.

Stricker had to settle for a share of third alongside 2003 champion Mike Weir, while Stephen Ames produced a best-of-the-day 63 to sneak into a tie for fifth with Bo Van Pelt, Tim Clark and Webb Simpson.

Merrick did actually hold a share of the lead before a bogey at 17 gave Perez the advantage and the 32-year-old needed no second invitation as he broke his title duck in spectacular fashion.

Perez was additionally delighted that his first PGA victory should come at a tournament hosted by the legendary Arnold Palmer.

Special

"I think it's special," he stated afterwards. "I feel privileged to win the tournament that Mr Palmer won 50 years ago and now he's back hosting it.

"I feel honoured that he was there to shake my hand when I got done and he's such a legend that it's just a great feeling on top of everything else.

"Today, I knew that I was ready. I prepared myself all week. I played all winter to get ready for this and it just means the world."

A disappointed Merrick explained: "I think I got a little quick. On the last three holes, I didn't go through my whole process like I was during the whole day, and that could have hurt me.

"But it was playing tough out there. And I think I made two bogeys today, and that's not bad out there in that wind. So what can you do?"

Costly errors

Stricker, who had carded superlative bogey-free rounds of 61 and 62 on Friday and Saturday and was left to curse his costly errors.

"It's just a couple of bad swings that really cost me big time," he said.

"And I hit them in spots where I couldn't recover from them. It was tough to judge the wind.

"It was tough to pick a correct club and it was hard to feel comfortable with anything."

The US Ryder Cup player was holding a comfortable lead before disaster struck at the seventh with his triple-bogey and his bid was all but ended by a calamitous eight at the tenth.

"Well, the wind was blowing pretty good there at 10 and I just cut it a little bit instead of drawing it," he added.

"I needed to turn it over a little bit and once it got out into the middle there, the wind just ripped it to the right, and that one hurt the most.

"Unfortunately, it's a little tough to recover from a triple and a quad. But overall, if you would have told me I would have played like I did this week coming into the tournament, I still take a lot of positives away, even though today didn't turn out the way I wanted it to."