Blixt-Smith tandem widens lead at windy Zurich Classic
AVONDALE, LA. >> Jonas Blixt of Sweden and Cameron Smith of Australia apparently are enjoying playing as teammates too much to be unsettled by wind gusts reaching 36 miles per hour.
The pair extended their bogey-free run to three rounds in the new team format at the Zurich Classic, deftly adjusting to winds that unsettled many other PGA Tour pros and posting a 4-under 68 Saturday to widen their lead to four strokes.
“It’s like going back to playing as a kid,” the 33-year-old Blixt said. “I don’t feel like there’s any stress at all out there.”
Alternating shots on Saturday, as teams did in the first round, the BlixtCameron partnership posted four birdies to improve to 19-under, building on a lead that stood at one shot through two rounds. They are the only team without a bogey.
“Feels like back in the amateur days,” Smith said of playing in the first team event held on the PGA Tour since 1981, about 12 years before he was born. “It’s just nice to go out there and relax and have some fun.”
The Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Nick WatneyCharley Hoffman teams were tied for second. Also in contention are Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer, five shots behind — although they could have been several shots closer if not for some uncharacteristic misses of short putts by both players.
Spieth missed a 3-footer for birdie on the par-5 18th, wasting Palmer’s well-executed 86-yard approach shot. Throughout the round, Spieth was among players backing away from shots when they sensed a gust building and said the wind affected putting “significantly.”
“When you get a putt where the wind is blowing one way and you’ve got the grain the other, and the hill back with the wind, you just have no idea what that putt is going to do,” Spieth said. “If it gusts or doesn’t gust when you’re over it, it affects the putt by an entire cup, even from 6 or 7 feet. It’s really a guessing game.”