Monday Finish: Pat Perez keeps it rolling

In the final round of the 2017 CIMB Classic, self-described “late-bloomerâ€� Pat Perez, 41, shoots a 3-under-par 69 for a four-shot victory over Keegan Bradley (67) at TPC Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, newly minted Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele (72) runs out of gas but still ties Sung Kang for third, suggesting last season was no fluke.   Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Perez, coming off his first-ever appearance in the TOUR Championship, kept rolling with his second victory in just over 12 months, and his third overall. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Perez won’t go changing. The winner cited his team, and their hard work, as a key to victory. He said the greens at TPC Kuala Lumpur reminded him of the greens when he won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba last November, and emphasized how much fun he’s having. Working out and eating right? Nah. Although he was pretty sure he lost a few pounds in the sweltering heat some 200 miles from the equator. Perez also punched his ticket to the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Maui. As a late-bloomer Perez has benefited from hard-won maturity, but he is still young enough to enjoy the perks of the job. One of his favorites from CIMB week, he said, is the air-conditioned, fast-moving police escort through thick city traffic between the hotel and the golf course. “It’s actually cool because I’ve probably been to this course 50 times and I’ve never gone the same direction ever to get there or back,â€� Perez said. “So, I get to see kind of the whole city every time we go there or back, so it seems pretty cool. I haven’t really ventured outside, but it’s just fun to come here. It’s a nice change to come here.â€� 2. Keegan Bradley is rejoining the party. Bradley, 31, and his wife, Jillian, are expecting their first child, Nov. 18. Meanwhile, it seems like only a matter of time before they’re celebrating Keegan’s career rebirth with a win, even if Perez prevented that from happening with his stellar play at TPC Kuala Lumpur. “For the last two days, every time I made a birdie, he did, too,â€� Bradley said after finishing second at 20 under. “I played really well this weekend.â€� His second-place finish was his best result since a runner-up at the 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Bradley made three straight trips to the TOUR Championship from 2011-2013, barely missed out the next year (33rd in the FedExCup), then started sliding. He was 60th in 2015, 103rd in 2016. Last season things finally started looking up again as Bradley came to the BMW Championship with a chance to play his way to East Lake and the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2013. He didn’t quite get there, finishing the season 47th in the FedExCup, but he’s on the verge. “I’m really proud of this week,â€� he said. 3. The heat took a toll. Two-time defending champion Justin Thomas admitted he was already “a little bit tiredâ€� when he got to hot Malaysia for his eighth tournament in a span of 10 weeks. Perhaps predictably, Thomas never got much going until shooting a 5-under 66 in the last round to finish T17 at 11 under par. In his first start since becoming the first rookie to win the TOUR Championship, Xander Schauffele went the opposite direction, starting well but finishing poorly. After shooting an even-par 72, Schauffele said, “Maybe next year I can try some other things to stay fresh.â€� It was only 90 degrees at its hottest for the final round, but the humidity wrapped everyone up a stifling blanket. “I was just hoping to kind of stay alive,â€� Perez said. Did he feel cooler once he’d won? “No,â€� he said. “I’m still fighting for my life.â€� 4. Schauffele is here to stay. Aside from Boise State beating his favored alma mater, San Diego State, in a Mountain West football game over the weekend, the newly minted Rookie of the Year didn’t have much to complain about. Even with an even-par72 in the final round, he tied for third in his first CIMB. What’s more, he had gotten to experience a new culture. “I like the food, personally,â€� he said. “I know some guys don’t, but I do.â€� Schauffele was born in La Jolla, California, but his father is half French, half German, and his mother is Taiwanese but grew up in Japan. It was somewhat surprising, then, to hear Xander admit he hadn’t traveled much and was looking forward to the PGA TOUR’s three-week Asian swing, which continues this week with THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Seoul, South Korea. “I’m definitely looking forward to coming back,â€� Schauffele said of the CIMB and Malaysia. 5. Lahiri’s top-10 more bitter than sweet. Anirban Lahiri had an outside chance at the CIMB, but shot only a 1-under 71 in the final round. He tied for 10th, but made no pretense of being satisfied with the result. “You make it sound so much nicer than it feels,â€� he said, when he was asked if it was something he could be proud of. “No, I’m very disappointed with the way I played today. There were a couple technical things I was working out. I think I went out on the golf course carrying that. I think my mindset wasn’t where it needed to be, so that’s another lesson learned the hard way.â€� Last year, Lahiri entered the final round of the CIMB with a four-shot lead. Justin Thomas won. This year, Lahiri was trying to tame a suddenly wayward driver. “This has been one of my worst driving weeks all year,â€� he said. “I really had no control with the driver.â€� Lahiri hit 71.43 percent of the fairways, which was T25 in the field. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Greens in regulation continues to be one of the most telling stats in golf. Perez’s 86.11 percent GIR number was tied for first in the field with Hideki Matsuyama (T5). Perez also ranked T13 in driving accuracy and T9 in putts. 2. A week after winning the Safeway Open, Brendan Steele finished T13 at the CIMB and leads the FedExCup standings. 3. Paul Casey, who shot a final-round 65 to tie for seventh, his best result in four starts at the CIMB, opened with a 77 before roaring back with a second-round 63. Grayson Murray (82-74-64-73) saw an even more extreme fluctuation of 18 shots between his first and third rounds. 4. Whee Kim aced the 208-yard, par-3 15th hole in the third round to win a BMW 740 Le xDrive Hybrid. It marked the fourth straight year in which a player has made an ace at the CIMB. 5. Justin Thomas, who last season became the first since Jimmy Walker in 2014 to rank inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings every week of a single season, picked up 48 FedExCup points for his T17 at the CIMB. He is tied for 33rd in this season’s race for the FedExCup. TOP 3 VIDEOS 1. Kim aces and poses 2. JT’s brilliant eagle 3. Defiant Perez not changing

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