Perez wins Bob Hope; R9 gets Tour validation

Photo Courtesy/ Getty Images

If Pat Perez can practice with TaylorMade's revolutionary new R9 driver for two days and win his first PGA Tour event, what will it do for a 10-handicapper? Perez's career perseverance proved rewarding Sunday at PGA West, as the 32-year-old canned an eagle on the final hole to capture his first Tour trophy — beautiful crystal, eh? — but the above picture tells more than one story.

Back on the mainland after two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour and its ever brand-conscious viewership witnessed the introduction of TaylorMade's newest technology, the R9 driver, and Perez played it beautifully over five rounds to finish 33 under-par. And while 99 percent of the golfing world must be virtuous in awaiting the product's official launch date, set for March 20, Perez's win will undoubtedly drive curiousity in the coming weeks.

With Tiger Woods rumored to remain sidelined until at least the Accenture Match Play Championships in late February, Perez's win seems like a natural catalyst for attention and especially amongst corporate giants like TaylorMade, Nike, Titleist, and Callaway.

All that said, I would like to use this inaugural post to preface my blog for the spring semester and my interest for the PGA Tour. Aside from being a lifelong golfer, I have been fortunate to work twice within the golf industry over the last four years and consider myself somewhat knowledgeable.

Through my father and late grandfather's passion for the game, and undoubtedly some good fortune, I have shared countless memorable experiences through golf — watching, playing, and even covering a couple PGA Tour events as a journalist.

Thirteen years ago, I met Earl Woods, Tiger's late father, on a Sunday in the Quad-Cities. We shook hands. We stopped to buy cigarettes. We watched Tiger — You know… 14 majors… best ever, sans maybe Jack Nicklaus — make a quadruple-bogey on the back nine of just his third event as a professional. He lost by four strokes to someone named Ed Fiori.

Three weeks ago, I walked with Zach Johnson's group during the third round of the Merecedes Championships and he shot 64, including a six-under 30 on the front nine. He made a 50-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole in front of maybe a dozen spectators and hardly blinked. He was robotic off the tee. His iron play was crisp as clockwork, and a week later he won the Sony Open.

I share such memories because they are unique to my own experience with golf, but also hopefully somewhat interesting for those without the slightest interest in the world's so-called boringest spectator sport, especially when Tiger isn't playing. Through this forum, I hope to share more stories and stay current with the Tour on a weekly basis during the semester.

As a side note, my blog title "The Hunt" — a small play on sporting phrase i.e. "Perez is in the hunt for his first Tour win" — is also a chip off my middle name, Hunter.

Thanks for reading and look forward to checking out the other blogs this week.