By Christopher Powers
Google is your friend, as the saying goes. Marc Leishman must have heard that one before, because the well-known search engine came up clutch for the Big Aussie this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Leishman, who will be playing with fellow countryman Cameron Smith at TPC Louisiana, is seemingly just as intoxicated by his partner’s new luscious locks as the rest of us. For those unaware, the 27-year-old Aussie has been growing out a “filthy” mullet for much of 2021, one complemented by an equally filthy moustache.

Inspired by Smith’s mullet, Leishman took to Google and literally typed in “mullet songs” in the hopes of finding some walk-up music the team can play this week, which is apparently still a thing at the Zurich Classic. What Leish found was almost too on the nose.

“It’s actually funny, Leish found this song or looked up a song and he’s already entered it … I didn’t even get a choice,” said Smith. “It’s called ‘The Mullet Song.’ So we’re going to be rocking that going to the first tee. And maybe a few other surprises. So it will be good fun.”

More surprises?! Tuxedo t-shirts? Fedoras? We can dream.

Leishman explained how it all came about. “Back story was Google. Mullet songs,” he said. “I can’t remember who sings it. I should have looked that up. But, yeah, I don’t know, it just sounded like a good ‘you go’ song. It’s pretty funny and very true, particularly in Cam’s case. So, yeah, it’s going to be … I think that the walk-up music is something different, I think it’s fun, you’ve got to try and make it fun and embrace it. And I think we’ll do that and yeah try and enjoy ourselves, get the day started off on the right foot and go from there.”

There you have it. I guess the only thing left to do now is to hit the damn music:

The post Marc Leishman literally Googled ‘mullet songs’ to find walk-up music for him and Cam Smith at the Zurich Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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.”

RELATED: The clubs Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy used to win the Zurich Classic

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.

The post Billy Horschel, Scott Piercy card Sunday bogey-free 67 in alternate shot to win at TPC Louisiana appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The duo from China was atop the leaderboard when the second round began thanks to a 12-under 60 on Thursday, matching Lucas Glover and Chez Reavie for the low round of the tournament. On Friday though, they went as far in the opposite direction as you could possibly go, carding an eight-over 80 to miss the cut:

After being the last group out yesterday evening in New Orleans, Dou and Zhang had a rough Friday morning. 60-80. pic.twitter.com/mfvT0hlJ3n

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) April 27, 2018

On the front nine, Dou and Zhang actually kept it somewhat together, shooting a two-over 38 that included a birdie at the par-4 eighth. If they thought that would get them going in the right direction, they were mistaken, as they proceeded to bogey five of their first six holes on the back nine before righting the ship again with a birdie at the par-4 16th. At that point, they were safely inside the cut line at six under, but disaster struck at the par-3 17th when they double-bogeyed from just over the back of the green:

That’s alternate shot in a nutshell right there. Normally, you’d bet that either Zhang or Dou would get up-and-down for par on their own from just off the green, but with the extra added pressure of needing to come up big for your teammate, it leads to holes like that.

The post How did the first-round co-leaders at the Zurich Classic actually miss the cut? That’s what happens when you go 60-80 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.