For the first 11 holes of his final round, Victor Perez wasn’t making all that much noise. Two birdies, no bogeys, 10 under for the tournament. Quite a few shots back. At the time, the possibility of medaling was likely not even on his mind.
Then things got real, real quick.
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At the 12th, the Frenchman began a five-hole stretch that not only had him sniffing the podium, it had him in position to make a serious run at gold. Perez went birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie, a sequence that looks even crazier when written out in numercial form: 3-3-3-3-2. While that was happening, Jon Rahm, who had a commanding four-shot lead standing on the 11th tee, was beginning to fall apart, which brought Perez and a number of others back into the mix.
It wasn’t until the eagle at the 14th, his third consecutive three in a row, that Perez realized he had a legitimate chance, though. That’s when the pressure kicked in.
“I would say I was enjoying up until 14 and once you eagle 14, you’re like, oh, sh-t, am I actually in this,” Perez said after his round. “Even though I knew the last four holes are brutal it would have been hard to find any kind of birdies.”
Of course, Perez still managed to birdie two of the last four, then he finished par-par to shoot a back-nine 29. His eight-under 63 saw him finish at 16 under. Perez then had to wait it out to see if that would be good enough for a potential playoff for the bronze medal.
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Unfortunately, it was one shot short, as Hideki Matsuyama secured bronze at 17 under. Perez’s effort was valiant, but it only earned him solo fourth, which is the same as solo 58th this week. It sure didn’t feel that way as Perez made his back-nine charge, however, particularly on the par-3 16th, where the French fans practically willed his ball into the hole for his fifth straight birdie or better.
“Obviously great round,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any shots that I could have picked up on that back nine for sure, even on the front nine. I think I played really well.”
The only player who played better on Sunday? Scottie Scheffler, who shot a nine-under 62 to win the gold medal.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
