GRANDSON OF FRED MARTI SHARES LEAD IN SANYA
http://www.pgatourserieschina.com/en/news/Perras-inspired-by-grandfather-and-former-PGA-TOUR-player-Fred-Marti
In a career that began in 1964 and ended in 1987, Marti played in 397 TOUR events, making 297 cuts. Although he never won an official tournament (he did capture the unofficial United Airlines Ontario Open in 1971 by four shots over John Jacobs), Marti was a runner-up four times, he finished third three times and had 32 top-10s. He still maintains his PGA TOUR membership each year, and the 1996 money clip is significant because that is the year Perras was born.
After looking at old pictures and newspaper clippings and listening to his grandpa speak, along with his contemporaries, Perras says he has a better feel for who his grandpa was when Marti was touring the country playing professional golf.
“I’ve been able to meet some of the older guys who played with my grandpa and listen to them tell me about him, how great a player he was. That really means a lot, and it opens my eyes to what a great career he had out there,” said Perras. “I guess I didn’t really know what it meant to be on the PGA TOUR until now that I’m trying to go through the process, and I can see how difficult it is to actually get out there.”
Perras is in his first year playing on a PGA TOUR-affiliated Tour after graduating from the University of Houston in 2018. Like his grandpa, Perras played at for the Cougars, following his grandpa’s career path. It should be noted, however, that Marti never had to work his way through China to get to where he wanted to be in professional golf. Instead, Marti was a member of one of college golf’s greatest teams, the undefeated 1962 University of Houston squad that featured future PGA TOUR players Homero Blancas, Dick Crawford, Babe Hiskey, Kermit Zarley and Rocky Thompson. The Cougars won that year’s national championship, the program’s sixth. Marti seamlessly moved to the PGA TOUR once his college career ended.