FedEx Cup rankings through Zurich Classic: May 3, 2017
7: Pat Perez
14 events – 1096 points, 1 win, 4 top 10’s (avg. points/event – 78.285)
Last start: T70, RBC Heritage (3 FedEx Cup points)
Pat Perez tends to fly under the radar most of the time. That is, when he’s not making comments about Tiger Woods that cause social media to melt down even more irrationally than usual.
That little dust-up aside, though, Perez is in the middle of quite a solid season. In his 14 events thus far, Perez hasn’t officially missed a cut – a shoulder problem forced him to withdraw from the Waste Management Phoenix Open – and he’s posted eight top-25s.
Perez’s early-season win at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba gave him the boost he needed after an injury cut his 2016 season short following the Honda Classic. That was the 41-year-old’s first win since the 2009 Bob Hope Classic, an accomplishment certainly not lost on Perez.
In his career, Perez has never finished a season higher than 45th in the FedEx Cup points race. He did that in 2015, much in the same fashion as he has this season. That year, he made 22 cuts in 26 starts, with 11 top-25 finishes. He earned all of that without a win, too. The tournaments are only getting tougher over the summer, but pure volume could keep Perez in a solid position.
Next: 6: Jordan Spieth