The Punter's De-Brief: Perez and Burns claim the spoils

Steven Rawlings
30 May 2022
4 min read

Sam Burns with the Charles Schwab Challenge trophy

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Victor Perez has won his second DP World Tour event and Sam Burns has won his third PGA Tour title this season. Our man looks back at their unlikely victories here...

"As dramatic a finale as it was, the finish to the Charles Schwab Challenge was nothing compared to the spectacle we’d witnessed at the Dutch Open earlier in the day."

One week after Justin Thomas won the US PGA Championship from seven strokes back with a round to go, pre-event 32.031/1 chance, Sam Burns, has won the Charles Schwab Challenge having trailed by seven through 54-holes.

Having been matched at a high of 570.0569/1 and having begun the final day trading at 250.0249/1, Burns teed off an hour and 25 minutes before the final two-ball and when he set the clubhouse target of nine-under-par, it didn't look like it would be enough.

With still eight holes to play, the third-round leader, Scottie Scheffler, who had started the day trading at odds-on and leading by a stroke on -11, was tied with four others on ten-under-par and although conditions weren't great and the wind was still picking up, it was still very long odds-on that someone would remain ahead of Burns.

Davis Riley, who had got to -11 through 11 holes, having begun the day on -6, was the first of the leading pack to crack. After missing his par putt from inside four feet on 13, he hit an awful drive on 14 which led to a double-bogey six but Harold Varner III's collapse was even more spectacular.

Having been matched at a low of just 3.7511/4, Dave Tindall's each-way pick, Varner, had a birdie putt at the par five 11th to take the solo lead but everything unravelled badly after that and he played his last seven holes in ten over par to finish tied for 27th. And that included a birdie at the 15th!

My in-play 100.099/1 pick, Brendon Todd, was matched at a low of 4.77/2 after he'd birdied the first two holes but back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12 did for his chances and Scott Stallings dropped three strokes after his birdie at 11.

Having hit a low of 1.75/7 in-running, an out of sorts Scheffler just couldn't get going and he needed a string of quite brilliant par saving putts on 15, 17 and 18 just to make it to extra time.

Despite failing to make a single birdie or eagle during the round, something that had never happened before in his professional career, the world number one headed into the playoff trading at the same price he'd begun the round at - 1.834/5 - and he was still the favourite after both men had played their second shots into the par four 18th but then Burns put it to bed in style.

Unbelievably clutch.@SamBurns66 drained the 38-footer from off the green to win @CSChallengeFW. pic.twitter.com/DaQmWt5MRe
? PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 29, 2022

As dramatic a finale as it was, the finish to the Charles Schwab Challenge was nothing compared to the spectacle we'd witnessed at the Dutch Open earlier in the day.

It looked like Poland's Adrian Meronk (who eventually finished third having been matched at a low of 3.02/1) had produced the most remarkable moment of the day with this ridiculous par save at the par three eighth but there was plenty of drama still to come...

The best up and down you'll EVER see! @AdrianMeronk makes a remarkable par save at the 8th to stay at -10. #DutchOpen2022 pic.twitter.com/UrvFAklMl9
? DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 29, 2022

Pre-event 30.029/1 chance, Ryan Fox, chipped in for birdie at the 12th hole, rolled in a monster eagle putt at the 13th and holed a 45 foot birdie putt at 14 to put daylight between himself and the field and he was matched at a low of just 1.021/50 when he stood on the 18th tee with a three-stroke lead.

Defeat for the Kiwi looked out of the question but his drive on the par five 18th just rolled into the hazard to the right of the fairway and after taking a drop, he missed the green right with his third, played his fourth into a greenside bunker (plugged) and finished up making seven!

Pre-event 65.064/1 chance, Victor Perez, who had begun the day tied for the lead with Matt Wallace (who was matched at low of 3.711/4), was suddenly within a stroke of the lead after Fox's foul up and he went favourite when he holed a 35 foot birdie putt on 17.

Perez gave himself a six-foot birdie on 18 to take the title but the putt slipped by and we were into extra time.

The market ebbed and flowed with Fox going long odds-on twice before Perez holed monster putts on 18 twice to extend the playoff before claiming the title with yet another lengthy birdie at the 17th hole (the fourth playoff hole).

WHAT A PUTT! @v_perez2 won a four hole play-off in style to claim his first win on Tour since 2019.#DutchOpen2022 pic.twitter.com/Zl3MKLlWVD
? DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 29, 2022

It was impossible not to feel sympathy for Fox who had suffered a similar fate in the Irish Open four years ago when he traded at a low of 1.111/9 before losing a playoff to Russell Knox who had holed a ridiculous putt on the 72nd hole to take the event into extra time.

There's no time for any more reflection on what really were two great tournaments as we have two more to look forward to this week - the Porsche European Open on the DP World Tour and the Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour. I'll be back tomorrow with the previews.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter