Corey Pereira of Cameron Park closed with a 2-under-par 70 to capture the Sahalee Players Championship by six strokes over Sean Crocker of USC and Zimbabwe at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash.
Pereira, a junior at the University of Washington posted a score of 65-70-74–70–279, 9-under-par.
“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,” said Pereira, who sank a 12-foot putt on the 15th hole to save a bogey and stay one stroke ahead of Curtis Luck of Australia.
“Yes, if it’s ever possible to build momentum by bogeying a hole, that was it.”
Pereira birdied two of the last three holes, while Luck faded with a triple bogey 7 on the 16th hole and a bogey on the 18th.
Crocker was second at 73-74-68-70–285 thanks to an eagle on the last hole, while Luck totaled 74-68-70-74–286 to tie for third with Owen Taylor of San Juan Capistrano and Sacramento State, who finished at 69-74-71-72–286.
Jonathan Sanders of Chatsworth carded a score of 71-71-70-75–287 to tie for fifth with Dale Brandt-Richards of Australia, who wound up at 72-71-73-71–287, while Shintaro Ban of San Jose shot 70-74-73-71–288 to tie for seventh with Aaron Wise of Lake Elsinore, who finished at 75-67-73-73–288, and Charlie Kern of Mercer Island, Wash. who came in at 73-68-76-71–288.
Lorens Chan of Honolulu and UCLA posted a score of 70-73-72-74–289 to tie for 10th with Sam Stevens of Wichita, Kan., who wound up at 73-71-73-72–289, and John Oda of Honolulu, who finished at 71-70-72-76–289.
