GREENSBORO, N.C. – The bubble didn’t burst for Victor Perez.
He lived on the edge all week at the Wyndham Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup regular season with the top 70 in the standings advancing for the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Perez, a Frenchman in his first season as a PGA Tour member, entered the week as the Bubble Boy, but when it was all said and done, no player moved in from outside the bubble to qualify. It was just the second time and first since 2013 that there was no volatility at all.
Perez shot 2-under 68 on Sunday, saving a 6-foot par putt at 18 to finish T-33 and finish seven points clear of Davis Riley.
A week ago, Perez shot a final-round 63 in his native country to finish fourth in the Olympics. A week later, he had to play 36 holes on Sunday and then wait to see what Riley, whose only top-10 finish was a win at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune would do behind him.
“I think you’re always nervous. This was probably a little bit closer to like a chance of winning a tournament because you’re trying to really stretch as much as you can, whereas usually you’re 25th place, you’re just trying to improve but it’s not as do or die,” Perez said.
He shot 69 in his third round in the morning and explained he didn’t know where he stood despite a friend at lunch asking him about it.
“I looked at Joe, my agent, and he had the biggest poker face going and he didn’t give me any clue, so I actually didn’t know where I was,” he said.
Riley, who battled sickness earlier in the week and called the postponement of play on Thursday a blessing in disguise, had good looks at birdie on the final three holes but couldn’t get any of the putts to drop.
“I gave myself a chance, I hit some really good shots coming down the stretch, I just couldn’t make the putts,” said Riley, who shot 70 and finished T-38. “Proud of the way I hung in there on a long day and a week when I was a little under the weather. Having to cap it off with a 36 day took about every ounce of energy I had in me.”
Hisatsune was the last player with a chance to burst Perez’s bubble. He needed a solo second but made a bogey at the last to shoot 67 and finish a career-best T-3.
Here’s the last five in and out
66. Seamus Power (T-28)
67. Nick Dunlap (MC)
68. Jhonattan Vegas (T-61)
69. Emiliano Grillo (T-59)
70. Victor Perez (T-33)
71. Davis Riley (T-38)
72. Andrew Putnam (MC)
73. Kurt Kitayama (MC)
74. Luke List…
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