Dundee-based Victor Perez secured his third DP World Tour title and the biggest yet with a thrilling one-shot victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
It’s Perez’ first victory in the Tour’s enhanced Rolex Series, and worth a whopping £1.24 million. His final round 66 at Yas Links was crowned by holing an outrageous back-spinning bunker shot for birdie on the short 17th.
Drama at 17 and 18 but Victor holds on
The shot of his life!@v_perez2 leads by two with one to play.#ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/D9NGAuyBLv
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 22, 2023
“It’s probably the greatest shot I’ve ever hit,” said Perez, who had previously won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in 2019 and the Dutch Open last year.
That shot have him the breathing space he needed down the last where he took a bogey via a bunker. It was just good enough in the end to hold off Sweden’s Sebastian Soderburg and former Scottish Open champion Min-Woo Lee of Australia.
The 30-year-old from Tarbes in the South West of France has lived in Dundee for several years. His partner Abigail studied at the Dundee Dental School and has thereafter been in practice in Angus.
Victor is a well known and popular figure among many clubs and ranges in the Angus and North East Fife region he uses for practice.
This latest win also gives him a head start in the race to be part of the European Team at the Ryder Cup in Rome in September.
Victor was close to qualifying last time in 2021 and impressed skipper Luke Donald in the Hero Cup last week in Abu Dhabi. He went unbeaten for Francesco Molinari’s Continent of Europe team in four games.
‘Trying to plod along’
.@v_perez2 wins in Abu Dhabi! 🏆#ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/vadgYnbnDF
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 22, 2023
Perez was one off the lead going into the final round. He admitted the packed out leaderboard “for the longest time” meant his strategy to focus on himself paid off.
“I was just trying to plod along,” he said. “I got off to a good start and was just trying to focus on me, because you can’t control what anyone else is doing.
“Seb (Soderburg) was always right there and he never gave me an opening. I’m delighted to finish on top and it was a crazy finish, but I feel like I’m used to that now.
“Hopefully I make it an little easier for the next one.”
The key shot had a little luck, he conceded, but he was fairly confident of at least getting up and down.
“It wasn’t as difficult as a bunker shot can be,” he said. “It was downhill to the hole, then flat at the hole and into the wind.
“So I was trying to fly it all the way to the hole. If I hit it a little bit heavy it was maybe going to release.
“But back of my mind I’m thinking Seb’s going to make a (birdie) two. Hopefully I make three and maybe a four, and then I’m tied for the last hole.
‘It came out a little skinny’
“It came out a little skinny, I won’t lie. Then it spun back and there was the fortune of the ball going into the hole. It’s probably the greatest shot I’ve ever hit.”
There was still the drama of the last, where he had a poor lie in a fairway bunker.
“It was a horrible lie,” he said. “(The recovery shot) went left and there as giant fortune it didn’t bounce into the hazard. That would be a drop in the rough, playing four and you can easily catch a flier.
“So a bit of good fortune, a great seven-iron in, and nothing but an eight inch putt to finish.”
The emotion of winning. #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/jgywn1N59j
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 22, 2023
It places Victor in great position as the early Race to Dubai leader. The first visit to the Emirate is coming up next week.
“It’s a great year ahead, there’s a lot of big things coming up,” he said. “I’ve had a really good off season and worked really hard.”
Top Scot in Abu Dhabi was East Lothian’s Grant Forrest. He played in the same group as Perez and Soderburg but shot a final round 72 to finish tied for tenth.
Robert MacIntyre had a final round 69. While he shot under par all four days, it was only good enough for a tie for 20th. Dundee-based Connor Syme couldn’t repeat his Saturday surge and had a final round 73 to finish tied 28th.