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PGA Tour: How Tony Finau brought order to an otherwise chaotic finish at 3M Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:08:13 +0000

By Dave Shedloski
Tony Finau not only rallied on Sunday to win the 3M Open, but also simultaneously with his three-stroke victory injected a little sanity into a game awash in uncertainty.

The highest-ranked player to reach the weekend in Blaine, Minnesota, Finau overcame a five-stroke deficit to veteran Scott Piercy, who for 61 holes appeared poised to turn professional golf upside down not quite as seismically as Greg Norman but nevertheless with momentous consequences. Ranked 297th in the world, Piercy was attempting to win his first individual stroke-play title since 2015 after showing up with a new swing — from a new swing coach — a new caddie, a new driver and a new putter.

Oh, and also a new pair of shoes, which proved to be the only, ahem, misstep over the first three days while he was setting the 54-hole tournament record of 18-under 195. Piercy developed a painful blister on his right heel near the end of Round 2, which forced him to walk most of the third round carrying the shoe and only wearing it when he was hitting a shot.

But just imagine the chaos next week in Detroit for the Rocket Mortgage Classic with everyone making wholesale changes in the faint hope of duplicating the Piercy plan. Who needs reps, routines and established rapport with a trusty looper?

Unfortunately for the Las Vegas native, his final-round tour of TPC Twin Cities conjured the words of Charles Dickens. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. And he felt the spring of hope before … despair. After seeing his lead increase to five strokes, Piercy played his final 11 holes in seven over par to soar to a 76. Finau, meanwhile, sprinted home with a series of birdies to card a four-under 67 and won his third PGA Tour title with the largest final-round comeback in the brief history of the tournament.

Order restored.

“Man, talking about the last few hours, I think I’m still trying to catch up, still trying to figure out. I think the win is finally settling in,” said Finau, whose 17-under 267 total was three better than Emiliano Grillo and Sungjae Im. “I was just chasing all day, that’s all I remember. Really all week. Scott played amazing golf and the thing about out here, I just know that you just have to keep playing. Anything can happen and that’s what I did.”

On a temperate but blustery afternoon, Finau, 32, was the player most under control and thus most likely to take advantage of an opening. He regularly ranks among the leaders in birdie average and the Utah native converted four birdies in six-hole stretch that made all the difference.

Especially clutch were the three straight he dropped starting at the 14th hole when he knocked in an eight-footer and then followed up from 31 feet and nine feet, respectively, to quickly construct an insurmountable lead.

“When I really needed to hole putts, I did starting on 11, again on 14, 15, 16. I mean, I made some really crucial putts when I really needed them,” Finau said. “Then a little bit of some heroics on the stretch on 17 and 18. A crazy bounce on 17. I called bank in the air, so I think that cancels everything out, but I did get a great bounce there and I took advantage of that.

“My game is as good as it’s ever been in really all aspects. I expected myself to contend and win again this year, so to be able to do it this late in the season when you’re running out of tournaments and you put that type of expectation on yourself, it’s so satisfying. That’s what makes the game so great, so satisfying, when you get the job done because you know that it doesn’t happen very often, but this one’s very special.”

Piercy was hoping for his fifth career win, but will settle for getting on the right side of the FedEx Cup Playoff bubble with a T-4 finish. David Berding

As for Piercy, you, dear reader, might want to skip these next two paragraphs or at least send the kids into another room while you read them.

When Grillo, who began the day four back, triple-bogeyed the par-4 seventh hole, Piercy found himself sitting on a five-stroke cushion, having reached 20-under par thanks to birdies at Nos. 2 and 6. He three-putted the eighth for only his fourth bogey of the tournament. No big deal. But then he missed the green at No. 9 for another bogey and three-putted again at the 11th to drop another shot.

A kick-in birdie at the par-5 12th offered only fleeting comfort. Piercy proceeded to sandwich a triple-bogey between bogeys at the next three holes. The problem at the par-4 14th started with a plugged lie in a fairway bunker that he could only move a few yards. From there, the man with one red heel pulled his third shot into the water, spun his fifth shot off the front of the green and then nearly saved double-bogey except the darn ball stopped three inches short of the cup.

OK, the kids are allowed back in now.

Im posted a final-round 68 for his seventh top-10 finish of the year while Grillo, after a slow-play warning at the turn, recovered from his misadventure at the seventh to salvage an even-par 71.

“Obviously, Scott made a horrible hole there and gave everybody a chance,” said Grillo, who notched his second T-2 finish in his last three starts and five times has been runner-up since his only tour win at the 2015 Fortinet Championship. “But then just Tony pressed really hard on the gas, and he just made it very hard for everybody.”

Finau nearly made it hard on himself at the end just as he found himself, stunningly, in the lead. As he alluded to earlier, he got a huge break on the par-3 17th when he airmailed the green, but his ball caromed off the grandstand and somehow found dry land just two feet from the penalty area. When he tapped in for par, he staggered off the green patting his heart. That escape made his bogey at the 18th hole inconsequential after he blocked his tee ball into the water. Not the prettiest finish, but he’d already staked his claim to the $1.35 million first prize with his rush of birdies.

Tony Finau poses with his wife Alayna and their five children after dad’s victory at TPC Twin Cities. Stacy Revere

Piercy, 43, who either was not interviewed or declined comment after the round, showed a touch of class by giving Finau a congratulatory hug after signing his card. The four-time tour winner had to be content with a consolation prize — a T-4 that enabled him to jump from 138th to 112th in the FedEx Cup standings with two events left in the regular season. That should be enough to make the playoffs for the 13th time in the last 14 years.

Sportsmanship at its finest.@ScottPiercyPGA congratulates @TonyFinauGolf shortly after the win. pic.twitter.com/HLVq8Yh2Wo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 25, 2022

Finau, meanwhile, moved up to 17th in the FedEx Cup standings, 16th in the world and is a lock for the US Presidents Cup team, which was one of his goals for the season. Another was winning again after his playoff victory at last year’s Northern Trust, and he figured his game was trending well when he walked off the Old Course at St Andrews in last week’s Open Championship with a closing 66.

“I made a clutch putt on Friday just to make the cut and then I kind of pushed my way up towards the middle of the pack. I finished 28th last week, but it was like a good 28th,” he said. “Anytime you can do that in a major championship, in a major championship set-up, I think it gives you some confidence.

“I just kind of knew my game was good going into this week. I played about as clean a tournament as I’ve ever played from tee to green. I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens and I stayed patient with my putter. It didn’t go my way a lot, really all week I didn’t make a lot of putts, but when I really needed them today, they fell. Last week, I made a lot of putts on Sunday, and out here, if you want to pick a day that you want putts to fall, Sunday’s probably the best day.”

And Finau finished the day as this week’s best.

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PGA Tour: Leader Scott Piercy has to play 3M Open with one shoe

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 09:30:56 +0000

By Tod Leonard
Blistering is usually a very good thing in professional golf. Scribes and headline writers like to say that someone got off to “blistering start” or that they shot a “blistering 62”. For Scott Piercy on Saturday at 3M Open, the blister was real and the third-round leader was in extreme discomfort.

In one of the stranger sights of this or any other season, Piercy returned from a weather delay of six hours, 38 minutes at TPC Twin Cities and walked with his right shoe in his hand off between shots. He simply kept it untied, hit a shot and removed the shoe. He kept the shoe on when putting.

As on-course commentator Dottie Pepper reported, Piercy, who made five straight birdies on the front nine before the horn sounded for the stoppage, was suffering from a blister on his right heel. He apparently tried to tape it up just before the restart, but was limping noticeably and struggled with mishitting shots. He bogeyed the ninth, but bounced back to birdie the 10th, and Piercy ultimately toughed it out to shoot 66 and own a four-shot lead over Emiliano Grillo.

Pepper wondered on the broadcast why Piercy hadn’t sought treatment earlier to “get it taped up properly”.

The blister couldn’t have come a worse time. It’s been a big week thus far for Piercy, 43, who is battling to keep his card for next sesaon with a current standing of 138th on the FedEx Cup points list. In evidence of what a win can do on the tour, Piercy would vault 92 places to 46th place if he were to prevail on Sunday. He has four career victories on the PGA Tour, the last coming in the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with teammate Billy Horschel. Piercy’s last individual win came seven years ago, in the 2015 Barbasol Championship.

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Three players test positive for COVID-19 after Players Championship

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 02:30:05 +0000

Christian Petersen

By Joel Beall
Gary Woodland, Doc Redman and Scott Piercy are out of the Honda Classic after testing positive for COVID-19.

All three competed in the Players Championship last week, which admitted 20 percent of its maximum spectator capacity last week as professional sports begin to welcome fans back to arenas, stadiums and fields. Piercy played in all four rounds, finishing T-69, while Woodland (70-76) and Redman (73-73) missed the cut.

“Unfortunately, I had to withdraw from the Honda Classic after testing positive for Covid-19,” Woodland wrote on Twitter. “I’m grateful to be feeling good and disappointed to not be in the field this week. I’m working with the tour in regards to safely returning to competition and hope to be back soon.”

The positive test is the latest blow to Woodland. The 2019 U.S. Open champ has missed the cut in six of 11 events this season as he continues to battle back woes, sitting at 169th in the FedEx Cup standings. Redman opened the season with a third-place showing at the Safeway Open and followed up with a fourth-place finish at the Bermuda Championship, but has not finished better than T-61 since November. Piercy also had a strong fall start with three top 25s but has not posted a finish better than T-50 in 2021.

According to the tour, both players are in their self-isolation period under CDC guidelines.

The Honda Classic announced Sebastian Cappelen will take Woodland’s spot in the field, with D.J. Trahan subbing in for Piercy. Kiradech Aphibarnrat will replace Redman in the field.

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U.S. Open 2019: One of the last players in the Pebble Beach field is on the leaderboard

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 22:58:52 +0000

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

By Joel Beall
PEBBLE BEACH—He missed the cut last week at the RBC Canadian Open yet jumped in the Official World Golf Ranking, a beneficiary of that fickle minimum divisor. It wasn’t a substantial vault, in a system that many consider more arbitrary than arithmetic. But it was substantial in the larger sense, as the move earned him a spot into the U.S. Open on Monday.

And on Thursday morning at Pebble Beach, Scott Piercy made the most of his 11th-hour invite.

Piercy turned in a four-under 67, good enough to see his name on the leader board.

“Anytime you can be under par at the U.S. Open is a good thing,” Piercy said. “I got off to kind of a fiery start, which is great, and then tried to hold on there in the middle and tried to make a couple coming in.”

For a short window, it appeared Piercy had something special cooking. The 40-year-old birdied three of his first five holes, then sent a warning shot heard throughout Monterey when he nearly had an albatross on the par-5 sixth, his approach from 216 yards settling a foot from the pin.

“Just hit a flat cut with a hybrid, just let it do what it did, just roll up,” Piercy said. “You don’t want to hit it past that flag. If you miss it pin-high and off the green, it’s a hard chip. Worst case I was trying to land it short and be short, and it just came off perfect.”

He parred the famous seventh, but any aspirations of an Open record were doused at the eighth. His drive found Pebble’s gnarly rough, and his layup failed to find safety, barreling into a bunker some 30 yards short of the green. His sand shot only got halfway home, and he couldn’t get up-and-down for bogey.

Piercy was able to right the ship with pars on the difficult ninth and 10th, and returned to five under thanks to birdies at the 12th and 14th.

Scott Piercy is on ? today at Pebble Beach.

He’s made an eagle and five birdies to lead by two.pic.twitter.com/lgVjLeGT6W

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) June 13, 2019

He even had a look at 65 on the 18th with a 23-footer for bird. Alas, he curiously left that seven feet short, and could not nibble the remaining meat off the bone.

After that lights-out start, a 67 likely fells a tad underwhelming. However, this is the U.S. Open; mistakes are expected, even the self-inflicted ones. The idea is to get in as many jabs as received, and on that front, Piercy has to be happy returning to his corner after Round 1.

Especially given his interesting tour of the course. This week was supposed to put a premium on accuracy; Piercy’s round took that notion and dropped it on its head, hitting just six of 14 fairways.

“The full swing is just a little bit off,” Piercy said, “and I drove it in the rough. And then you’re kind of scrambling from there.”

Scrambled he did. Piercy managed to find 12 greens, boasting a 4.90 strokes gained/approach figure, best of the morning wave.

“One thing I did really good today is leave it on the correct side of the hole,” Piercy said. “So I didn’t really have a lot of downhill sliders, had a couple for par coming down the last stretch. Some of the birdie putts were more up the hill, like right edge putts, something like that. So when I had birdie putts early on I was — I probably had the easier of the birdie putts on the hard ones.”

Despite the missed cut up north—or his 150/1 odds beginning the day—this performance isn’t totally out of left for Piercy. He has six top 10s on the season, highlighted by a T-3 at RBC Heritage and a T-2 at the Byron Nelson. He’s also had success at this venue, finishing T-10 at the AT&T Pro-Am in February.

As well as this tournament. Piercy finished runner-up at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, albeit a distant three strokes. And he entered the weekend at last year’s event in second place, but, playing in one of the final groups, came out on the business end of the USGA’s set-up mistakes, shooting a nine-over 79 on that infamous Saturday afternoon at Shinnecock. Call Thursday’s performance the first step in righting that wrong.

Piercy’s lead didn’t last, Rickie Fowler, Louis Oosthuizen and Xander Schauffele topping him by a shot. And with conditions remaining tame at Pebble Beach, there’s a chance a host of others join the four under or better group. But for a guy who was on the outside looking in just five days ago, it’s an auspicious start.

“The ball-striking needs to be cleaned up a little bit, so I’ll be on the range for a little while,” Piercy said. “But 4-under par the first round of the U.S. Open is—I’ll take that every time.”

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U.S. Open 2018: Dustin Johnson handles the wind at Shinnecock, grabs share of Day 1 lead at one under

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 05:06:16 +0000

SOUTHAMPTON, NY – JUNE 14: Dustin Johnson of the United States waves on the second green during the first round of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 14, 2018 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

By Christopher Powers
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Among the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking in the U.S. Open field, just one posted a round under par on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills. If you went with the chalk pick, you’d be right.

On a brutal day on Long Island, Dustin Johnson stood strong, carding a one-under 69 on a course he had not seen before Monday. He’s tied for the lead with Ian Poulter, Scott Piercy and Russell Henley, the only four men in the 156-player field to break par.

“I’m very pleased with the round,” Johnson said. “Anything under par on this golf course is very good, especially in the conditions we have today. I felt like, you know, from start to finish, it was very difficult.”

Playing alongside Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas, Johnson was the only one of the trio to provide any highlights, none better than his hole-out for birdie from a green side bunker at the par-4 eighth. That shot came two holes after Johnson caught a huge break at the par-4 sixth, where former PGA champ turned TV commentator Rich Beem accidentally stepped on his ball in the thick rough and DJ was given a helpful drop.

“Well, there was [a volunteer] standing there, they watched it bounce in there, and he kind of just stood on the hill and waited for all of us to come up,” he said. “You would think he would go and at least mark kind of the spot where it was.

“Probably should have never even had to come to that. But, yeah, it was—obviously, it was nice for him to find my ball. Even though I did get to drop it. I still played the same kind of shot that I would have played if he wouldn’t have stepped on it.”

After turning in two-under 33, Johnson made birdie at the par-3 11th to get to three under. Bogeys at the 12th and 14th brought him back to the pack, but with more wind in the forecast in the coming days, it’s still a great place to be as the rest of the field has to play catch up.

“Tomorrow is still going to be another difficult day,” Johnson said. “Every day out here is going to be difficult. It’s going to take the same kind of focus, and I’ll have to shoot the same kind of quality golf shots if I want to shoot another good score.”

Poulter, who went off in the morning wave, looked as though he may defy the odds and post a low number, turning in two-under 33 with birdies at the par-4 third and the treacherous par-3 seventh. Even after making his first bogey of the round at the 10th, the Englishman rebounded, making another birdie at a difficult par 3, the 157-yard 11th that played far longer than 157 yards with the buffeting winds. It was a par-3 performance he knows he’ll have trouble matching any of the next three days.

“To post that number today, very pleased, and I played very well, hit some great shots,” Poulter said. “Seven, 11 were obviously highlights of the day. I think, to play those two par 3s in four shots was a big help to, obviously, posting 1 under par.”

At the 13th, Poulter hit a wayward drive that found the thick left rough, a spot that brought a big number into play, especially after he hacked it out and left it in a fairway bunker just 100 yards away. From there he played a deft 50-yard shot that came spinning off the green and back into a green side bunker, where he displayed the resolve we’ve come to know from Poulter and got up-and-down for bogey. He closed with five straight pars, including another impressive sand save at the par-3 17th.

“Scrambling when you are out of position on this golf course is also key, and I did that well,” Poulter said. “I limited the mistakes.”

Henley was one of the very few to reach three under on Thursday, recovering from a bogey at the par-3 second with an eagle at the fifth (his first ever in seven U.S. Open appearances) and birdies at the seventh and eighth holes. Shinnecock’s back nine gave him a bit more trouble, as he made double bogey at the par-4 10th and bogeyed the last to come in at two-over 37. While he’s never had a top 10 in a major, the three-time tour winner knows he can play with anybody.

“I feel good. I also know I’ve got a lot of golf to play,” Henley said. “But I do feel good about my game. I’ve beaten all these guys before. I’ve won out here on tour. Haven’t won a major yet. But I believe in my game, and I just try to stay patient.”

Piercy, who walked off the course during Wednesday’s practice round frustrated with his game, hit 11 of 14 fairways and just nine of 18 greens, but still managed three birdies against two bogeys to grab a share of the lead.

The lone man at even par is Jason Dufner, who has just one top 10 in 17 major championship starts since his victory at the 2013 PGA Championship. His position on the leader board through one round is proof that Shinnecock fits no particular player, as Dufner ranks outside the top 50 in every strokes-gained category on the PGA Tour this season.

Seven players are at one over, including Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, who are each in search of a second major championship.

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U.S. Open 2018: Scott Piercy can thank Instagram for grabbing a share of the lead at Shinnecock

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 04:43:30 +0000

Warren Little/Getty Images

By Ryan Herrington
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Scott Piercy was standing beside the practice area late Thursday morning at Shinnecock Hills, talking to reporters about an opening-round 69 that no one, including the 39-year-old himself, saw coming.

Twenty-four hours earlier Piercy was walking off the dastardly William Flynn course in disgust. He played four practice holes, lost five balls and had a million thoughts running through his head. None of them suggesting he would hold a share of the lead with Ian Poulter halfway through Day 1 at the U.S. Open.

When the rain came Wednesday, Piercy walked off the course knowing he needed a mental reboot. He was a late entry into his seventh U.S. Open, an alternate at the Memphis, Tenn., qualifier who got in when the Shinnecock field was not filled by players off the World Ranking.

But upon getting to eastern Long Island, Piercy, one of the PGA Tour’s underrated ball-strikers, couldn’t find the clubface. “I was skanking it,” Piercy said.

Blunt enough for you?

It was a continuation of a difficult stretch since he and Billy Horschel claimed the title at the Zurich Classic in April. Since then, Piercy had missed two of three cuts, then withdrew from last week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic after shooting a four-over 74 in the first round.

So what happened?

“We went home, ordered some pizzas, pounded some pizza, and just had some fun hanging around the house,” Piercy said. “I just needed some time away because it was—golf’s hard enough as it is, and then we’re at the U.S. Open, so kind of got to back up.”

As his mind started to get right, Piercy got back to business before heading to bed. That involved diving into his Instagram feed and finding some old video when things were clicking.

“I looked at some swings that I posted, positions that I was in, saw some drills I was doing,” Piercy said. “Came out this morning, did [the drills], started hitting it more solid, kind of got a feel for it, you know, and then just ran from there.”

Santa ? brought me a new good swing for Christmas!! Looking forward to 2018 #HiYa got a lil work in with @radargolfpro @summitclubnv #vegasstrong @mandalaybay @netjets @titleist @izod #Lumos @footjoy @scottycameron @mgmresortsintl

A post shared by Scott Piercy (@scottpiercypga) on Dec 26, 2017 at 6:40pm PST

When the winds picked up, and the scores started to rise—he and Poulter were the only two players in the morning wave to shoot rounds of par or better—Piercy held it together. Of course, it’s nice when you roll in an 80-foot putt for birdie on the 12th hole.

“You know, I think my … I lowered my expectations so much yesterday because I had a bad kind of couple days in prep that, you know, I sort of started from the bottom, in my mind,” Piercy said. “Sometimes you have great prep and you’re like, golly, this is good. I can win. And then you go out and do terrible because your expectations get so high. So I think for me and, you know, reset my expectations, and you get these hard conditions, knowing everybody’s going to struggle, those kind of play hand in hand.”

Piercy’s record in Open is mixed at best. He’s missed four cuts in his previous six starts, but finished T-2 at Oakmont in 2016. And he has a memory from that week that might serve as a good omen moving forward.

“I was a little bit struggling with my golf swing Monday, Tuesday,” Piercy said. “Kind of found a little bit on Wednesday. Actually, that was the best ball striking week of my life. So a little bit of a parallel.”

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Lessons learned from the Zurich Classic

Kent Gray — Tue, 01 May 2018 06:06:58 +0000

How a little desperation pushed officials at the long-time PGA Tour event to think differently—and save their tournament

By John Feinstein
The Zurich Classic of New Orleans concluded Sunday with Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy winning the tournament by one stroke over Jason Dufner and Pat Perez. Horschel and Piercy each won a little more than $1 million and earned a two-year PGA Tour exemption.

Next step in the creative brain of tournament director Steve Worthy: Getting the winners into the Masters.

“I’m not saying I think it will happen next year or the year after or perhaps ever,” Worthy said Sunday morning. “But when I brought it up, I didn’t get a flat no or anyone laughing at me. They said, ‘We’ll take a look at it.’ That’s all I can ask.”

A Masters invite for the winners of what is now the tour’s only team event would be a Grand Slam home run for Worthy and his tournament. Even without the Masters though, it is already a home run.

Sunday’s finish marked the second year the tournament has been played as a team event after 59 years as a 72-hole stroke-play event. That was the problem: New Orleans was always a solid tour stop, played on good golf courses. But with a late April date that came when most top players are looking for a post-Masters break, the quality of its field had suffered.

“In 2016, we had four of the top 30 in the World Rankings,” Worthy said. “This year we have six of the top 10, 10 of the top 15 and 18 of the top 30. Players like what we’re doing. We’re going to keep trying to give them something different every year. What it’ll be, I’m not sure. We’ll sit down and talk about it after we’re done this year.”

The first year of team play was a roaring success, players enjoying the idea of a unique format and the chance to partner up with a buddy. This year, Worthy added walk-up music as the players approached the first tee. Who knows what next year might bring.

Regardless, the success in New Orleans has made other tournament directors start to think outside the box. “I’ve heard guys talked about maybe having a mixed team event,” Worthy said—a notion PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said was, ‘only a matter of time,’ on Sunday.

There’s also been talk about another tour event perhaps going to match play. The WGC-Dell Match Play has been a success since launching in 1999. Perhaps some tournament struggling to get players might make the switch if only to break the monotony of one identical 72-hole stroke-play event after another.

The genesis of the idea came on April 19, 2016 at 6:12 a.m. when Andy Pazder, the tour’s executive vice president and director of operations, had, as he called it, “a crazy idea,” while he was drinking his morning coffee.

Pazder texted Jay Monahan, the tour’s commissioner-in-waiting (that’s how he knows the exact time) and wondered about making New Orleans a team event. Monahan suggested running the idea by CAA—the agency that represents Zurich. If the title sponsor didn’t like it, there was no sense going any farther with it.

CAA and Zurich were intrigued. From there, the idea was passed onto Worthy, who would have to execute it going forward—36 holes of best-ball; 36 holes of alternate shot. He also liked it because he knew something had to change or New Orleans might go the way of other PGA Tour events that didn’t have a title sponsor when the Zurich contract was up in 2019.

“When we all got together after the tournament in 2016 we talked the idea around and, at some point it became apparent there was a consensus in the room that this was worth a try,” Worthy said. “We knew it was different. But that’s what we needed.”

To some, the notion was far-fetched. New Orleans was one of the tour’s oldest events. It was actually first played in 1938, went dormant for 10 years in 1948 and has been part of the tour every year now since 1958.

NOLA.com
Worthy believes the Zurich Classic’s renaissance is only just beginning.

“All the reports we were getting back on our execution during the week were excellent,” Worthy said. “The players were all very positive about what we were doing for them. But the fact was we weren’t getting the kind of fields we wanted—or needed. Being realistic, that was an issue.”

Worthy had just finished his fifth year as tournament director in New Orleans. He had spent five years as the operations director at the Memorial and then 15 with the USGA, running the U.S. Open. In 2007, he’d been offered the chance to be a tournament director at Pebble Beach.

“I loved it there,” he said. “I mean, come on, it’s Pebble Beach. The people out there were great to me.”

Which begs the question, why would anyone leave Pebble Beach, one of the tour’s most iconic stops, to take over the struggling event in New Orleans? The answer’s simple. “It was home,” Worthy said. “More than a few people questioned my sanity when I took the job but I was turning 50 and, well, home’s home.”

Worthy grew up outside Baton Rouge, was a decent high school quarterback and went to LSU (not to play football). “My last high school game I threw five interceptions,” he said. “Three were returned for touchdowns. My offensive line didn’t tackle very well.”

The good news when Worthy arrived was that the tournament had a solid sponsor—Zurich, which had come on board in 2005 and was locked in through the 2019 tournament. But as the years on the contract dwindled and the fields didn’t get much better, people began to get a little nervous.

After Brian Stuard won the 2016 event in a playoff over Jaime Lovemark and Byeong Hun An, it was time to seriously consider Pazder’s “crazy idea.”

Once Zurich and the Fore!Kids Foundation (Worthy’s bosses) had signed off, the idea had to be taken to the players, starting with the Players Advisory Board. Pazder brought it up formally at a September PAC 2016 meeting.

“I thought it was entirely possible they’d throw me out of the room,” Pazder said. “By the time the meeting was over, guys were pairing up with one another. That’s how much they liked it.”

John Korduner/Icon SMI/Corbis via Getty Images
So happy with the changes in the tournament, Zurich extended its title sponsorship of the New Orleans event through 2026.

This year’s field had 19 past major champions, including all four current major champions: Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed. It also had past Ryder Cup partners in Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson; Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter; Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar; and Sergio Garcia and Rafael Cabrera-Bello. U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk played with another former Ryder Cupper, David Duval.

From the tournament’s perspective, the best news of the week came on Sunday, when Zurich announced a seven-year contract extension, meaning the tournament is on solid sponsorship ground at least through 2026.

What’s next? The walk-up music this year was a huge success. The pro-am format was also changed this year so that three amateurs played with a two-man team, rather than one pro. The final round of tournament in 2017 was best-ball, this year it was alternate shot.

“The tour and CBS both thought alternate shot the last day would keep more teams in contention,” Worthy said. It can also knock teams out of contention: the tournament lost the Spieth-Ryan Palmer team on Friday when they finished with back-to-back double bogeys in alternate shot to miss the cut by one.

Worthy was asked if he might approach the tour with the idea of putting mics on the players—a long-time tour no-no.

“We’re not going to do anything that takes away from this being conducted like an important PGA Tour event,” Worthy said. “That’s why we checked with a lot of players about the walk-up music.”

He paused. “I will say this, several of our amateurs said they really enjoyed hearing the players talk strategy during the pro-am. But we’d never do anything unless the players and the tour were ok with it.”

A Masters invitation? Micing the players? Out of the question, right? All Worthy can do is ask. He’s already come a long way in just two short years.

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Zurich Classic’s ‘alternate’ ending helps explain Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy’s win

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 06:14:39 +0000

By Brian Wacker
The Zurich Classic did a brilliant thing a year ago when it switched from being just another ho-hum 72-hole stroke-play tournament in a sea of 72-hole stroke-play tournaments to a team format with two days of foursomes and two days of four-balls. The decision paid off so well, in fact, that the field for this year’s event was as strong as it has ever been, and on Sunday the tournament sponsor announced it was extending its deal through 2026.

When it came to walk-up music—another new wrinkle this year—it’s obvious some of the kinks still need to be worked out. The same might have been said about the event’s decision this year to flip-flop the format with foursomes (alternate shot) being played in the second and fourth round, rather than the first and third like they were a year ago. When it comes to playing golf this way, there’s a lot more pressure on the competitors but a lot less opportunity for a comeback with just one ball in play per team.

“When I was first told they switched the format I was against it,” Billy Horschel said. “I said, ‘Why would we do that?’”

On one hand, it would eliminate the kind of fireworks that four-ball can deliver with birdies coming from everywhere. On Saturday while playing four-ball, nine teams shot 63 or better, including that of Horschel and Scott Piercy, who were one of two teams to tally a 61.

There was, of course, a reason behind the change.

“When I thought more about it I was like, ‘You know what? That’s actually really good,’ ” Horschel continued. “Because the better players, better teams, obviously are going to rise on Sunday.”

Horschel reacts to a putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the Zurich Classic that clinched the title for him and Piercy. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Which is what Horschel and Piercy, two close friends whose games play well off each other, did in the final round at TPC Louisiana, combining to shoot a bogey-free 67 to win by one over Jason Dufner and Pat Perez.

Sure, there were a lot more birdies a day earlier, and Horschel and Piercy’s 67 was the lowest score of the final round. But golf is at its best when the best players in the world are under as much pressure as possible.

There’s also a certain poetry to watching one guy hit it to where the other guy can score from, like a perfectly delivered Steph Curry pass to a guy no one else saw open but him that leads to a bucket. It’s equally memorable when the reverse happens. (Who can forget that infamous pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson by Hal Sutton at the 2004 Ryder Cup?)

Horschel, with his draw, strong iron play and good putting, and Piercy, with his fade, equally good iron play and terrific wedges, knew this would be the case.

“We both work with the same stats guy, and I know Scott’s a really great wedge player,” Horschel said afterwards. “He harped on me to get Scotty within 125 of the hole [and] you’re going to have no more than 10 feet.”

It helped, too, that Horschel had won this event before, in 2013 when it was a stroke-play tournament. The now five-time PGA Tour winner felt comfortable not just with the format but the course and that helped Piercy relax more in the final round.

Of course, the switch didn’t work quite as well for others.

“You just never really get into a rhythm,” Charl Schwartzel said. “Louis [Oosthuizen] came to me on No. 12, he said to me he’s only hit two iron shots for the whole day. I said to him, ‘Well, I’ve only hit two putts.’ So all of sudden it’s your turn to start hitting iron shots and putts, you don’t have a feel for the rhythm, the round, which makes it difficult.”

And they shot 68 with four birdies to open the back nine but finished two back.

“The hard part about playing foursomes on the last day is you don’t really get into a rhythm and a feel for the golf course,” Schwartzel continued. “On the 13th hole was only the third time I putted, so I had no real feel for the greens. And similarly, only two iron shots [for him] by number 12. It just worked out that way.”

It also worked out just fine for Horschel and Piercy. So did another outside-the-box decision by the tournament, which again proved fascinating to watch down the stretch. But the performance of Horschel and Piercy and the symphony of shots between them was perhaps best summed up by two other guys trying to catch them.

“We didn’t lose it, we got beat,” Perez said. “They played phenomenal, so hats off to ‘em. They did what they were supposed to.”

Added Dufner: “I’ve never lost an alternate-shot match in any of the team matches, so it‘s a good setup for me. Alternate shot I always feel good. Trying to chase these guys down all day, they didn‘t lose a tee all day, and that‘s pretty tough in alternate shot.”

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Billy Horschel, Scott Piercy card Sunday bogey-free 67 in alternate shot to win at TPC Louisiana

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 05:51:32 +0000

AVONDALE, LA – APRIL 29: Billy Horschel reacts with teammate Scott Piercy on the 18th hole after putting in to win during the final round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on April 29, 2018 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By Christopher Powers
If you only watched Billy Horschel’s emotional reactions on Sunday, you would have never known that he and teammate Scott Piercy were putting together the most impressive round of the week. But that’s what the duo did in the final round’s alternate-shot format, carding a five-under 67 at TPC Louisiana to overcome a three-shot deficit and win the Zurich Classic.

The fiery Horschel and the more laid-back Piercy proved a winning combo, playing 36 holes of the best ball in 18 under and 36 holes of alternate shot in four under. For Horschel, it was his second start in the event’s new team format, having missed the cut a year ago with fellow University of Florida alum Matt Every. Piercy was making his first appearance alongside his good friend. It helped him earn his fourth PGA Tour victory and his first since the 2015 Barbasol Championship.

“We’re excited, I’m excited, I’m still kind of like, ‘is it over?’” Piercy said. “My partner was awesome this week. He had some huge shots, some great chip shots, up-and-downs. I’m glad I didn’t have to hit them. Unfortunately, I put him in that spot, but he sacked up big all week and hit some really big shots, hats off to him.”

Piercy produced plenty as well, living up to his No. 1 ranking in the PGA Tour strokes-gained/approach-the-green statistic and often setting Horschel up with short birdie looks. At the first hole on Sunday, Piercy knocked an approach shot to five feet, leading to a Horschel birdie conversion, and they quickly added another birdie at the par-5 second, swinging the momentum in their favour early on.

“I know Scott’s a really good wedge player,” Horschel said. “We both work with the same stats guy, and he harped on me. He said, ‘Hey, get Scott. Within 125 yards of the hole, you’re going to have no worse than 10 feet.’ So every time I put him close, within 125 yards, he always hit it within 10 feet, which was nice.”

At the 72nd hole, facing a 23-footer for birdie to end any hopes for those chasing them, Horschel nearly buried it, leaving Piercy with a testy three-footer for the par that he just snuck in on the left edge.

“It went in the hole, it went in the hole,” Horschel said, jokingly. “He’s been putting great. You know he’s been struggling the last couple months with the putter. He actually putted well the last few days. Tried to make it real simple, hit the putt here and just trust your stroke and that’s all he did.”

When Piercy’s putt fell, it gave Horschel his fifth career tour win, and his second at the Zurich Classic. The first came in 2013 when it was still an individual event and was Horschel’s first career tour victory.

“It means a lot. You know Scott’s had injuries the last year that he’s had to overcome. My game hasn’t been great in the last year even though I did win at the Byron, so, we’ve both put in a lot of hard work on our game,” Horschel said. “So it’s nice to see the validation. It’s something Scott was talking about earlier, validate all the hard work, that you’re doing the right things, and sometimes the results just don’t show and it’s frustrating, especially for me. I’m a perfectionist. I feel like I if I put in a ton of work on it I expect the results to show and when they don’t I get a little frustrated.

“It’s nice to see the results finally show up.”

After Piercy’s strong 2016 season that included a T-2 in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, the Las Vegas native struggled in 2017, missing six of his last nine cuts before his season was cut short in June due to injuries. He got back into the mix this fall and has been quietly playing well, making 10 of his 13 cuts and finishing inside the top 25 seven times.

“I was hurt the last half of the year, some struggles and stuff, so to get back is nice and to do it with a good friend is even better. Looking forward to the rest of the year,” Piercy said.

Finishing one-stroke back were Jason Dufner and Pat Perez, who shot a four-under 68 and had a 13-footer for birdie to tie at the 72nd but came up just short. The second-place finish is Dufner’s best showing of the season, and it comes after a pair of missed cuts at the Masters and the RBC Heritage. For Perez, it’s another good result that adds to an already strong year that has included a victory and three top-10s.

“We played pretty well. We got off to a slow start the first two days. We did our best. Disappointed to leave the last putt short. You want to get that one at least to the hole to give a chance, but the other guys played a little better today,” Dufner said.

“Duf played great all day. I didn’t really help him all this week too much. You know, it’s always nice to be in the mix to try to get a win,” Perez said. “Billy and Scott just played phenomenal. Didn’t make any mistakes. Made the saves they had to. We missed a couple putts. It’s a fun week. I love playing with Duf. You know, it was nice being there.”

The South African duo of Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen finished in solo third at 20-under 268.

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The clubs Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy used to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 05:45:37 +0000

AVONDALE, LA – APRIL 28: Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy react to their putts on the 18th hole during the third round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on April 28, 2018 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By E. Michael Johnson
In team golf, the short game usually plays a huge role in either establishing or keeping momentum and that held true for Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy in winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. After riding the momentum provided by Scott Piercy’s opening-hole hole out Saturday, Billy Horschel hit a solid wedge shot on the 10th to tap-in birdie range and then a key pitch shot on the 11th to kick-in territory for another birdie to put them in position to win the title. A solid eight-foot par save putt by Horschel on the 17th helped maintain their one-stroke cushion over Jason Dufner and Pat Perez.

Piercy’s wedges are Titleist Vokey SM6 for his gap and sand wedge and a TVD 63-degree lob wedge. TVD stands for “Tour Van Design,” as many of the shape’s are derived directly from tour player feedback and done on site at tour events. Typically the TVD shape is lower in the heel area with a more rounded toe.

Horschel’s wedges are PXG’s milled 0311T model with his 52- and 57-degree wedges featuring the Sugar Daddy sole. The sole, inspired by Lydia Ko, has a moderate initial bounce angle with a blended sole design. His 61-degree boasts the Zulu sole, which is based on Zach Johnson’s specs. It features a bounce just off the leading edge with plenty of heel and toe relief and is designed to be used off firm, tight turf such as that seen nearly weekly on the PGA Tour. Also of note is that Horschel is using a prototype PXG driver and the company’s new 0311T Gen2 irons

The equipment used by Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Billy Horschel

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: PXG XXF, (Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 4), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: PXG 0341X, 15 degrees
5-wood: PXG 0341, 18 degrees
Irons (3, 5-PW): PXG 0311T Gen2
Wedges: PXG 0311T Sugar Daddy (52, 57 degrees); PXG 0311T Zulu Raw (61 degrees)
Putter: PXG Mustang

Scott Piercy
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Titleist 917D2 (Accra Tour Z), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 917F2, 16.5 degrees
Hybrid: Titleist 816H1, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist 716 AP2; (5-9): Titleist 680; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM6
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM6 (53, 57 degrees); Titleist TVD (63 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T2

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