Leading after a beautiful first day, Bigourdan Victor Perez had a dark day this Friday, during the European final of the Race to Dubai. He thus fell to 14th place in the provisional classification, with a total score of -3. But there are still 2 days of competition, where he will have everything to gain.
Victor Perez leads the first round of the DP World Tour Championship. But, in the last part this Friday, when he sets off with his inaugural -5 in the bag, he is no longer the leader. The others chase him, like a Laurie Canter who signs 6 birdies on his first 7 holes or even Patrick Reed, leader of the Race, who turns up the tip of his nose with 3 birdies on these first 5 holes. . The fight promises to be good! Especially since Victor seems to be still on the attack, also signing 2 birdies at 2 and 7, both par 5s of the first leg. And he thus finds his chair as leader, admittedly a little tight alongside the Reed, Kaymer and Fitzpatrick. But Patrick Reed definitely does not want this chair for 4. The 11th player in the world then puts on birdies like pearls (9 today), for a total -10.
Bad times for the French
Victor Perez still has all the cards in his hand, he is at -7 and has 9 holes to play. But there, the hunter has no more ammunition: his green attacks and his putts are sorely lacking in precision. Ineluctable consequence on this demanding course, bogey 10, double at 12, bogey 13 and 16, the Tarbais sinks in the standings, despite a good reaction to 15 (birdie) and a miraculous par at 18.
We know, it is difficult to chain 4 laps at the top. This Friday was black bread for Victor Perez. But on Saturday and Sunday, he will no longer be hunted but a hunter. And that, we know he likes, even if there is very big game in front, far in front …
Classification after 2 rounds: 1. Patrick Reed (-10), 2. Matthew Fitzpatrick (-8), 3. Tyrrell Hatton and Laurie Canter (-7), 5. Tommy Fleetwood, Sami Välimäki, Lee Westwood and Branden Grace (- 6), 9. Martin Kaymer, Danny Willett and Adri Arnaus (-5), 12. Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland (-4), and 14. Victor Perez (-3), tied with 6 other players.
As for the 3 other qualified Frenchmen, they point to the bottom of the ranking: Antoine Rozner (53rd to +4), Matthieu Pavon (61st to +6) and Benjamin Hebert (64th to +8).
“There are still 36 holes to play”
Victor Perez’s reaction to the Golf + microphone: “I hit the ball a lot less, I started to miss shots on the left, which I’m not used to doing … I’m going to hit the ball a few balls to sort it out! I’m going to approach the day tomorrow the same as if I was at -10 or in the par, make the best possible strategy. I’m going to prepare well for tomorrow and move on because there are still 36 holes to play! “.
