Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, as well as Sean O’Hair and Brandon Matthews, each scored an 11-under 61 on Thursday in the Four-ball format to tie for the lead with one shot after the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
O’Hair, 40, has four PGA TOUR victories, with the most recent in 2011. Matthews, 28, has never placed better than 35th in a race.
Matthews’ eagle on the 12th par-4 hole served as the highlight of their round, and even the entire day.
He hit a 313-yard drive into the fairway before scoring another 135-yard wedge.
” Sean played a fairly stress-free round of golf by himself, which relieved a lot of my burden. I could press my attack a little,” stated Matthews.
At the TPC Louisiana, Hossler scored seven of the 11 birdies that Clark and Hossler together made.
Hossler, 28, and Clark, 29, both have several top 20 finishes this season despite neither having a PGA TOUR title to their credit.
The Valspar Championship’s fifth-place holder was Clark while Hossler finished the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the eleventh position.
“Our games work well together. We both have strong short games and putters, and I tend to fade the ball while he tends to draw it. So, it’s a good combination.” Clark stated.
Fresh off winning the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina, last weekend, Matt Fitzpatrick and his younger brother Alex combined for a 62 and their team tied with four other teams.
“To be fair, I have enjoyed myself as much as I possibly could on the golf course during the past four days,” said Matt Fitzpatrick.
Sungjae Im and Keith Michell, David Lipsky and Aaron Rai, Luke List and Henrik Norlander, and Michael Kim and Seung-yul Noh all managed to shoot 62. Prior to the competition changing into a team event, Noh won at the TPC Louisiana in 2014.
With an eagle and seven birdies, Rai supported his squad in the competition.
Along with Sahith Theegala and Justin Suh, six teams were two shots back. On a dry, sunny, windy day, more than a dozen eagles were made across the field. Theegala made two par 5s on the seventh and 18th holes. On the ninth par-3, Theegala also made a 69-foot birdie from the fringe.
Former Wake Forest player Alex Fitzpatrick, 24, turned pro in June and primarily competes on the Challenge Tour in Europe. He required a sponsor exemption in order to compete in Zurich, which the competition’s administrators gladly provided in order to guarantee the participation of his 28-year-old brother, the reigning U.S. Open winner.
With a victory, Alex, who might obtain a PGA TOUR card, performed admirably on the 7,425-yard Pete Dye-designed course outside of New Orleans’ cypress swamps.
Alex recorded three straight birdies during their final five holes, giving the Fitzpatrick brothers a total of five birdies between them.
“He saved me a few times and played fantastically on the back nine,” said Matt Fitzpatrick.
For Friday’s second round of play, the more difficult Foursomes format is used. Following the cut, the third round will be played in a four-ball format once more, and the final round will be played in foursomes once more.
16 teams, including the Sam Burns and Billy Horschel combination, shot a 64. Two strokes behind the winner at the Zurich last year were Burns and Horschel.
Burns twice made par-5 greens, on the seventh and the eighteenth holes, respectively. But he failed on both of his eagle putts. The consolidation of their eight birdies was through Horschel’s 30-foot putt.
“Although it was a fantastic round, it was also frustrating. We didn’t really make many putts, aside from Billy’s on the third. I believe we did better in gameplay than shooting.” Burns said.
Patrick Cantlay, the defending champion, and Xander Schauffele got off to a poor start. On their final four holes, though, they alternated bogeys and birdies to finish at 5-under.
