Cantlay & Schauffele win Zurich Classic at record 29 under
AVONDALE, La., April 25, (AP): Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele held off Sam Burns and Billy Horschel by two strokes in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to complete a recordsetting, wire-to-wire victory.
Cantlay and Schauffele closed with an even-par-72 in late afternoon showers in the alternate-shot final round to finish at 29-under 259 at breezy TPC Louisiana, two shots ahead of Burns and Horschel.
The Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup partners broke the tournament record of 27 under set by Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Jonas Blixt-Cameron Smith in 2017, the first year the event was as a team event. Cantlay and Schauffele are the first wire-to-wire winners since the tournament adopted the team format.
Cantlay and Schauffele opened with a record 59 in best-ball play Thursday, shot 68 on Friday in alternate shot and had a 60 in best ball Saturday to shatter the tournament 54-hole record and open a five-shot lead.
Burns, the local favorite who played at LSU, and Horschel closed with a 68. Doc Redman and Sam Ryder were third at 24 under after a 67.
Cantlay, the defending FedExCup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year, won his seventh tour title and first since the Tour Championship in September. He won a week after losing a playoff to Jordan Spieth in the RBC Heritage.
Schauffele won for the fifth time. He last won at the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
In Los Angeles, Nasa Hataoka ran away with DIO Implant LA Open at Wilshire Country Club to open the LPGA Tour’s two-week run in the Los Angeles area.
Four strokes ahead entering the round after Jin Young Ko’s late meltdown Saturday, Hataoka closed with a 4-under 67 for a five-stroke victory over Hannah Green.
Hataoka finished at 15-under 269, a stroke off the tournament record set last year by Brooke Henderson. The 23-year-old Japanese player won her sixth LPGA Tour title a week after missing the cut in the windy LOTTE Championship in Hawaii with rounds of 75 and 77.
The Palos Verdes Championship begins Thursday at Palos Verdes Estates.
After seven straight pars, Hataoka put the tournament away on the par-4 15th when she raced in a 35-foot eagle putt to open a six-stroke lead. She played the first seven holes in 3 under with four birdies and a bogey. Green finished with a 68.
The top-ranked Ko, tied for lead with Hataoka with three holes left Saturday before a bogey-quadruple bogey-birdie finish left her five strokes back, had a 75 to tie for 21st at 2 under.
In Irving, Texas, Scott Parel twoputted for birdie on the par-5 18th hole for a 6-under 65, and then won the inaugural ClubCorp Classic with a par on the same hole in a playoff for his second PGA Tour Champions title.
Parel won a three-man playoff at Las Colinas over Steven Alker and Gene Sauers, who both went into the hazard on the closing hole and failed to make par.
Sauers birdied his last two holes in regulation for a 63.
Alker played the final eight holes in 1 over for a 68. He missed an 8-foot birdie putt in regulation for the win and joined the playoff at 11-under 202.
On the first extra hole, Alker had a long iron from a good lie in the rough but it came out heavy and into the water. He took a penalty drop and couldn’t get up and down. Sauers went into the rocks on his second shot. He took a penalty drop and missed an 8-foot putt that would have extended the playoff.
In La Pineda, Spain, Pablo Larrazabal made six birdies in a seven-hole stretch around the turn and closed with an 8-under 62 for a one-shot victory in the ISPS Handa Championship.
Larrazabal won for he seventh time on the European tour, and the first time in his native Spain.