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“Whatever you do, always give 100% — unless you’re donating blood.” - Bill Murray
News Slice
💰 Purse: $8.6M
🏆 Nick Hardy 🇺🇸 and Davis Riley 🇺🇸 | $1.2M each
📍 TPC Louisiana - Avondale, Louisiana
Zurich Classic - Leaderboard
Zurich Classic of New Orleans ⚜️
The Zurich Classic of New Orleans ⚜️ was this past weekend with both Nick Hardy and Davis Riley teaming up to win 💰 $1.24 million each to capture their first PGA tour wins. Did we just say they both won? Yup, both won as a team in an alternating shot and “Four-ball” type tournament. If you missed any of the golf action because of the thrilling NBA and NHL playoff games that were going on, we don’t blame you. No need to sweat it because we got you covered on what matters.
What is the Zurich Classic format? ⛳️
The field is made up of 160 players and is split into 🏌️♂️🏌️♂️ 80 two-man teams. The top 80 players available in the PGA Tour rankings get to pick the playing partner of their choice. In addition, all involved must either hold PGA Tour playing status or get chosen as a sponsor's exemption.
The 80 two-man teams will first play in the “Four-Ball” format during the opening round, which is similar to the Ryder Cup format 🏆. In Four-Ball play, the players on each team will each play his own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole recorded. For example, on the first hole, both golfers on each team tee off. Player A pars the hole and Player B birdies it. The team will be credited with a birdie 🐦. I love it when things are made simple, don’t you?
On the next day (Friday), the teams play in a “Foursomes” format. For Foursomes play, players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes, and the other will hit the tee shot on even-numbered holes. Example: Player A and Player B are partners. On the first hole, Player A tees off; Player B plays the second shot; Player A plays the third shot; and so on until the ball is holed. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for that hole.
The top 33 teams will make it to the weekend, with Fourballs being played for the third round and Foursomes for Sunday's finale.
What kind of money we talking? 🤑
The win awarded both players not only a nice payday, but also a two-year winner’s exemption and an eligibility into Invitational fields, including the Sentry Tournament of Champions and THE PLAYERS Championship ⛳️. Additionally, they now both qualify to play in the PGA Championship next month at Oak Hill for winning the PGA Tour’s only team event.
Finally, FedExCup points and prize money will be awarded to teams making the cut based on combining every two positions from the distribution table for a standard TOUR event, with each team member receiving an equal share. For instance, the winning team will evenly split first and second place FedExCup points (500 for first and 300 for second for 800 total points, or 400 for each player). Not too shabby 😎
Hardy and Riley both win for the first time 🏆
Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, who are in the middle of their second seasons, claimed their first career titles🥇at the 2023 Zurich Classic at 30 under after rounds of 64-66-63-65. Both Hardy and Riley didn’t have partners just weeks leading up to the tournament. The long-time friends were texting each other, with Hardy asking Riley if he would be his playing partner. It proved to be a good decision, as they would go on to set the all-time tournament scoring record by one stroke and surpass the mark set by defending champions Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
Any win is great on the PGA Tour, but winning this one together was special. Both were AJGA All-Americans growing up and Riley grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which is about a 2-hour drive from New Orleans ⚜️. Both had also dealt with their fair share of injuries recently. Hardy had aggravated a wrist injury in this same tournament just one year ago. Riley meanwhile has experienced a few close calls in getting his first win, but just couldn’t get it done. Between the prize money and rewards, as well as winning the tournament together with a friend, I would say these were pretty good first PGA Tour wins 😉. Good luck the rest of the way fellas!
Content These Days
Scrollin’ for days… here’s some quality golf content to get you through the week. Brought to you by the internet…
Chase Koepka just hit a hole in one on LIV Golf’s party hole in Australia
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano)
3:50 AM • Apr 23, 2023
Course of the Day
Meet “Tripod”, the 3-legged alligator of the Zurich Classic
Another “Tournament Players Club” designated golf course, TPC Louisiana is a fantastic golf course that is home to the Zurich Classic and can also be played by the public. The course opened in 2004 and was designed by legendary golf architect Pete Dye. It has been consistently included in Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public Golf Courses and stretches over 250 acres of wetlands along the Mississippi River delta 🐊. It is also just 15 miles outside of downtown New Orleans.
If you wanted to play the course this Saturday afternoon, you can do so by paying as much as $329 per person if you are a non-resident (only $167 if you are a resident 😮). Not the cheapest course, but you can always say you played “down by the Bayous!”.
The bucket list of golf courses is getting full, but there is still room to add this PGA Tour style course to your list 😉. Just make sure to think twice when hitting near the water 🐊.
19th Hole
Where’s my self-lacing sneakers?
Sneakerheads rejoice, golf shoes these days are 🔥. Golf shoes have come a long way from dress-shoe knockoffs. Fashion in golf has stepped up in general and the shoe category is looking bright. Here’s some to check out!