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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Raul Pereda wasn’t simply taking part in for himself within the ultimate spherical of PGA Tour Q-College, introduced by Korn Ferry.
It was Para Mexico.
And por la familia.
Pereda, a 27-year-old Jacksonville College graduate, might win some tournaments on the PGA Tour. He might understand each child’s dream of profitable a significant or a Gamers Championship.
However he’d be hard-pressed to give you one other back-nine rally like Monday’s end on the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.
Pereda got here from one shot exterior the brink to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2024 season to have the ability to take up a closing bogey and nonetheless proudly maintain one in every of 5 playing cards awarded on the finish of the 72-hole qualifier by which the gamers have been hit with the whole lot Mom Nature needed to provide, additional exacerbating the jangled nerves and rumbling stomachs that include the strain of attempting to succeed in the Tour.
Pereda chipped in twice for birdie at Nos. 10 and 13, then birdied the par-5 sixteenth gap and willed a gutty 5-foot putt into the opening for par on the beastly par-4 seventeenth gap to complete with a 69 and a four-round complete of 8-under 272, tying for fourth with Hayden Springer (69) to hit the precise quantity they wanted to complete among the many top-five and earn a Tour card.
Pereda brings Mexico again to the Tour
Harrison Endycott of Australia is the medalist at 15-under 265, former Auburn golfer Hint Crowe (67) completed second at 11-under and former Oklahoma golfer Blaine Hale Jr. (71) completed third at 9-under. It was simply these 5 who earned Tour playing cards.
However Pereda carried extra banners than a Medieval competition: he grew to become the third JU participant to succeed in the PGA Tour, following Donnie Hammond and Russell Knox, and he realized a aim of as soon as once more giving Mexico illustration on the PGA Tour.
After Pereda shot 66 within the third spherical at Sawgrass to get throughout the prime 5, he spoke of what Mexican professionals Abrahan Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, now taking part in for LIV Golf, meant to him.
Pereda didn’t query their LIV choices and he appreciated the assistance that they had given him.
However he stated his main motivation throughout the qualifying course of has been all about nation and knew he had the precise stuff for the PGA Tour since final season when he contended within the early rounds of the World Golf Championship Mexico Open and holed a 249-yard shot for an eagle, the longest hole-out of the PGA Tour season.
“I have to get Mexico again on the PGA Tour,” he stated.
Mission achieved.
“I’m very pleased with myself for pushing laborious,” stated Pereda. “That is for them [his family], and that is for my total nation supporting me.”
Staff Pereda is massive and loving
Pereda, the youngest of 5 youngsters, got here to the First Coast on the age of 14 to reside along with his brother Paco, an industrial engineer for Continental Tires, on the Sawgrass Nation Membership. After ending highschool with on-line lessons, Pereda went to JU and starred for the Dolphins for 4 years.
His PGA Tour card has been 5 years as knowledgeable within the making. And his brother was current on Monday. So have been their dad and mom, Claudia and Francisco, though Francisco Pereda got here out just for the end since he spent most of Sunday within the emergency room due to kidney stones.
“That is what I’ve been working all my life for,” he stated throughout a post-round interview by which he broke down in tears a number of instances, the discharge of the extreme strain of Q-College. “And we’re there.”
Be aware the phrase “we.”
It’s uncertain any PGA Tour rookie may have a bigger assist group than Pereda. After dropping the ultimate putt he bought hugs and backslaps from caddie and six-time European PGA Tour winner Anders Forsbrand, household and mates, JU golf coach Mike Blackburn and athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert, former JU participant Russell Knox (who had simply completed taking pictures 65 at Sawgrass to tie for twenty eighth and earn full Korn Ferry Excursions standing), and former PGA Tour participant Jeff Klauk, who has develop into a mentor to Pereda.
Pereda rallied calmly from early catastrophe
Pereda stored his feelings in verify for a lot of the spherical, even after errant tee pictures into hazards at Nos. 6 and seven produced a double-bogey and a bogey. He parred the subsequent two holes however turned one shot behind the highest 5 after which missed the tenth inexperienced to the left.
He promptly chipped in for birdie to get again throughout the top-five. After three pars in a row, Pereda missed the inexperienced of the 229-yard par-3 14th gap – and chipped in once more.
Pereda bashfully stated he bought good lies on each of the chip-ins. However he additionally remembered what a sports activities psychologist informed him prior to now a few spherical of golf.
“He stated to take a look at this like a boxing battle,” he stated. “You’re going to hit … I bought hit early within the spherical, and I nonetheless had 12 holes to go, so I would as effectively put some punches on the market.”
Pereda ‘dances along with his feelings’
Pereda’s long-time swing coach, Tom Burnett, stated it was a part of Pereda’s improvement from a psychological standpoint.
“As an alternative of combating his feelings he began to bounce along with his feelings,” Burnett stated. “He discovered the best way to deal with them. He grew to become superb at course administration.”
Pereda stated years of attempting to get his card off the PGA Tour Latinoamerica lastly taught him simply that: don’t faux nerves don’t exist, simply embrace them.
“I used to be shaking and I used to be nervous sooner or later, however I believe that I’ve gotten to know myself very effectively,” he stated. “It’s not that I bought it underneath management, however I knew the best way to play with it.”
Pereda has gotten so good at that, Forsbrand didn’t really feel the necessity to give him a pep speak after his early stumbles.
“Nothing particular,” he stated. “He was nonetheless within the recreation. It was two swings that have been just a little free however aside from that, he was hitting it effectively.”
Battling tears on ultimate gap
Pereda’s calm virtually dissolved after he bought up-and-down from par on the par-4 seventeenth, a transformed par 5. Realizing {that a} Tour card was inside his attain, he stated he was in tears after making the putt, then once more after discovering the golf green of the damaging par-4 18th, with water down the left aspect and out-of-bounds down the precise.
“I wished to cry on 17 inexperienced after I made that putt … I wished to cry once I hit that drive on 18 as a result of that’s in all probability one of the crucial necessary tee pictures on the market,” he stated. “I didn’t have a look at the leaderboard placing from off the inexperienced, however [when he saw it after lagging to within 5 feet] I used to be like, ‘yeah, I’ve bought this.’
“Proper once I hugged Anders is once I began crying as a result of we’ve labored so laborious the previous 12 months, and we’ve achieved a whole lot of issues, particularly mentally and emotionally, the place it’s given me the chance to be right here at the moment and handle the whole lot the easiest way doable.”
Additionally in tears was his brother Paco, a key member of his brother’s assist staff.
“Oh, my goodness,” he stated. “I can’t even describe how blissful I’m. Raul has labored so laborious. It tells you ways mature he’s, the best way he dealt with it at the moment, the quantity of strain.”
Welcome to the PGA TOUR, Raul Pereda!@RaulP96 entered Q-College with no @KornFerryTour or TOUR standing.
He now turns into the one energetic PGA TOUR member of Mexican descent. pic.twitter.com/CUVTviFNS7
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 18, 2023
Pereda will now rep his household and his nation on the PGA Tour. He plans on benefiting from this chance.
“That is one thing new,” he stated. “I must be very holding my head on the best way to strategy all these items. I’ve bought the sport, however I simply have to know the best way to handle the whole lot.”
Blackburn is amongst Pereda’s supporters who has little question.
“You would see that he had one thing particular about him,” Blackburn stated. “He was at all times an ideal ball-striker. When he put collectively that 100 yards and in additional, he bought elite.”
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