9th in the Players and semi-finalist in the WGC-Match Play a year ago, Victor Perez tries to bounce back from the “alternate” tournaments of the PGA Tour

29th in the world at the start of April 2021, Victor Perez is now sailing beyond 110th place. A slow and inexorable decline which forces the French number 1 to build his season according to the opportunities in the hope of reviving as quickly as possible.

Remember, a year or so ago, everything smiled on Victor Perez. In full preparation for the Mastersthe Tarbais was preparing to dispute the Players, one of the tournaments, if not the most elite tournament in the world.

After qualifying in extremis for the last two rounds on Saturday morning at dawn at the cost of a fantastic last putt, the Frenchman went for a formidable 9th place, his first top 10 on the PGA Tourthanks to two cards of 69 and 67.

with sound? ⤵️???? the “YES”, chills @v_perez2 ???????????? pic.twitter.com/q2Bo5JH7xO

— b s (nature↔️sports) (@bs12988950) March 13, 2021

Unstoppable

Two weeks later, fully recovered, Perez confirmed his good mood for the dawning spring.

To World Match-Play Championshipsthe Tarbais reached the semi-finals by dismissing Marc Leishman, Sunjae Im and Robert MacIntyre of his way. In the quarter-finals, it was the Spaniard Sergio Garcia who paid the price for the solidity of the tricolor.

Defeated in the semi-finals by the eventual winner, Billy HorschelPerez bowed in the small final against Matt Kuchar but 10 days before the first major of the season, his last two excellent performances had not failed to raise a wave of enthusiasm in the Landernau of hexagonal golf.

The major season could begin.

Air pocket or return to earth?

Unfortunately, nothing more happened as hoped.

Qualified for the 4 Grand Slam tournaments, Perez did not make any cuts in these decisive meetings. More trying still, he had to resolve to say goodbye to his dreams of Ryder Cup.

Invited to defend his title acquired two years earlier at the Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews, he failed two shots from the cut and left the top 50 in the world for good.

We had to wait until November to see him again invite himself to a top 10 tournament. In Portugal, in a moderately tough event on the European circuit.

Alternative routes

Determined to resume its forward march in 2022, Victor Perez has so far failed to reverse the trend. If he crossed the cut of the 4 tournaments in which he took part, he never managed to break the bar of the first 50.

58th to Abu Dhabi60th to Dubaithe first two tournaments of the DP World Tour in version Rolex Serieshe went on to rank 53rd in Saudi Arabia on theAsian Tour and 55th last Sunday at Puerto Rico Openthe “alternate” tournament of the PGA Tour.

It’s not easy to grasp the objectives of the tricolor who navigates from one circuit to another at the start of the season according to his desires.

Asked about the rest of his season the day after the Saudi Internationalhe told us that he didn’t really know how the next few weeks would unfold.

“My philosophy has always been to play when I feel ready, when we are trained, when the preparation has been made. And not by going to play thinking that with a bit of luck, it might pass […] I don’t know yet what my final decision will be. As always, it will be felt. Even if I already have a bit of a plan in mind. We’ll see… “

Victor’s Picks

For the moment, the plan goes through the United States or rather the Caribbean Sea since after Puerto Rico, Victor Perez will be at the start of the Corales Championshipin the Dominican Republic in 15 days.

Another PGA Tour “alternate” tournament. The one that is played on the same dates as the WGC-Match Play… Where Perez made us dream so much barely a year ago.

I really enjoyed my first trip to the @PuertoRicoOpen! Thanks to everyone who made it possible ????

Next start is at the @CoralesChamp in a few weeks’ time. Let’s go! pic.twitter.com/hEqrr0rAsa

— Victor Perez (@v_perez2) March 7, 2022

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