Perez cruises to four-shot win at CIMB

May 13, 2019

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Pat Perez shot a 3-under 69 Sunday to easily win the CIMB Classic. Here’s the lowdown from the final round in Malaysia:

Leaderboard: Perez (-24), Keegan Bradley (-20), Schauffele (-17), Sung Kang (-17), Cameron Smith (-16), Hideki Matsuyama (-16)

What it means: One year ago, Perez was coming off shoulder surgery and playing on a major medical extension. He received a sponsor’s exemption into the CIMB Classic and finished T-33. More importantly, he regained some confidence after the long layoff. Three weeks later, he won at Mayakoba to regain his status. Perez returned this year and took control of the tournament with rounds of 66-65-64 and his third-career title was never really in jeopardy on Sunday. Perez made three straight birdies on Nos. 2-4 and came home with 10 straight pars for his second win in less than a year. Perez is expected to move into the top 20 in the world ranking on Monday. Last year at the CIMB he was ranked 333rd.

CIMB Classic: Articles, photos and videos

Full-field scores from the CIMB Classic

Round of the day: Cameron Smith shot a front-nine 30 and then finished with three straight birdies for his second 8-under 64 of the week. He finished T-5 in his first start since a T-12 at the BMW Championship.

Best of the rest: Keegan Bradley (67) didn’t make a bogey on the weekend and recorded his second straight top-10 at the CIMB. Paul Casey fired a bogey-free 65 for his sixth top-10 in his last nine starts.

Biggest disappointment: Xander Schauffele finished T-3, so his week was hardly a disappointment, but the Rookie of the Year shot even par Sunday on a soft golf course and never really put any pressure on Perez in the final round.

Shot of the day: Anirban Lahiri nearly holed out his second shot on the par-4 14th.