As on the first three days of the Zurich Classic 2022, the team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele led at the end of the final round on Sunday and thus achieved the first victories of the 2021/22 PGA Tour season.
It was more interesting than I thought for the -800 favorites going into Sunday five shots ahead. After shooting 59-68-60 for the first three days, they made Eagle on Sunday in 7th place in alternate take to get -31 for the week and it looked completely over. But bogeys in 9th-10th place successively cut their lead over the team of Sam Burns and Billy Horschel to just one and the chase began.
Cantlay and Schauffele played the rest of the way in an uneventful tie by the end of the day and 29 under for the week, beating Burns and Horschel – and their heroic performance on Sunday – by two, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed like on Saturday night when this Ryder Cup duo galloped out in front of a surprisingly strong field.
It could go down in history because on paper it will look like a loss, but topping this tournament for four straight days is extraordinarily difficult, even for the co-favourites coming into the week. That’s the most impressive part of a stunning performance that included 27 birdies, three eagles and a new tournament record two shots.
The Cantlay-Schauffele partnership has, perhaps improbably, become a fixture in professional golf. From the Presidents Cup in 2019 where they won 2-2-0, to the Ryder Cup in 2021 where they won 2-0-0 in interplay, to this tournament last year when they finished T11, up to this year’s championship, it seems they really enjoy playing together as much as they enjoy being together. That’s rare in professional golf and even more so at the highest level with two players ranked in the top 12 in the world.
“Today was a great day,” Cantlay told CBS Sports after the event. “We definitely bring out the best in each other and we really enjoy being out there together. In a format like this, it’s the best.”
While their exploits at the Ryder Cup last September were deservedly applauded, perhaps the best current pairing in the world deserved a trophy of their own. And after four consecutive rounds in which they led an event with 10 of the top 20 players in the field, they earned one at the Zurich Classic 2022 with an incredible performance that was even more impressive than it looks.
Here are the remaining notes for the Zurich Classic 2022.
2. Sam Burns/Billy Hoerschel (-27): Burns and Horschel picked the wrong week to get hot. The SEC duo finished ahead of the rest of the field three times but still lost to Cantlay and Schauffele with back-to-back losses. Their Sunday run, cutting it to one early on in the back nine, was a thrill – one we weren’t guaranteed in Sunday’s final round – and they’ve now finished T4 and solo second in two appearances at the tournament. Two players who are underestimated as individuals and perhaps even more so as a team. Rating: A+
T5. Will Zalatoris/Davis Riley (-23): This is the pairing I almost chose before going back to Horschel and Burns (which turned out to be wise). They were solid for the first three days but blew the doors away on Sunday with a 66 in an alternative shot that included birdies on the last two holes and no bogeys at all. In fact, Zlatoris and Riley only managed one bogey all week (which is exceptional considering half the competition is made up of alternate shots). This earns Riley some invaluable FedEx Cup points and puts him in the top 40 with only half the season remaining. Class: A
T18. Scottie Scheffler/Ryan Palmer (-18): The Masters champion had a lovely continuation of his performance in the green jacket, but this duo struggled too much with alternate shots to ever really make it into the mix. After a 72 on Friday, they only shot a 1-under-71 in the same format on Sunday. While their game was strong with best ball, a complete lack of movement in the harder format meant they were over 10 down on the lead on Sunday afternoon. Of course, this doesn’t tell the whole story for a single player, and I’m more interested in what Scheffler does at his next stroke play event than where he ended up paired with Palmer this week. Grade B
T28. Viktor Hovland/Collin Morikawa (-16): Considering their status as co-favourites this week and the fact that both are in the top five in the official golf world rankings, a finish outside the top 20 must be seen as a disappointment for Hovland and Morikawa. I was expecting a little less than 65 in each of the best ball rounds since they have the same propensity to make birdies (both rank in the top 6 on the PGA Tour by birdie percentage or better), and while 2 below overall not bad in the alternate shot, it would never be anywhere near good enough to contend for this tournament. I’m all for them continuing to play together because I enjoy watching them both play golf and I think when their short games are really hot they pack as much or more firepower than Cantlay and Shovel. grade B-
T36. Jay Haas/Bill Haas (-12): It was a great week for Team Haas, who made the cut and made the elder Haas (Jay), at 68, the oldest player in PGA Tour history to play an event that weekend. Golf is the best sport in the world for a number of reasons, but the fact that a father-son combo can compete in an event when the son is almost 40 years old tops the list. Rating: A+