Pereira Goes Wire to Wire at 22nd Sahalee Players Championship


Corey Pereira of Cameron Park, Calif., held off a late charge in Wednesday's final round to win the 22nd Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash.

Pereira never trailed in the 72-hole event, which fielded 66 elite amateur golfers from around the world. He opened with a 7-under par 65 in the first round, built a six-shot lead after two rounds, and closed with a 70 to finish at 9-under 279, six strokes ahead of Sean Crocker of Westlake Village, Calif.

This is the third time Pereira played in the championship; he tied for second last year. "It's great to come back and finish the job," he said. "I texted this week with Mark (Anguiano, last year's champion), and he gave me some tips on how to play the course."

Pereira, who just finished his sophomore year on the University of Washington men's golf team, started the final round with a three-shot lead over Jonathan Sanders, his teammate at the UW, and Curtis Luck of Australia. Pereira birdied four of the first eight holes, and seemed in complete control.

"I told my friends and family that even though I'd been dominating the tournament, there's always a point where you think you're going to lose it, where you're going to need to grind it out," Pereira said afterward. And he was right. Standing on the tee of the par-4 14th hole with a four-shot lead, Pereira put his tee shot into a fairway bunker, and when Luck drained a 20-foot birdied putt from the front fringe and Pereira missed his par putt, the lead was cut in half.

On the tree-lined par-4 15th hole, Luck hit a 305-yard tee shot into the middle of the fairway, while Pereira pushed his drive into the woods. Luck two-putted for par, and Pereira was facing a 12-foot putt to save bogey. "Yes, if it's ever possible to build momentum by bogeying a hole, that was it," he said. When the putt dropped Pereira pumped his fist and shouted, "Come on!"

Pereira's lead was down to one, but then he birdied the par-4 16th, and when Luck put his tee shot into the water on the par-3 17th it was over. Pereira birdied the par-5 18th to secure the win.

Pereira was ranked No. 38 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) following his sophomore season after earning All Pac-12 honors, and is the reigning Pacific Coast Amateur champion. Later this summer he will try to defend his title at the Pacific Coast Amateur as well as at the California State Fair Amateur.

Luck, just 18, was the 2014 Western Australia Amateur champion, and was a semifinalist in the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur. He ended up tied for third with Owen Taylor of San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Crocker, a sophomore at USC, finished alone in second.

For the final results, visit www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com.

The SPC is one of the events watched by the United States Golf Association when making future selections for the U.S. team in the next Walker Cup.