‘Pat Perez Came Through For Us Clutch This Week. It Was Huge’

Pat Perez has had his critics in the inaugural LIV Golf season, with some suggesting that he has been the weak link in the 4 Aces GC team since making his debut in the second tournament in Oregon.

Dustin Johnson’s men won their fifth tournament of eight to claim the Team Championship at Trump National Doral in Florida and claim prize money of $16m shared between Johnson, Perez, Patrick Reed, and Talor Gooch. 

However, Perez Perez has rarely shone throughout the season and can count a finish of 16th at Boston as his best performance going into the final event. Those underwhelming performances have given ammunition to his critics, who suggested 4 Aces GC had been successful in spite of the 46-year-old's presence in the team rather than because of it.

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When it came to the biggest tournament of the season, though, Perez came through with the goods, and shot a two-under 70 in the final stroke play round that helped the team see off Cameron Smith’s Punch GC - a fact not lost on Gooch. 

Following the win, the 30-year-old praised his teammate, saying: "He played great. In our foursome yesterday, he played great. Like we shot even par as an alternate shot, which is just - for the last month when we've known that that was the format, DJ keeps saying, out there just make a bunch of pars and you'll be alright. Technically we made 18 pars and we only won by one. We played great, so he balled yesterday. Pat Perez came through for us clutch this week. It was huge.”

Perez’s final round included a strong finish as his team edged out its opponents by one shot to finish seven-under par, and he was delighted with his performance. He said: “I don't want to let the team down. I want to play well every day, and today I finally was able to show up. I birdied two of my last three holes coming in and had a great up-and-down on the last hole to get up-and-down. You know, it was an unbelievable feeling to hole that last six-footer kind of down the hill and it go in.”