CIMB Classic Recap: Win Moves Perez to 20th in World

Arizona native Pat Perez has long been known as a golfer who played better out West. This past week, he went so far west he ended up in the Far East – and he won again, adding another stunning development to his career renaissance.

Perez ran away with the CIMB Classic on Sunday, winning a tournament for the second consecutive year – after do so only once in his first 15 years on the PGA Tour. Last year, the 41-year-old Perez won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba (Mexico), but it was three weeks earlier at the CIMB where his career turnaround began.

He received a sponsor invite to play TPC Kuala Lumpur, full of self-doubt after having missed eight months following left shoulder surgery. He played pretty well, tying for 33rd in the 78-man, no-cut field. Two weeks later at the Shriners he tied for seventh, and the week after that he won. Suddenly, the over-40 Perez had a second PGA Tour victory a whopping eight years after notching his first.

To recap: Perez had one win in his first 378 PGA Tour starts and now has two in his past 25 events.

Perez will be ranked a career-best 20th in the new OWGR. There are two other 40-somethings in the top-20: No. 8 Henrik Stenson and No. 14 Paul Casey: Here are the 40-somethings ranked lower than Perez: Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington Jim Furyk and Ernie Els.

Perez defeated Keegan Bradley by four strokes on Sunday with a winning score of 24-under. Yes, that was 24-under for 72 holes, but it was also 24-under for 62, as Perez coasted to 10 pars to close out his round.

Obviously, Perez has a healthy left shoulder again, but otherwise who knows where this new-found excellence has come from. The 6-foot Perez, graciously listed on the PGA tour website at 190 pounds, offered this insight right after winning when he told the Golf Channel: "I'm not going to change anything. I'm still not going to work out. I'm still going to have a bad diet."

Sounds like a plan.

Fantasy players see an everyman quality in the portly Perez but, as always, they want to know: What's in it for me?

Well, after winning last year, Perez continued on to complete far and away the best season of his career. He added a runner-up, a third and a fourth. And just when it seemed that a golfer who annually front-loads his best showings was tailing off, Perez went T6-T12-16 in the final three playoff events.

With a healthy shoulder attached to a rather unhealthy body, we see no reason Perez can't continue to perform at a level close to where he was at last season.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Justin Thomas

Thomas, the two-time defending champion, was never a factor. He tied for 17th at 11-under – not terrible until you consider he won the two previous years at 26- and 23-under. Thomas had a season for the ages in 2016-17, but he played a lot of golf. And he has already committed to a lot of golf in the early stages of 2017-18. He will play in all three legs of the Asian Swing – this week at the new event in South Korea and the week after at the WGC in China. He's committed to Tiger Woods' tournament in the Bahamas next month and presumably will defend his two Hawaii titles at the beginning of 2018. Who knows what else? Two years ago, Jordan Spieth learned the hard way about playing too often in the "offseason." He should talk to his friend.

Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama is another guy who had an extremely busy fall schedule last year, and he paid when he ran out of gas in September. Matsuyama took a two-week break after the Presidents Cup – didn't touch a club, he said – and he responded with a good showing in Malaysia, tying for fifth. The Japanese star will sit out this week's CJ Cup in South Korea – probably not an easy decision for Asia's top golfer, but it's a smart move. Matsuyama will be back the following week to defend his WGC title.

Keegan Bradley

Bradley had a great week of ball striking – and putting – to finish second to Perez. Remarkably, it was his best finish in three and a half years – since a runner-up at Bay Hill in 2014. Bradley was nowhere near as good as he looked in winning two tournaments, including the PGA Championship, as a rookie in 2011 and following that up with the WGC-Bridgestone in 2012. But he's got a good chance of being better than the golfer he's been the past year: Someone largely outside the top-100 in the world. He looked great on the greens on Sunday at TPC Kuala Lumpur, draining long putt after long putt. As far as PGA Tour greens go, they are pretty easy. But at least Bradley looked sharp there. Gotta start somewhere. Bradley moved up to No. 64 in the world.

Sung Kang

Kang tied for third, three strokes behind Bradley. He's relatively new to the PGA Tour, in his third season, but he's already 30 years old. The South Korean had some good finishes and should continue to do so. But the biggest weakness in his game is scrambling, and that's going to make it hard to win or even cash in the top five. Scrambling isn't critical to success at TPC Kuala Lumpur, but at most courses on the PGA Tour, it is.

Xander Schauffele

Schauffele is enjoying the new perks of stardom, having just won the Tour Championship followed by being named Rookie of the Year. He tied for third with Kang – surely a good week – but he has to guard against the demands on his time that will come with his new status in golf. He'll play this week in South Korea, then the following week in China. We'll keep an eye on any world-traveling cash grabs before the PGA Tour season starts in earnest in 2018.

Kevin Na

Na tied for 44th in Malaysia after opening the season with a T37 at the Safeway. Those are two tournaments in which Na has traditionally played well. And he obviously didn't this time around. Combine that with a substandard 2016-17 season, and you have to wonder if Na's game has peaked and is ready for a serious regression.

Tyrrell Hatton

Well, what can we make of the Englishman winning the Italian Open for his second European Tour title in two weeks? For one, he'll move to No. 17 in the world. Hatton is only 25 and appeared ready to join the golfing elite when he followed a great 2016 Euro season with a great spring of 2017 on the PGA Tour. But Hatton collapsed thereafter, missing the cut in all four majors. He could be one of those Euros whose game does translate well to the PGA Tour. Or maybe he just didn't fare too well in his first extended foray to the States. Hatton did tie for fourth at both the Honda and Bay Hill. Maybe this time around he'll be able to continue on. It sure seems that way.

Ross Fisher

Fisher finished second to Hatton the last two weeks. He's up to 33rd in the world. But at age 36, Fisher has had ample time to show who he is. And he's not destined for any extended greatness. The Englishman is clearly playing well – have at it, ride his hot streak. Just don't expect it to continue for long.

Miguel Angel Jimenez

The Spaniard is 53 and is starring on the Champions Tour. But he also tied for 10th at the Italian Open, and we just wanted to point that out. It wasn't the greatest field, but Jimenez finished ahead of No. 5-ranked Jon Rahm, No. 11 Sergio Garcia, No. 15 Alex Noren and Matthew Fitzpatrick, to name a few. Just goes to show that next time Jimenez is in a PGA or Euro Tour event, he could be a decent, low-priced option.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: Winner (Steele), two top-10s, six top-25s, four missed cuts.
This week: Runner-up (Bradley), four top-10s

We tabbed only 12 golfers instead of the usual 16 because of the smaller field – 78, with no cut. With just two selections in Tier 1, Justin Thomas at T17 didn't come close to paying off, while Paul Casey at T7 probably did. In Tier 2, Anirban Lahiri's tie for 10th stood out, with Thomas Pieters (T44), Scott Piercy (T63) and Grayson Murray (T69) all terrible picks. In Tier 3, another T10, from Rafa Cabrera Bello, was a good one. James Hahn at T28 was decent, unlike Emiliano Grillo (T54). Among the long shots, Keegan Bradley was the best pick of the week. Gavin Green (T61) and Scott Hend (T72) weren't the best picks of the week.