#patperez

It’s an explanation not necessary for the true golf enthusiast who spouts stats ad nauseam, or easily recalls epic moments from their mental sports Rolodex—but for the casual observer, why was a fall series event just outside Cancun such a game-changer for William Murray Golf’s first-endorsed athlete, Pat Perez? It starts with the fact that these under-the-radar fall series events carry as much weight as the muscle that’s around the corner in January when the PGA Tour’s west coast swing gets rolling. Perez’s victory at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba brought a hefty payday ($1.26M) as well as the standard allotment of FedExCup points; 500 for the winner.

Fall will forever be synonymous with football season, but that doesn’t change the fact the PGA Tour created the ultimate game-changer—a mini-season for pros who want to get a leg up on the competition before things get popping in January. Lots of great players signed on for events in Malaysia, Napa, Las Vegas, Playa del Carmen and Sea Island, but few seized the moment like Perez.

For those not completely familiar with the William Murray ambassador’s backstory; the Cliff Notes’ version.

Perez turned pro back in 1997, a year after winning a national championship with the Sun Devils at Arizona State. From there, a few years on the Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide and Buy.com prior to), where Perez nabbed his first professional win in 2000. After failing to earn his Tour card at Q-school months later, Perez vowed to never come up short again—stuck grinding on the Canadian Tour in 2001 and playing just about any event he earned a invite to; at one point driving from San Diego to Vancouver, hooking a u-turn when getting a spot in an east coast tourney and flying across the country immediately. From early on, the work ethic was undeniable.

When Q-school rolled around the following year, Perez showed up in South Florida and won the whole thing, earning medalist honors. In his fourth event on the PGA Tour, he almost won Pebble Beach and settled for second. Winless for his first seven seasons, that inaugural win came in Palm Springs back in 2009. Until a few weeks ago, he hadn’t won since—but impressively kept his PGA Tour card 15 consecutive season; damn near an impossibly feat when winless for so long.

A torn labrum sidelined Perez in March; a gnawing pain that plagued him last year at Mayakoba—though a cocktail of stubbornness, pride and determination had him sticking to his standard formula of pressing on and grinding away. After a rough west coast swing and one Florida event, the pain proved too much to bear. Perez finally sought treatment, learned the degree of his injury, put his season ice and scheduled surgery days later. A lengthy recovery process followed; leaving a newly 40-year old seasoned veteran wondering what was in store.

Nine months on the shelf and a lot of down time with self—hardly the norm for a professional athlete who spends over half his year living out of a bag on the road. An identity somewhat lost, the obsessive Perez needed to rediscover himself—alone on a desolate range and a seemingly a lifetime away from the weekly competition necessary to keep the juices flowing. Perez hunkered down in quiet Payson, Arizona—a second home purchased years back for practice purposes as the higher elevation results in a 20˚ temperature drop from hometown Scottsdale when summer temps reach triple digits.

The hard work and solitude only lasts so long; eventually it’s time to tee it up again—which Perez did, having earned a sponsor’s invite to the CIMB Classic in Malaysia. Nerves were firing during Thursday’s opening round, despite playing this quirky game professionally for the majority of his life. Truth be told, one isn’t human if the adrenaline isn’t at an all-time high. Even the great Tiger Woods will feel the same thing when teeing it up in the Bahamas next week.

Perez carded a 74, but responded with a strong 67 on Friday and went 71-68 per the weekend for a T33 finish. Weeks later, a trek to Sin City for the Shriners Hospital for Children Open at TPC Summerlin; distraction-filled Las Vegas always making for an interesting Tour stop. This time around—on the heels of nine down months—Perez was laser-focused and all business.

Back-to-back rounds of 66 got things moving and a 69-68 weekend resulted in a T7 finish; Perez flirting with the top but unable to catch the leader. Still, five consecutive rounds in the 60’s (dating back to Malaysia) confirmed to Perez that he was closer to back then he expected to be two events in. With one more fall event on his schedule—the laid-back OHL Classic at Mayakoba—a balls-out approach would be in full-force; something the veteran touched upon after closing strong on Sunday.

“I had an attitude that I can’t really repeat, but I had a lot of thoughts going on,” Perez explained in the media room. “I had an entirely different attitude than I would have had a few years ago. It was definitely a different win than last time. Last time, I was a little more scared coming down the stretch. I didn’t really believe and this and that. This time, I really had like this calmness, kind of like a madness to get it done.”

Those in-the-know regarding William Murray Golf caught the ZFG wink and nod regarding the attitude comment and newfound motivation. Perez changed the entire course of next year over four days and 72 hours south of the border mid-November.

Without the recent victory, Perez would’ve kicked off 2017 in Honolulu with a medical exemption and only 13 guaranteed starts where he needed to bank at least half a million bucks to earn back his Tour status. With the win, the season will start with a smaller field of winners from 2016 and Perez’s status is secure for three years. Elusive WGC (World Golf Championship) events are now a reality—as is a trek to Augusta next April when Perez will return to The Masters for third time in his career (and first since 2010). Perez also wraps the fall series 3rd in the FedExCup standings, with a 112th Official World Golf Ranking.

On paper, a T7 win at a fall series event in Las Vegas by a long time PGA Tour player. In reality, an incredible comeback story that will fully get it’s due when Pat Perez brings it home and again hoists a trophy on a Sunday afternoon.

To properly understand the magnitude of this recent Top 10 finish for the long-time Tour veteran, one has to go back to last fall and a rough fall series with missed cuts in Napa, Las Vegas and Cancun. Something was noticeably off, though the determined Perez worked to will himself healthy with a steady diet of Advil, ice packs, only-when-necessary Cortisone shots and extra rest over the holidays.

The annual west coast swing soon followed—the Southern California native again playing all six events to get a jump on the season—but the struggles continued. T81 in Honolulu, where Perez usually starts strong. Missed cuts in Palm Springs, San Diego and Phoenix, which also weren’t the norm.

T41 at Pebble Beach followed by no weekend play at Riviera—the pain continued, but so did Perez’s play. The Honda Classic is always an off week, on the heels of six straight—but Perez tacked on a seventh-consecutive event, hoping for a spark. Come Friday at PGA National in West Palm Beach, the exact opposite.

“I was hitting balls on Friday morning at the Honda; my seventh event in a row. I’m warming up around noon, I’m coming down and my hand is trembling—with a four iron—and it does it again; like three times,” Perez told Matt Adams of SiriusXM’s Fairways Of Life last April. "I looked over at my caddie H and I go, ‘We got a real problem here.’ I knew something was really wrong.”

Perez flew back to Scottsdale the following morning—sticking around Palm Beach on Friday night to support a local CHIVE event’s cause he’d previously committed to. Come Monday, an MRI and the un-welcomed news regarding a severe labrum tear, surgery, a lengthy recovery and an immediate end to his 16th consecutive season on the PGA Tour.

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART

237 days spanned between that painful Friday round in Palm Beach and Thursday’s opening round at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia late October. Perez opened with a 74 at TPC Kuala Lumpur, but followed up with a Friday round of 67 and closed 71-68 on the weekend for T33. Even more important; proof for the kid that he still had it—the hard work paying off and his repaired body responding accordingly.

Nerves and a few errant shots definitely reared their ugly head at times over those 72 holes on the other side of the globe, but just knowing the shoulder could hold up was enough to let Perez know that something good was in store for Las Vegas and his first event on American soil in almost nine months.

Three-under after four holes on Thursday at TPC Summerlin, it was safe to say Perez was back—an air of confidence, mixed with a lightheartedness that had been missing too long. It’s something that anyone living in constant pain can attest to; the non-stop needling bleeding into your psyche and taking over your personality.

Grinning and bearing it becomes virtually impossible—especially when swinging a stick for a living and feeling an electrocuting shock every time contact is made.

Four-under with one remaining, play was on the verge of being suspended due to darkness. Perez had the option of finishing the par-five ninth hole (he started the day on No. 10), or showing up early Friday to warm up, close out and prep for round two.

The old Pat Perez chooses the former; frantically getting through the hole and arguably settling for par. Instead, Perez 2.0 called it—knowing the early-morning firmer greens would work to his favor. Come Friday morning, Perez his his third shot 52 feet to the green, left himself a four-footer for birdie, knocked it down and closed out an opening round 66—which he matched on Friday; closing strong with a 14’8” eagle putt on No. 16.

Saturday’s third round played a little tougher; Perez carding a 69 on “moving day”—even after 12, but birdying three of the day’s final six holes to put him in position to make a run on Sunday. Two-under after four in the final round, Perez was -3 at the turn and as it played out, would’ve needed to go five-under on the back nine to force a playoff.

Instead, he shot even—a bogey on the par-five thirteenth, followed-up by a brilliant second shot on the par-four fifteenth that set-up a 21” birdie putt to make up for the earlier mistake. Three pars on the way in closed out a final round 68—but more importantly proved to Perez that he’s recaptured (and improved upon) old form.

LEAVING LAS VEGAS; HOLA CANCUN

The clutch four days and Top 10 finish was also Perez’s best in Las Vegas in 11 tries. Perez missed the cut at the Sin City event six times over the years. Outside of that, finishes of T30 (2007), T24 (2008), T23 (2004) and T14 (2010), before last week’s career-best finish at TPC Summerlin.

As it goes in the PGA Tour world, no rest for the weary. On Monday, an event at Shadow Creek with the MGM Grand family—where Perez proudly boasted on social media that he spent the majority of the day “wearing out” comedian Cedric The Entertainer with 15-year old material from The Kings Of Comedy special. Come Tuesday morning, on a plane to Cancun for this week’s Tour event; the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, where Perez hit the ground running on Thursday morning with an opening round 68 that has him T20.

However things wind up south of the border, Perez already notched the win of his career by way of a successful fall series comeback. The stage is set for what looks to be an incredible 2017—trophies hoisted and validation that the seasoned veteran still has all the goods needed to remain a full-fledged force on the PGA Tour.