Riding a hot putter at TPC Kuala Lumpur, he turned the final round into a procession. He said: “I didn’t even hit that many good shots. I putted unbelievably, really. I didn’t hit it that great, I just made a whole lot of putts and that saved me. If I didn’t putt well I probably would have finished 40th.”
With this victory, Perez moves to second in the FedEx Cup standings behind Safeway Open winner Brendan Steele, who finished tied for 13th in Malaysia. He also earns an exemption into the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January in Maui.
Perez is now two for three in converting 54-hole leads or co-leads to victory. Previously, he had held the 54-hole lead/co-lead just twice in his career, at the 2002 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the 2009 CareerBuilder Challenge, finishing runner-up at the former and winning the latter (CareerBuilder Challenge was a 90-hole event).
Perez’ winning margin of four shots is the largest on the PGA Tour since Marc Leishman won last season’s BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup Play-offs.
Perez is coming off his best season on the PGA Tour, recording six top-10 finishes, including a win at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, a tied third finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and a joint second finish at the Wells Fargo Championship.
His strong play qualified him for the season-ending Tour Championship, and he finished 15th in the final FedEx Cup standings.
Perez’ berth in the Tour Championship was the first of his career, coming on the back of a tied sixth finish at the Dell Technologies Championship, his 400th start on the PGA Tour. He began last season on a Major Medical Exemption, and his win at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba was good enough to earn full Tour status.
Hideki Matsuyama, who entered last season’s FedEx Cup Playoffs on top of the standings and at number three was the highest ranked player in the field in the Official World Golf Ranking, finished joint fifth, a year after finishing runner-up to Justin Thomas.
After shooting a first-round 77, Englishman Paul Casey, 14th in the OWGR, improved by 14 shots in the second round with a nine-under 63. He continued his rebound with a 69 in the third round and a 65 in the final round to finish equal seventh.
Thomas, the 2016-17 PGA Tour Player of the Year and FedEx Cup champion, closed his tournament with a 67 to finish tied 17th.
