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Abu Dhabi – Timing. Of all the other attributes needed to win a golf tournament on the final nine holes on a Sunday afternoon, doing something positive at the right moment is probably the most important thing.
Victor Perez steps forward.
On the breezy Yas Links course, the Frenchman, who lives in Scotland, took a one-stroke lead at the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship with his tee shot at the 204-yard par-3 17th hole, two holes played. Meanwhile, Perez’s partner and closest challenger, Sebastian Soderbergh, was putting for birdie from about 20 feet away.
It’s time to stand up. Perez did, and with a little luck. Apparently his shot was a little thin, and the ball he was trying to recover landed a few feet from the pin and turned back into the hole.
Soderbergh missed and Min-Woo Lee hit a shot on his penultimate hole a few minutes later, and the destination of the previously doubtful $1.53 million first-place check looked assured.
Perez’s tee shot from the “neck” of the 18th tee found a fairway bunker and an awkward lie. Bad enough, but worse ensued. The now three-time DP World Tour champion’s attempt flew left and finished on a steep incline, a few feet into the penalty area, which borders the 646-yard par-5 circuitous fairway. From there, a hack-out and eventual bogey-six culminated in a final-round 66 for Perez. A shot by Soderbergh and Lee — who tied for eagles on the 18th — and Perez shot an 18-under 270 was good enough.
“It’s actually not that difficult of a shot,” Perez said of his sand shot at 17, certainly the ultimate turning point in the final round, which began with 19 players adrift of leader Shaw. En Lowry, Lee and Francesco Molinari. “It was downhill to the hole, flat and windy at the hole. I was basically trying to go all the way. If I did hit a little bit hard, it might release there. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking Seb would Shot 2. That’s “3.5” over my par at the time. So I’m just hoping for a 3, worst case tie with one hole left. I’m not going to lie, the contact between the club and the ball could A little ‘skinny’. Then it spins back and goes in. Probably the best shot I’ve ever hit.”
That’s not proof he will apply at least the first three shots he hit on the final hole. The 6 on Perez’s card could be anything from an 8 or 9 if his second rolls a few yards out of the sand and disappears down the sheer cliff face.
“The wind was blowing left and the tees were moving up, so it was disappointing to be in the bunker on 18,” said the 30-year-old, who lives in Dundee, just a few miles from St. Louis. . Andrews. “It was just a horrible lie. If I hit the square, I might hit the ball in there and hit a really long 3-pointer. But we thought I might be able to make some kind of decent contact and get the ball over the front Ridge. That will keep the water out of action and make the third shot easier to handle.”
But the ball went straight to the left. “It was a huge asset that it didn’t bounce back into danger,” Perez said. “Then I had to give up and play the 4, which put the whole thing back on the table. I hit it though. A great 7-iron. There’s nothing like an eight-inch putter.”
All of this represents good news. Many challengers, at different times and with varying degrees of incompetence or inadequacy, slipped away from the argument not so happy at the conclusion of the proceedings. lowry may be the most notable. With five holes to play, the former British Open champion shot 15 under for the week with at least a glimmer of hope of repeating his 2019 victory at the tournament.
Oh, but it didn’t last long. A string of bogeys/bogeys/triple bogeys/bogeys dropped Lowry from the leaderboard to a tie for 28th.
Another 54-hole leader, Molinari, Unsurprisingly performed better And avoided such a disastrous sequence of events, though his final 71 was marked by an almost complete inability to hole out from almost any distance. In the end, he tied for fifth with Alex Noren.
On the eve of the final, Harrington Talked about his desire to remain competitive for at least the final 18 holes, he apparently achieved the feat. So see if anyone wants to take the title of “oldest champion” from Miguel Angel Jimenez and return to the Ryder Cup all the way as a player, which means spending more time with him The so-called “junior people” move forward.
“My win probably means more to my fellow Champions Tour players,” Harrington said Saturday night. “I can imagine myself chasing my tail all year and trying to win on the regular tour. It’s a fun place I’m in. I’m sure I’m better than ever, but that doesn’t mean It’s a fact or a real situation. We’ll see. I won’t put myself under too much pressure, but it’s fine. I think being the oldest winner means a lot to me. It means I’m actually pretty competitive force.”
he is. But it wasn’t good enough on a day when Victor Perez lived up to his name and hit shots that really mattered. It was also at the right time.
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