The Game Goes Gogel on Perez

Just as there are spectacular ways to win, there are terrible ways to lose, which Pat Perez reminded us Sunday at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Tied for the lead with five holes to go, Perez knocked a ball out of bounds on the 14th hole, then with a one-shot lead at the 18th, hit his tee shot out of bounds again. The lesson?

“Play better,” Perez said. “Don’t shoot 76 or you’ll lose.

“I’ll always remember the last hole. Always. There’s nothing good coming out of this week.”

And to show that one player’s adversity is another’s good fortune, Matt Gogel got paid back in the most unpredictable of ways. One shot behind at the 18th tee, Gogel won by three shots with a 14-under 274. Perez hit a driver at 18 with his one-shot lead, which is always a risky proposition (see Jean Van de Velde) and the result was predictable. The ball went far right, near the cart path and underneath a hedge, about a foot on the wrong side of the out-of-bounds stakes.

While Perez was forced to walk back to the tee to try again, Gogel steered in a 25-foot birdie putt on the famous 18th green at Pebble Beach, raised his fist to celebrate and then waited to see what Perez would do. What Perez did was hit his fourth shot into Carmel Bay.

He was not happy. We know this because Perez put his club over his knee and tried to break it. It was sort of the same reaction that Perez had when he hit the ball out of bounds at the 14th. Perez whacked the turf with his club, using a technique that would make a woodchopper proud. For someone who said his game plan was to keep his emotions in check, this fell somewhat short of a positive sign.

The emotions were worse at the 18th. Tour officials had to clear the gallery from the area where Perez’s ball had landed because they couldn’t see the out-of-bounds stakes. Once they figured it out, there wasn’t much Perez could do except get it over with as quickly as he could, then get off the course.

Perez wound up with a double-bogey seven at the 14th, a triple-bogey eight at the 18th, and finished with a four-over 76 and a bad attitude. He complained about the wind, not being informed about the difference between PVC pipes and the out-of-bounds stakes at the 18th and the quality of the sand in the bunkers. But you can’t really blame him for the way he felt, not after making only five pars all day.

“Some things were going right,” Perez said. “Other things were going horrible.

“I was pretty much lost out there. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

Meanwhile, Gogel slipped inside with a 69, claimed his first victory, a check for $720,000 and finally was repaid for losing this same event on the same course on the last day two years ago. That was when Gogel shot a 40 on the back nine and lost when Tiger Woods made up seven shots on the last seven holes. Such an experience gave Gogel some perspective.

“I feel for Pat,” Gogel said. “I’ve been in that position before.

“Was the driver the right play?” Gogel said. “He’s going to ask himself that a thousand times.”

Perez says he knew Gogel was on the green and thought he needed to be aggressive. Everything changed in 30 seconds, Perez said. “My ball was out of bounds, Gogel made his putt, the crowd went crazy, and it was a long walk back to the tee,” he said.

Lee Janzen and Andrew Magee tied for third at 10-under 278, four shots behind Gogel.

Gogel had a two-shot lead after Perez’s misadventure at the 14th, but Perez somehow pulled himself together with birdies at the 15th and 17th. And when Gogel three-putted the 17th for a bogey, Perez was back in the lead.

“It was tough out there,” Gogel said. “I’m just so proud of myself to birdie the last hole after making bogey at 17.”

Woods, who began the day 13 shots behind Perez, finished with a 68. His rounds of 70-73-71-68 were six under and good enough for a tie for 12th. Woods goes right back at it again this week when he plays the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Woods said he thought he was close, admitted he had trouble on the greens but thought his result could have been different. “A few putts here and there, a few shots here and there,” Woods said.

Typical of Woods’ day: At the par-five 14th, he hit his second shot within a foot of out of bounds to the right, but he knocked his third shot onto the green and made a five-footer for birdie.

“I’m pretty close, I really am. I hit the ball pretty good today in spurts,” he said.

“And I’m showing signs that I am improving and starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with the [swing] moves I’m making.”

Gogel’s moves are all upward. In 12 rounds this year, he has shot par or better, he’s up to No. 5 on the money list this year and passed $2 million in career earnings. What he feels is not redemption, said Gogel, only happy it was his turn to win this time, no matter how it happened.

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