Huge European Tour Win for Foshan Open Champ Perez
2019-10-05 09:44:04

Last year's Foshan Open champion, Victor Perez, showed his star quality by producing a scintillating display of links golf to win the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in his first year on the European Tour. The 27-year-old Frenchman shot rounds of 64, 68, 64 and 70 over Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St. Andrews Old Course in Scotland for a 22-under-par total of 266, to win by a single shot from Matthew Southgate of England.

Perez is well remembered at the Foshan Open not just for his striking 1.98 metre height but also for holing a huge putt of 15 feet on the final hole to force a play-off, which he duly went on to win against Robert McIntyre of Scotland, and earn a coveted place on this year's lucrative European Tour.

“I think I will always remember China as the pivotal moment of the last year or two,” he said. “I think that if I hadn't won there then a lot of things would have gone differently. I think that if, say, I had lost in the play-off then I wouldn't have finished third on the Challenge Tour ranking and that would have created a whole different tournament schedule and put me in a completely different position from now."

“I think I will always remember China as the pivotal moment of the last year or two,” he said. “I think that if I hadn't won there then a lot of things would have gone differently. I think that if, say, I had lost in the play-off then I wouldn't have finished third on the Challenge Tour ranking and that would have created a whole different tournament schedule and put me in a completely different position from now.It's just being used to the bounce and used to the greens. I think a lot of the guys struggle with the greens being slow and for me it's just a normal pace that I'm comfortable with. I don't think you can play enough links golf and it definitely played to my advantage. Also the culture in Scotland helps me, here people live golf. It's all about golf. It's just the passion for the game. You see people going to gas stations with a golf bag. You never see that in France.”

Perez's caddie for the week was the hugely experienced J.P. Fitzgerald, who was Rory McIlroy's former caddie.

“J.P. knows the three courses like the back of his pocket so it was a huge advantage for me to know where to hit and to really trust him. He said from the get-go 'My job is to tell you where to hit it and your job is to execute' and I was able to do that really well. ”

The win has shot the Frenchman into the top 20 in the European Tour rankings in his first year on the Tour and he fully appreciates the career changing significance of his achievement.

"It's a huge win," he said. "Obviously the fact that winning is so difficult means that when you do it, it feels so good just because it's so difficult. You feel like so many things can go wrong. Like the last putt, I was speaking to JP on the green and you're expecting Matthew Southgate to hole that putt because he's 2I-under. He's playing amazing golf. You expect him to hole that putt and he didn't. I had two putts to win. I win, great! And these moments are key.”

There was understandable jubilation at Foshan Golf Club, venue for the Foshan Open, over Perez's huge win in Scotland.

"Congratulations to Victor Perez on his stunning win at St. Andrews!" said Julian Small, General Manager of Foshan Golf Club. "To win in a field that includes Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and this year's Open Champion, Shane Lowry, as well as other well known names, clearly demonstrates what a world class talent Victor is. We're extremely proud that the Foshan Open has played such a significant part in his road to success. We're now eagerly looking forward to the next Foshan Open starting on 24th of October and to the excitement and drama that world golf's 'stars of tomorrow' will bring to the event and to the big crowds who will come to watch. With players from up to 25 countries worldwide competing it's definitely one of the top sporting occasions of the area and definitely worth coming to watch.”

Who will succeed Victor Perez as Foshan Open Champion this year? Will there be the same drama at the final hole? The previous six Foshan Opens have provided plenty of exciting moments at its long and treacherous final hole and we expect the large crowd to once again be thrilled on Sunday 27th.