Horschel, Piercy finish first at Zurich Classic
AUTO RACING: Joey Logano ended a nearly yearlong losing streak, winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. The victory was his first since April 30, 2017 at Richmond and third at Talladega. Kurt Busch was second. Season points leader Kyle Busch finished 13th . ... Defending Formula One champ Lewis Hamilton took over the lead in the season standings with a win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan. Hamilton holds a four-point advantage over Sebastian Vettel.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: C Ike Obiagu will transfer from Florida State. The 7-foot freshman from Nigeria led the Seminoles in blocked shots with 71. He averaged 2.3 points and 2.6 rebounds.
GOLF: Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy won the Zurich Classic team event in Avondale, La., closing with a bogey-free 5-under 67 in alternate-shot play to finish at 22-under 266 and edge Jason Dufner and Pat Perez by a stroke. Dufner had a 14-foot putt for the tie on 18, but he left it a foot short. Horschel became a two-time winner at TPC Louisiana. He captured his first PGA Tour title at the 2013 Zurich Classic when it was a traditional every-man-for-himself event . ... Lydia Ko hit a 3-wood to 3 feet for eagle to finish off Minjee Lee on the first hole of a playoff at the LPGA event in Daly City, Calif. It was the 15th career title for Ko, but her first since July 2016. Ko fired a 1-under 71 in the final round to finish regulation tied with Lee (68) at 12-under 276, four clear of four players . ... Alexander Bjork of Sweden shot a final-round 65 to claim a one-stroke victory at the China Open in Beijing. Bjork finished at 18-under 270 for his first career European Tour title. Adrian Otaegui of Spain (67) was second.
SOCCER: Lionel Messi recorded a hat trick and Philippe Coutinho also scored as Barcelona clinched its third La Liga title in the last four seasons with a 4-2 road victory over Deportivo La Coruna. Unbeaten Barca holds an insurmountable 11-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid, which beat visiting Alaves 1-0. It’s Barca’s seventh league title in 10 seasons and 25th overall . ... Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said he expects Romelu Lukaku to play against Chelsea in the FA Cup final May 19 at Wembley Stadium in London despite Lukaku exiting United’s 2-1 Premier League victory over visiting Arsenal with a foot injury.
TENNIS: Rafael Nadal continued his dominance on clay with a 6-2, 6-1 win over 19-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Barcelona Open. The top-ranked Spaniard, who won his 11th Barcelona title a week after winning his 11th Monte Carlo title, earned his 19th straight victory on clay. The 63rd-ranked Tsitsipas was trying to become the first player from Greece to win an ATP Tour title . ... Karolina Pliskova fired 11 aces in a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over CoCo Vandeweghe to win the Stuttgart Open. The sixth-seeded Czech claimed her first WTA title of the season and 10th of her career. Vandeweghe, a wild-card entry who defeated defending champ Laura Siegemund and three top-10 players including world No. 1 Simona Halep en route to the final, was trying to become the first American winner in Stuttgart since 2005.
AVONDALE, La. When Scott Piercy tried to deflect credit to Billy Horschel for their nervetesting, one-shot victory in the Zurich Classic team event, Horschel grinned and went with it.
“I’d like to thank myself for playing well this week,” Horschel began with a laugh. “No, it was great to play with Scott. Our games match up well. We are really good ball-strikers. We think the same way. I don’t have to worry about him making a bad decision.”
Playing in the same group as Jason Dufner and Pat Perez — who trailed by a mere stroke for the final seven holes — Horschel and Piercy calmly executed one pressure-packed shot after another Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 5-under 67 in alternate shot play that was just good enough.
“All four of us are really great friends. We were chatting it up the entire day— toward the end of the round, a little less,” Horschel said. “You’re going to be anxious, nervous. You’re heart’s going to be racing a little bit, but that says you’re alive. It says you’re alive and in the spot you want to be.”
Horschel became a twotime winner at TPC Louisiana. He captured his maiden PGA Tour triumph at the 2013 Zurich Classic when it was a traditional everyman-for-himself event. His popularity with the crowd was evident with the ovation he receiving approaching the 18th green. He said he loves New Orleans and has close friends in the city.
“I just feel at home here,” Horschel said. “Maybe I should look into buying a house here, but what are the state income taxes? That’s the issue.”
Especially if he keeps playing the way he has lately, having finished tied for fifth at the RBC Heritage two weeks earlier.
Horschel and Piercy surged into the lead with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes. They followed that with seven straight pars. After Horschel narrowly missed a 23-foot birdie putt on 18 that was reminiscent of the one he sank to win on the same green five years ago, Dufner stood over a 14-foot putt for the tie. He left it a foot short.
“Last putt, I didn’t get aggressive with it. Just didn’t quite get speed matched up like I wanted to,” Dufner said before complimenting Horschel on Piercy on how hard they were to chase down. “They didn’t lose a tee all day — and that’s pretty tough in alternate shot.”
This was the second year of the Zurich’s switch to a two-player team format.
The victory was Horschel’s fifth and Piercy’s fourth. They each earned $1.04 million and 400 FedExCup points.
The result did not count toward the world ranking.
A year ago, the Zurich format called for best-ball play in the second and final rounds, with alternate-shot on the first and third. But organizers decided this year to flip that so the final round would have the alternateshot format, with one player hitting the tee shots on even-numbered holes and the other on odd numbers. That set the stage for substantial moves up or down the leaderboard; players had less margin for error and no choice but the play the lies their teammates left them on the previous shot.
Horschel liked the change because “the better players, the better teams obviously are going to rise on Sunday. It’s a lot more volatility. I felt the way we played — how good of ballstrikers we are — I felt like we could really make up a lot of ground.”