Golf: Gogel wins as Perez blows lead

Matt Gogel erased some bad memories with a victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in California.

Two years after blowing a seven-stroke lead with seven holes to go here, Gogel earned a measure of redemption with a three-stroke win over Pat Perez.

Playing in the next-to-last pairing, Gogel capped a wild afternoon by rolling home a 25ft birdie putt on the last hole.

As Gogel sank the biggest putt of his career, Perez - who had led since the second round and was four strokes clear at the start of the final day - was walking back to the tee at the 17th after his drive was ruled out of bounds.

Gogel carded a three-under-par 69 for his first PGA Tour victory as Perez ended with a triple-bogey to finish with a 76 for a total of 277.

Lee Janzen and Andrew Magee tied for third a further stroke back, while Jose Maria Olazabal was the top European - he finished on 280 to end in joint-fifth spot.

Gogel’s first career victory earned him 720,000 US dollars and helped ease memories of his crushing defeat two years ago.

On that day, Tiger Woods had stormed past Gogel but today the world number one finished tied for 12th at six-under-par on 282.

A delighted Gogel spared a thought for Perez after his victory. He said: ‘‘I feel for Pat because I’ve been in that position.’’

Collated final scores from the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (USA unless stated, Par 72):

274 Matt Gogel 66 72 67 69

277 Pat Perez 66 65 70 76

278 Andrew Magee 69 70 67 72, Lee Janzen 68 67 70 73

280 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 71 71 68, Phil Tataurangi (Nzl) 67 72 70 71, Jerry Smith 67 69 72 72

281 Vijay Singh (Fij) 69 71 70 71, Kent Jones 70 71 70 70, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 69 72 68 72, Paul Goydos 72 70 67 72

282 Tiger Woods 70 73 71 68, Tim Petrovic 70 71 70 71, Charles Howell III 71 71 68 72

283 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 72 72 70, Todd Fischer 71 73 71 68, John Rollins 67 77 68 71, Brett Quigley 70 73 69 71, Brent Schwarzrock 64 75 70 74, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 67 72 70 74, Steve Flesch 73 67 69 74

284 Todd Barranger 72 70 68 74, Fred Couples 69 68 72 75

285 Kevin Sutherland 69 73 72 71, Dan Forsman 69 73 71 72, Phillip Price (Gbr) 70 70 73 72, Kevin Wentworth 73 71 72 69, Tom Lehman 71 70 71 73, Len Mattiace 72 73 71 69

286 Jim Furyk 71 71 73 71, Dudley Hart 69 71 72 74

287 Craig Stadler 69 72 73 73, Jeff Brehaut 72 73 69 73, Pete Jordan 68 73 73 73, Skip Kendall 72 70 71 74, Rod Pampling (Aus) 70 69 73 75, Chris Smith 75 69 68 75, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 71 75 70 71

288 Tim Herron 71 70 73 74, Brandt Jobe 73 71 70 74, Olin Browne 69 71 75 73, Brad Faxon 69 72 74 73, Tom Pernice 72 68 73 75, Paul Claxton 68 76 71 73, Robin Freeman 69 75 71 73, Trevor Dodds 74 71 71 72, Tripp Isenhour 74 68 69 77, John Senden 72 73 71 72, Matt Kuchar 68 72 76 72, Neal Lancaster 72 69 75 72, Ben Crane 74 67 75 72

289 Bradley Hughes (Aus) 77 67 70 75, Robert Gamez 71 72 70 76, Scott McCarron 70 70 73 76, Mike Weir (Can) 74 71 71 73, Jim McGovern 74 68 74 73, Corey Pavin 74 73 69 73, David Sutherland 69 73 74 73, Paul Azinger 74 72 70 73

290 Paul Stankowski 71 72 71-76, Craig Perks 70 71 72 77, Donnie Hammond 74 68 73 75, David Frost (Rsa) 73 72 71 74

291 Ronnie Black 73 73 69 76, Jeff Quinney 70 72 73 76, Jay Don Blake 72 69 71 79, Jay Williamson 71 73 72 75

292 Shaun Micheel 69 71 75 77, Tom Byrum 71 72 73 76

293 Steve Scott 76 69 71 77, Jay Delsing 70 74 72 77

294 Gabriel Hjertstedt (Swe) 71 72 72 79