UW Alum Corey Pereira Wins ATB Financial Classic; First Pro Victory
August 12, 2018 | Men's Golf
The victory was the first for the 2017 UW grad, who was a four-time All-Pac-12 selection for the Huskies from 2014-17. It was also his fourth career top 10 finish and moves him into the Top Five in money leaders on the Mackenzie Tour (PGA Canada).
"It's feeling great right now," said Pereira. "It was a battle all day. Lee (Hodges) played awesome golf and really challenged me out there. It felt like all my hard work was paying off, I know how cheesy that may sound, but it really did feel incredible."
Pereira moved up to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday, matching a course-record with a 62 to take a one-stroke lead heading into the final round.
After a pretty up-and-down on the par-5 second, the 23-year-old made three birdies in a row from hole Nos. 3-5 before adding his fifth of the day on No. 8 to make the turn in just 31 strokes.
64-65-62-67 ??
— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) August 13, 2018
Welcome to the winner's circle, @coreyperalta ???????????? pic.twitter.com/b15rdtLPPo
On the backside, Pereira added four more birdies to polish off a 31 and signed for the lowest score of his Mackenzie Tour career.
Pereira had his highest score of the tournament on the final day, but held on for the one-stroke win. He opened the round with four birdies on the front nine, but had two bogeys on 11 and 14 to drop back into a tie atop the board. Just after his first bogey of the round, play was halted for nearly 90 minutes due to a lightning storm which moved through the area. After the delay---and another bogey---he came up with a huge birdie putt on 17 to take a one-shot lead into the final hole. He would par the hole to hold on for the victory.
"I had a good front-nine and shot 4-under on the front and stumbled a bit on the front of the back and made bogey on 11 and then we were called in for the delay," said Pereira. "I came back out with a good mentality and the wind blew and I just tried to stay tough. I made a good putt on 17 and played a good hole on 18 hitting two good shots.
"It didn't look like I was losing it, and it didn't look like I was winning it," Pereira added. "Lee was playing good and I was playing good and we were going back and fourth all day. So until I made my last putt on 18, I didn't feel like I was in control. But at the same time I was playing good golf."With par on the 18th hole, @coreyperalta wins his first @PGATOURCanada event at the @ATBClassicYYC ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/x684pyCioQ
— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) August 13, 2018
Pereira had a great opening day to the tournament, matching what had been his best Mackenzie Tour round to date with a 64. The round was highlighted by a hole-in-one--the first of his pro career.
He was the seventh UW golfer to win on the Mackenzie Tour and mentioned how his years as a Husky helped prepare him for this tournament.
"I played with C.T. Pan for a couple of years at Washington and obviously he had a great deal of success out here and is continuing to," said Pereira. "So being exposed to high level golfers and competing with them daily, you know what to expect. The level of play out here is much better than college by a lot, but it helped prepare me."
A phenomenal round of 64 and a cherry on top in the form of a hole-in-one today for @coreyperalta at the @ATBClassicYYC #NicePlayerNiceShot pic.twitter.com/UlkgbMTzPO
— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) August 9, 2018
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