Pat Perez wins CIMB Classic

The 41-year-old finished four clear of Keegan Bradley at TPC Kuala Lumpur

Pat Perez wins CIMB Classic
Pat Perez wins CIMB Classic
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Pat Perez clinched his third PGA Tour victory with a four-shot win over fellow American Keegan Bradley in the CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Pat Perez began the final round of the CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur with a four-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele and, after making four birdies in his first nine holes, the 41-year-old was able to cruise home on the back nine and finish four clear of Keegan Bradley who closed with a 67.

Xander Schauffele started the fourth round as Perez’s nearest challenger but was unable to close the gap. The Tour Championship winner countered three birdies with three bogeys on the front nine and he couldn’t make up any ground on the run in. He closed with 72 to finish tied for third with Sung Kang of South Korea.

Titleist DT TruSoft golf ball review:

Hideki Matsuyama looked back to his best with a third round of 63 but he couldn’t find the same spark on Sunday and closed with a 71 to finish tied for fifth with Australia’s Cameron Smith.

3 Talking points from the CIMB Classic

1 – Pat Perez won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba last November and has enjoyed a good year on the PGA Tour. With four top-10 finishes, he made it to the Tour Championship. He is now a winner again and has climbed to second place on the early FedEx Cup standings. Brendan Steele leads the way following his win in the Safeway Open last week and a tied 13th place finish in this event.

2 – Paul Casey continued his strong run of form on the PGA Tour. Since the U.S. Open in June the Englishman has played nine events and has only once finished outside the top-15. His tied seventh place finish in this event could have been much better had it not been for a poor first round of 77. He played the final three rounds in 19-under-par.

3 – USPGA Championship winner Justin Thomas was looking for three straight victories in this tournament but he didn’t manage the "three-peat." He finished in a tie for 17th on 11-under-par.

CIMB Classic TPC Kuala Lumpur (West), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Oct 12-15 Purse: $7,000,000 Par: 72

1       Pat Perez (USA)             66     65     64     69     264   $1,260,000 2       Keegan Bradley (USA)   65     71     65     67     268   $756,000 T3     Xander Schauffele (USA) 65   67     67     72     271   $406,000 T3     Sung Kang (Kor)           67     68     65     71     271   $406,000 T5     Cameron Smith (Aus)    64     71     73     64     272   $266,000 T5     Hideki Matsuyama (Jap) 70     68     63     71     274   $266,000 T7     Paul Casey (Eng)           77     63     69     65     274   $218,167 T7     Danny Lee (NZ)            73     65     68     68     274   $218,167 T7     Lucas Glover (USA)       71     67     68     68     274   $218,167 T10   Rafa Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 67    70     69     69     275   $175,000 T10   Peter Uihlein (USA)       73     68     65     69     275   $175,000 T10   Anirban Lahiri (Ind)       67     73     64     71     275   $175,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?