London –Victor
Perez clinched his first European Tour title after holding his nerve to
pip Matthew Southgate by one shot at the Alfred Dunhill Links
Championship on Sunday
In his rookie season, Perez recorded a final round of 70 at the Old
Course at St Andrews to reach 22-under par and become the first
Frenchman to win the tournament.
England’s Southgate was alone in second a shot further back after he
carded two bogeys on the back nine and failed to make the birdie he
needed at the last to force a playoff.
Perez is no stranger to links golf in Scotland, having spent the last
18 months living in nearby Dundee, where his girlfriend attends dental
school.
The 27-year-old took full advantage of his home comforts, carding
three birdies and a solitary bogey to win on his 29th European Tour
appearance.
Perez, a two-time Challenge Tour winner, said: “I’m very pleased.
There are so many things that need to come together to win a golf
tournament.
“There are so many great players that are still striving for their first win, and obviously it happened for me in my first year.
“I’m quite fortunate to be honest. Waking up this morning, you go out
and you try to play as well as you can, but you don’t know if somebody
can go and shoot eight under.
“Then you lose by six and you felt like you did your job but you might be miles away.
“Obviously I felt like I had a solid day. I did my job and it was
good enough, and next thing you know, you’re a winner on the European
Tour.
“You have to take it how it comes and it’s a great win for me.”
Perez began the day alongside Southgate at the top of the leaderboard
but found himself in possession of the outright lead when his playing
partner dropped a shot at the first.
His first birdie of the day came at the fifth when he got up and down from the rough to the right of the green.
But Southgate twice overhauled him to take the lead in a rollercoaster first nine holes.
Perez’s deficit was extended to two strokes when he made a bogey at the short 11th.
But a two-shot swing at the par-five 14th saw Perez join Southgate at
the top once more as he tapped in his close-range birdie putt to get to
22 under, while a poor pitch shot cost Southgate the outright lead.
Perez, whose caddie is Rory McIlroy’s former bagman JP Fitzgerald,
took a one-shot lead to the 18th tee after Southgate bogeyed the 17th,
and when they both made pars at the last, Perez had his hands on the
trophy.
Leading final round scores and totals in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Scotland (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 72):
266 – Victor Perez (FRA) 64 68 64 70
267 – Matthew Southgate 65 66 65 71
268 – Paul Waring 65 68 65 70, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 69 62 68 69
269 – Matthew Jordan 66 64 71 68, Tommy Fleetwood 66 69 70 64, Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 70 65 66 68, Tom Lewis 70 70 65 64, Jordan Smith 64 68 68 69
270 – Tony Finau (USA) 67 66 66 71, Richie Ramsay 65 67 70 68, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 68 65 67 70, Callum Shinkwin 72 68 63 67, Luke Donald 68 68 64 70
271 – Matt Wallace 70 68 68 65, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 68 65 72 66, Alex Noren (SWE) 69 66 68 68, Harry Hall 70 68 68 65, Shane Lowry 73 66 64 68, Tyrrell Hatton 66 68 67 70, Eddie Pepperell 70 66 68 67, Russell Knox 66 66 70 69
