Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele lead almost from wire-to-wire in winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans by two strokes over Sam Burns and Billy Horschel at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La.
Schauffele (pictured left) and Cantlay (right) led after each round and posted a tournament record score of 59-68-60-72—259, 229-under-par, while Horschel and Burns wound up at 62-68-63-68—261, and Doc Redman and Sam Ryder were third at 61-67-69-67—264.
The first and third rounds were played under the four-ball format, while the second and final rounds were contested at alternate shot.
The fifth-ranked Cantlay, from La Alamitos and UCLA, and the 12th-ranked Schauffele, from La Jolla and San Diego State, broke the tournament record of 27-under set by Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown, and Jonas Blixt of Sweden and Cameron Smith of Australia in 2017, the first year the event was played as a team event. The 59 carded by Schauffele and Cantlay in the first round also is a tournament record.
“Today was a great day,” said Cantlay, the reigning FedEx Cup champion who claimed his seventh PGA Tour title and the first since the Tour Championship in September. “We definitely bring out the best in each other, and we really enjoy being out there together. In a format like this, it’s the best
“This is the second time we’ve played this event (tying for 11th last year) and we were looking forward to it since last year. We really always enjoy being with each other, both on and off the golf course, and we both played exceptional golf this week and had a great time doing it.”
Said Schauffle, the Olympic Gold Medalist who won for the fifth time on the PGA Tour and the first since the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions: “It’s awesome. I said it earlier this week, you know, if there’s any success I could share with someone, it’d be Pat. So I’m happy we could get it done.
“We weren’t really too worried about where everyone else was at, we were just trying to focus on what we do best. Today was probably the worst of our four quarters. Pat was very calm, which helped me stay calm. It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention.”
Brendan Steele of Idyllwild and UC Riverside and Keegan Bradley shot 64-71-63-67—265 to tie for fourth with Will Zalatoris and Davis Riley, who shot 64-71-64-66—265, Harold Varner III and Bubba Watson, who finished at 62-71-74-68—265, Taylor Moore and Matthew NeSmith, who wound up at 60-73-64-68—265, David Lipsky of Los Angeles and Aaron Rai of England, who totaled 61-67-75-72—265, and Branden Grace and Garrick Higgo of South Africa, who came in at 64-65-63-73—265.
Cameron Tringale of Mission Viejo and Wyndham Clark totaled 62-67-65-72—266 to tie for 10th with Dylan Wu and Justin Lower, who finished at 64-69-63-70—266, and Jason Day of Australia and Jason Scrivener 65-65-63-73—66.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Ryan Palmer, who on the tournament in 2019 with Jon Rahm of Spain, tied for 18th at 64-72-63-71—270, while fifth-ranked Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman of Australia tied for 21st at 65-66-68-72—271, and third-ranked Collin Morikawa and sixth-ranked Viktor Hovland of Norway totaled 65-70-65-72—272.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
