Tag: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Steve Stricker says some LIV golfers want to come back to PGA Tour; are player transfers an option?

The golf conversation continues to be dominated by the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift.

TUCSON, Ariz. — While player movement at the top level of men’s professional golf usually involves LIV recruiting yet another PGA Tour player, Steve Stricker said he knows that some LIV golfers want to return to the PGA Tour.

“I know that for a fact,” he said Thursday after his pro-am round ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club. “And so it’s kind of a wait and see game.”

With much of the golf conversation dominated by the rift, there doesn’t see to be much oxygen left to talk about the other tours but players on the PGA Tour Champions are paying attention to the goings-on in the world of professional golf.

“Of course I’m very interested in what happens,” said Stewart Cink, who turned 50 last year but still plays on both PGA Tour circuits. “I hope that we can get back together as like one sport in golf, but it’s a complex situation.”

With the PGA Tour holding a big-money signature event at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and LIV Golf playing for a fourth time in 2024 in Hong Kong, the Champions circuit is about to stage the first of three straight West Coast events.

“Ultimately, I hope someday we all can play nice together again and have the best players in the world playing and competing against one another,” said Stricker. “I think that day will come and I think there will be some circumstances, you know, where those guys that left are going to have to do something, I don’t know, a penalty of some sort, I don’t know what that means. I hope some day it all comes back together and the guys are playing all together again.”

Whether the rival tours coexist, merge or simply allow some crossover, many feel that there should be no easy path back to the PGA Tour for those who left.

“I wouldn’t let the LIV guys come right back, I don’t think. I think there needs to be some way of, you know, just another way to say thanks for the guys that didn’t leave and just kind of abandon our standards and rules,” Cink said. “I think there needs to be some form of like delayed, I don’t know if it’s delaying some of their performance bonuses or if it’s some kind of a suspension that maintains itself, I don’t know exactly, but something.”

Big names on the PGA Tour leaving for LIV Golf is having a ripple effect on the Champions tour.

“It’s unfortunate, because when [Phil] Mickelson came out, it was a jolt for our tour and it was great,” David Toms, the defending champion of the Cologuard Classic, said during a media day Monday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, for the upcoming Galleri Classic.

Mickelson won his first two – and four of his first six – starts on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 but seven months after rolling in a birdie putt on the 18th hole at Phoenix Country Club to end that season, he was off to London for the first-ever LIV Golf event.

“And so then all of the sudden he’s not a part of us anymore. So that’s unfortunate,” Toms said.

The drain of veteran golfers with name recognition means the Champions circuit also lost out on Lee Westwood, who turned 50 in April of 2023 and it won’t be able to welcome Ian Poulter, who turned 48 in January 2024, nor Henrik Stenson, who turns 48 this April, in the coming years. The PGA Tour losing a bit of name recognition eventually means a weakened Champions tour.

As long as the PGA Tour and LIV exist, perhaps there’s some middle ground that can be found.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth. I played (Mexico Open) there on the PGA Tour a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure they would have loved to have Abraham Ancer play. So I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways,” said Padraig Harrington, who compared the situation to the rivalry the PGA Tour used to have with the European Tour. “When the European Tour is in Spain this year, we would love to have Jon Rahm play the Spanish Open. I’m not against a small amount of transfer of players playing events and maybe a couple of invites going each direction. Maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not.

“But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

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Padraig Harrington insists his instructional videos can get ‘every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap’

“It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.”

TUCSON, Ariz. — For golf nerds, Padraig Harrington is a must follow on social media.

If you watch his instructional videos enough, you might even get really good at the game.

“I should be able to get every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap. I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” Harrington said after his pro-am round at La Paloma Country Club, host venue for this week’s Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’ve always liked coaching,” he said, his words coming from a place of truly trying to help the “weekend warriors” get better as this difficult game. Harrington started making videos during the COVID shutdown. He was actually kept from traveling home to Ireland for several months during 2020, so he just kept playing golf but he also started pointing the cellphone camera towards himself to create content that just might help someone out there learn the game.

Cologuard: Steve Stricker says ‘it’s fun thinking about’ pairing up with Tiger Woods for team event in New Orleans

“I tried to post a video every day, then obviously we expanded to now doing it on YouTube on Paddy’s Golf Tips. It’s enjoyable. It’s a great way to get access to the public directly.”

Chris DiMarco, a five-year veteran of the Champions circuit, says it’s “fun watching them and it’s not just something he’s doing to be funny.”

But is it realistic to turn Joe Sixpack, who goes through two sleeves of balls each round, into a single-digit handicapper?

“I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” he insists. “It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.

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“When I say it’s not that hard, there’s some simple things you can do to get there and that’s what my videos are mainly focused on. I’m really just trying to help the weekend warrior get to a level where if you’re a single figure golfer, you can walk into any clubhouse with your chest expanded. It’s a level of achievement.”

Shedding bad habits is one thing. So is ignoring the so-called tips that everyone has heard.

“When it comes to golf, people who come to golf, especially athletes who come to golf, they seem to have some crazy ideas about keeping your head still or keeping your head down or swinging slowly. God, they’re like 100 percent, I think, it won’t be 100 percent, but 99 percent of golfers would be better off doing the exact opposite of what they think would be better. Just swing away, that’s probably the best advice you could give. You’ll just get used to it and time it after that rather than to try and get good too quick, too early.

“We could talk about this all day,” he said.

His playing competitors sometimes notice, too. Harrington says he was stopped by a Champions tour colleague Thursday morning about a recent video.

“I was literally walking out the door, the pro said it was really helping him,” he said before continuing his thoughts in instructor mode. “I just did a recent one with stepping in your swing, try and get the proper sequence in at the movements. Remember, I said movements. You don’t stay still when you’re swinging a golf club, you’ve got to move.

“I’m not trying to make these lessons for my fellow pros,” he added. “I’m trying to make them, as I said, for beginners and people who are kind of stuck in the game, who aren’t improving and trying to get them across that threshold of, you know, being able to break 80, be a single-figure golfer.”

Steve Stricker says ‘it’s fun thinking about’ pairing up with Tiger Woods for team event in New Orleans

So, what if Stricker formally asked Tiger, might he accept?

TUCSON, Ariz. — Tiger Woods has already made it known he’s facing a future of playing a limited schedule of the majors, the Genesis and probably the signature events when he can.

But what about the lone team event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, alongside good buddy Steve Stricker?

Stricker floated the idea on a recent Golf Digest podcast, saying he’s a “huge Tiger fan, and I want to see him playing as much as he can.”

He then floated out an amazing prospect.

“I thought about asking him to see if he wanted to play in New Orleans at the team event,” Stricker said.

Since then, a few days have passed for Stricker to marinate on the idea. In Tucson this week for the PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic, he was asked to confirm whether he in fact did ask Tiger to play.

“I haven’t, no,” he said after his pro-am round at La Paloma Country Club.

Was the idea of it just something he’d thought about, not actually considered?

“We had some great times being teammates on some of those [Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup] teams over the years. I guess I blurted it out loud when I was on a podcast with somebody, I said wouldn’t it be cool to get the band together one more time, for him and I to play again,” he said, adding “I don’t think that will happen, he’s got other issues than playing with me, but it would be fun, and it’s fun thinking about it.”

Stricker is coming off a PGA Tour Champions season in which he won six times, including three majors. One of those, the Kaulig Companies Championship (formally the Senior Players), guaranteed him a spot in next week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

So, what if Stricker formally asked Tiger, might he accept?

“You know, I’ll see him next week at the Players, hopefully he’ll be there and I’ll be there, hopefully play a practice round with him. Yeah, I’ll ask him,” he said.

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley withdraw from Mexico Open at Vidanta after win in New Orleans

Earning their first PGA Tour wins means status plus entry in the next major on the schedule in 2023.

After making the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans their first PGA Tour wins, Nick Hardy and Davis Riley were on the set of CBS Sports chatting with Amanda Renner about their win Sunday evening.

Towards the end of the interview, Renner referenced how we’d all see them again this week at the next Tour stop, the Mexico Open at Vidanta.

Well, plans can always change, and they did on Monday, when the PGA Tour confirmed that Hardy and Riley had withdrawn from the event at Vidanta Vallarta in Vallarta, Mexico.

Hardy was replaced by Ted Potter, Jr., while Riley was subbed by Richard S. Johnson. No reason was given for the WD. Players are not required to offer a reason if they need to withdraw before an event starts.

This marks the first time in 2023, and the first since Tony Finau at the Houston Open last November, that a winner on the PGA Tour who was scheduled to tee it up the very next week withdrew from that event.

In the case of Hardy and Riley, nabbing that first Tour win gives each status on Tour they hadn’t previously enjoyed, plus, they earned spots in the PGA Championship and the Memorial.

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2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player at TPC Louisiana

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour.

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour, folks. Just ask this week’s winners, Nick Hardy and Davis Riley.

The American duo split the top prize of $2,485,400 ($1,242,700 each) after storming up the leaderboard in the final round to win the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The pair went on a 7-under 65 bogey-free birdie fest that included four circles on the scorecard over their last six holes. Hardy/Riley set a tournament record at 30 under, two shots clear of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, who took home $1,014,800 ($507,400 each).

Check out the prize money payouts for each team at the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana.

Zurich Classic: Winner’s bags | Best photos

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Zurich Classic prize money payouts

Position Players Score Earnings
1 Nick Hardy / Davis Riley -30 $2,485,400
2 Nick Taylor / Adam Hadwin -28 $1,014,800
3 Beau Hossler / Wyndham Clark -27 $664,350
T4 Patrick Cantlay / Xander Schauffele -26 $522,450
T4 Matthew NeSmith / Taylor Moore -26 $522,450
6 Keith Mitchell / Sungjae Im -25 $417,100
T7 Si Woo Kim / Tom Kim -23 $326,800
T7 Sean O’Hair / Brandon Matthews -23 $326,800
T9 Martin Trainer / Chad Ramey -22 $253,700
T9 Matthias Schwab / Vincent Norrman -22 $253,700
T11 Joel Dahmen / Denny McCarthy -21 $187,265
T11 Billy Horschel / Sam Burns -21 $187,265
T13 David Lipsky / Aaron Rai -20 $115,555
T13 Thomas Detry / Victor Perez -20 $115,555
T13 Michael Gligic / Taylor Pendrith -20 $115,555
T13 Byeong Hun An / S.H. Kim -20 $115,555
T13 Troy Merritt / Robert Streb -20 $115,555
T13 Harris English / Tom Hoge -20 $115,555
T19 Charley Hoffman / Nick Watney -19 $72,240
T19 Seung-yul Noh / Michael Kim -19 $72,240
T19 Kurt Kitayama / Taylor Montgomery -19 $72,240
T19 Matthew Fitzpatrick / Andrew Fitzpatrick -19 $72,240
T23 Luke List / Henrik Norlander -18 $49,192
T23 Luke Donald / Edoardo Molinari -18 $49,192
T23 Justin Suh / Sahith Theegala -18 $49,192
T26 Sam Ryder / Doc Redman -17 $39,245
T26 Joseph Bramlett / Dylan Wu -17 $39,245
T26 Dylan Frittelli / Matti Schmid -17 $39,245
T26 Brendon Todd / Patton Kizzire -17 $39,245
T26 J.J. Spaun / Hayden Buckley -17 $39,245
T26 MJ Daffue / Erik van Rooyen -17 $39,245
32 Thorbjorn Olesen / Nicolai Hojgaard -16 $36,636
33 Grayson Murray / Wesley Bryan -14 $35,948
34 Tyler Duncan / Hank Lebioda -13 $35,260
35 Fabian Gomez / Augusto Nunez -12 $34,572

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Winners’ Bags: Nick Hardy and Davis Riley, 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Check out the clubs that got the job done in New Orleans.

A complete list of the golf equipment Nick Hardy and Davis Riley used to win the PGA Tour’s 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans:

Nick Hardy

DRIVER: Titleist TSi2 (8 degrees), with Aldila Tour Green Graphene 70 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Nick Hardy’s driver” link=”https://pga-tour-superstore.pxf.io/21aKPA”]

FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees), with Aldila Tour Green Graphene 85 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Nick Hardy’s fairway wood” link=”https://pga-tour-superstore.pxf.io/Ore1NP”]

IRONS: Callaway X Forged UT 2018 (18 degrees), Titleist T100 (4), 620 MB (5-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Nick Hardy’s irons” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/zNxjQG”]

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50, 56, 60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Nick Hardy’s wedges” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/oq4n2W”]

PUTTER: Swag prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Nick Hardy’s golf ball” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/baO7ZM”]

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Davis Riley

DRIVER: Titleist TSR3 (8 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 65 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Davis Riley’s driver” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/EKEqnD”]

FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black TR 8 X shaft, TSR2 (18 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black TR 9 X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Davis Riley’s fairway wood” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/WqyYje”]

IRONS: Titleist T100 (4), 620 CB (5-6), 620 MB (7-9), with KBS C-Taper S+ shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Davis Riley’s irons” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/zNxjQG”]

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46, 50, 56, 60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Davis Riley’s wedges” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/oq4n2W”]

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7.2 prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Davis Riley’s golf ball” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/XYm1P3″]

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (full swing) / SuperStroke Pistol Tour (putter)

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Nick Hardy, Davis Riley team up to win 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans for first PGA Tour wins

Hardy and Riley set a tournament record and earned their first wins on Tour.

What a difference a year makes for Nick Hardy at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

A year ago in the final round at TPC Louisiana, Hardy’s rookie season on the PGA Tour took a turn for the worse when he hit a hard gap wedge on the fourth hole and heard a pop in his left wrist and it swelled overnight.

“I was actually in the hospital probably at this point last year,” he said.

Hardy was sidelined for two months and had to earn back his playing privileges earlier this season through a major medical extension.

On Sunday, in Avondale, Louisiana, Hardy partnered with Davis Riley in the two-man team competition to shoot a bogey-free 7-under 65 and win the Zurich Classic by two strokes over the Canadian team of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor. Hardy, 27, and Riley, 26, combined to make four birdies in a span of five holes on the back nine in the foursomes, or alternate-shot format, to both claim their first PGA Tour title.

“To be able to do that together, kind of rub off each other’s confidence and sort of attitude. It was definitely special to have a partner for the first one,” Hardy said.

Six teams were in the mix down the stretch, including defending champions Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, but Hardy and Riley’s birdie binge down the stretch helped them set a tournament record at 30-under 258.

“Being golfers, you always want to be in control,” Riley said. “It’s pretty nerve-racking kind of watching somebody when you’re not in control. Luckily I’ve got a really good partner, so I wasn’t worried about too much.”

Beginning the day three strokes back of the lead, they did most of their damage in the final round on the back nine. Riley wedged to six feet at No. 13 and Hardy rolled in the birdie putt. One hole later, Riley nearly made an ace at the par-3 14th setting up a kick-in birdie.

“It was the purest 5-iron I’ve ever heard,” Hardy said.

At 16, Hardy stuck the landing on a wedge to 6 feet and they took the outright lead at 29 under. Riley had one more trick up his sleeve, holing a 33-foot putt from off the green at 17.

A par on the 18th sealed the deal on a 65, the second-best round of the day after runners-up Hadwin and Taylor, who started the day seven strokes back, fired a 9-under 63 to finish at 28 under.

“I knew we had to shoot a really good round to even sniff the lead,” Taylor said.

Riley, who finished T-4 last year in New Orleans as a rookie with Will Zalatoris, was on the fence about even playing in the team event this year. Hardy, for that matter, originally planned to play with Thomas Detry, his Illinois University teammate, but European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald asked the Belgian Detry to play with Frenchman Victor Perez as a potential Ryder Cup pairing later this fall.

“So the Illini pairing vanished after that,” Hardy said. “I think only a couple weeks, three weeks ago we texted each other, and we got hooked up then.”

Riley, who grew up just across the border in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he lived on the ninth fairway of Canebrake Country Club, just 200 yards from the driving range, jumped at the opportunity to pair up with one of his best friends, who he’s been playing with since they were 14 or 15 years old and partners at the 2014 AJGA Wyndham Cup.

“We just have very similar games. I feel like we’re both solid ball strikers,” he said. “We’re going to create a lot of opportunity.”

That they most certainly did and as a result they are now exempt into the PGA Championship next month as well as the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. (Winners of the Zurich Classic team event don’t get an invite to the Masters, which is given to individual winners of regular-season FedEx Cup tournaments, excluding opposite-field events, and official fall events.)

For a while, it looked like a different pair of old friends, the ones from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, might be wearing the champions belts. Hadwin and Taylor reeled off seven straight birdies beginning at No. 7 and held sole possession of the lead after Hadwin canned a 9-foot birdie putt at 13.

“My goodness,” said PGA Tour Radio Network’s Dennis Paulson. “In my wildest dreams I wouldn’t think in alternate shot you could make this kind of run of birdies.”

“I had a great feel for the greens,” Hadwin said. “I rolled in a lot of putts there, especially on that middle stretch when we went on a run.”

But when the streak ended, the birdies dried up. Hadwin and Taylor finished with five straight pars, including when Taylor’s six-foot birdie putt at the last lipped out on the left. Still, their 63 in the tougher of the two formats tied the tournament 18-hole record in foursomes, which had been set only two days ago by Cantlay and Schauffele.

“That’s the most amount of birdies we made all week, and we did it in alternate shot,” Hadwin said.

The team of Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler held the 54-hole lead but removed themselves from contention with bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17, and finished third after a 71.

Cantlay and Schauffele put up a respectable title defense, tying for fourth with Taylor Moore and Matthew NeSmith after shooting a final-round 66.

“We didn’t have our best stuff throughout the course of the tournament,” Schauffele said.

Despite feeling as nervous as he’s ever felt before a round, Hardy and Riley had the best stuff when it mattered most — six of their seven birdies came from inside 7 feet — and they’re already talking about defending their title next year.

“It’s on the schedule for me. I hope my partner commits with me now,” Hardy said.

“That’s right,” Riley said. “We’ll definitely be back to defend.”

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Zurich Classic of New Orleans has beignets, etouffee and all that jazz, but will it have a PGA Tour designated event?

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans saved itself once, and it’ll need to do so again.

AVONDALE, La. – The two-man team format saved the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Six of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 13 of the top 25 signed up to play in 2017, the inaugural year of the concept. In 2018, the Zurich landed 11 of the top 15 and last year nine of the top 13. That’s strong considering it is traditionally slated during the post-Masters hangover.

Tournament director Steve Worthy boasts that the last three winning teams included four of the top six players in the world.

This year, however, the deck was stacked against him. Four of the top eight in the world and nine of the top 20 are here – but Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler opted to take their spring break this week and Masters champ Jon Rahm, who is defending another title next week at the Mexico Open, took a much-needed rest. Once you get past the likes of defending champion Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele and a handful of Zurich ambassadors such as Collin Morikawa, the field falls off fast.

When the schedule for this season was announced, Worthy knew he was in a tough spot – seven out of 10 designated events came before the Zurich this year, including two in a row the weeks prior.

“I’m an LSU football fan,” Worthy said, “you can recruit as hard as you want, but at a certain point you’re going to get some guys and not get others.”

“Truth be known, our field probably exceeded my expectations,” Worthy said, noting reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Presidents Cup star Tom Kim among the blue-chip players they landed.

LYNCH: Bad invites risk turning Zurich Classic from fun week to joke

This year always was meant to be a bridge year as the PGA Tour responds to the existential threat of LIV Golf. The Tour laid out its plan for eight designated events with limited fields, no cuts and super-sized purses. Beginning next season, there will be the varsity and the J.V. or call it the Power Five conferences and Boise State fighting the good fight. Worthy said he’s still hopeful that the Zurich Classic can be elevated.

“We’re certainly having conversations about it,” Worthy said. “They feel like it’s probably three or four months from getting there. The Tour is talking to all the sponsors who are interested, what all the options are, see how it fits the schedule and how they can make it work.

“We’d like to be elevated. A lot of tournaments would like to be. If we can continue to do the right things as that process is ongoing over the next several months, hopefully we’re putting ourselves in the right position to end up where we want to be,” Worthy said.

There’s more tournaments that would like to host a designated event than windows for such events to be played, which is a good problem for the Tour to have. In a perfect world, Worthy would like to continue the team format and all the momentum that it’s created. But it seems unlikely a tournament that doesn’t give out world ranking points or earn a ticket to the Masters, and where players hit half the shots will get approved for one of the elite events.

The PGA Tour in New Orleans dates to 1938 and has been played in the Big Easy every year since 1958. It’s not going away —title sponsor Zurich is signed through 2026 — but it likely will have to continue to play up its niche as a break from the monotony of 72-hole stroke-play competition, attract the foodies and pamper the wives, who have a say in these matters.

“I think the non-designated events are going to hold their own,” said Billy Horschel, a Zurich ambassador and two-time tournament champion. “I think this one’s a great example. This one’s a great field. You’ve got players always wanting to play together. It’s unique.

“How this is all going to play out? It’s still sort of a wait-and-see game. It’s going to be two, three, four years of us doing this to see if it was the best thing for the PGA Tour and the product going forward.”

Expect the Tour’s lone team event in the FedEx Cup season to be just that — a good team player. It will have to fight for every thing it has, but then again, the Zurich Classic wouldn’t have it any other way.

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2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Team of Max Homa, Collin Morikawa headline missed cut list

It took an aggregate of 10-under 134 at TPC Louisiana to book a tee time for the weekend.

AVONDALE, La. – Misery loves company.

It doesn’t get much more frustrating than missing a cut and having to clean out your locker and pack your clubs in your travel bag Friday. But it may hurt a little more when you feel as though you let your partner down.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans started the week with 80 teams but only 35 will have a chance to wear the champion’s belts and lift the trophy Sunday after the 36-hole cut. After playing four-ball, or best-ball, during the first round and foursomes, or alternate-shot, during the second round, it took an aggregate of 10-under 134 to book a tee time for the weekend.

Here’s a look at some of the big names who were sent packing.

Zurich: Leaderboard | Photos

Schupak: Bring back the noise, bring back the funk at Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Here’s the sad reason why the players won’t be picking out their own tunes this year.

AVONDALE, La. – The team format isn’t the only thing that makes the Zurich Classic of New Orleans unique.

This is a city with its own soundtrack – the tournament usually coincides with the Jazz Festival, though that’s not the case this year – and you don’t have to go very far to hear live jazz in the French Quarter.

For the past several years, this has been the only PGA Tour event where golfers have chosen walk-up music to the first tee. But this year at TPC Louisiana, that quirky tradition has been replaced by a DJ who will play music. So it’s not quite Don McLean singing “the day the music died,” in his classic hit “American Pie” but it might as well be.

Let’s be honest, in the grand scheme of things, first tee music isn’t the Tour’s most pressing concern at the moment, but half the fun of having music played on the first tee was that the players selected their walkup music, something usually associated with a batter stepping into the plate at a Major League Baseball game. Not only did it give a window into their musical taste – are they a fan of heavy metal like Viktor Hovland? – but it gave a glimpse into their personality. Golf needs more of that.

Erik van Rooyen likes to play the guitar in his spare time and since the Valero Texas Open has been marking his golf ball with a musical note so it may not be all that surprising to hear that he wasn’t in favor of the switch.

“I think it sucks,” he said. “I think it is such a fun idea. It makes the tournament a little different.”

When asked to name the song he would’ve used for his walk-up music, the South African swiped and tapped his phone and it began playing the ‘80s classic “Africa” by Toto.

“Just tap your foot,” he said. “Makes me think of home.”

LIV Golf, with its club music blaring during play, touts itself as “Golf only louder,” which implies that the PGA Tour is less cool and in the ongoing effort to engage a younger audience and stimulate interest in the game, playing some hip-hop and rock at the range isn’t the worst idea.

“This is not a LIV vs. PGA Tour thing so please don’t make it about that,” Max Homa said before turning it into a big joke. “I heard Monahan talking about it in our last PAC meeting. We went over the golf ball going too far, we went over accessibility to the designated events and we went over music being too aligned with the LIV Tour.”

In case his sarcasm was too dry, he was joking, but I think he was being serious when he said he would’ve gone with “Congratulations” by Post Malone if he could have picked his first tee music.

Here’s the sad reason why the players won’t be picking out their own tunes this year: last year more teams chose not to submit a song than those who wanted to participate. For tournament organizers, it was like herding cats trying to get two players to agree on a single song.

Zurich Classic tournament director Steve Worthy noted that often they were chasing teams “right down to the last minute” and said the decision was made in part due to feedback from players. Last year, the tournament already had scaled back to player’s choice tunes on the first tee Saturday but DJ’s choice on Sunday.

“It was better received,” Worthy said of Sunday’s playlist.

The use of music at sporting events is thousands of years old dating back to the ancient Greeks and had been tried in golf before. At the 2017 HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship, the DP World Tour experimented with first tee walk-up music.

“To a man, they all said, ‘Let’s go for it,’ ” said former HSBC global head of sponsorship and events Giles Morgan. “You wouldn’t want to do it at The Open or the Masters, and you shouldn’t because that’s where tradition exists. The Abu Dhabi Championship is a place we can test it. The market will decide if they like it. If the players are up for it, why would you not?”

The walk up music picked by the players had been a distinctive tournament trait since 2018. But as Tour pro Adam Hadwin observed, “I really don’t care to be honest,” and pointed out the upside in the change: “It takes pressure off me to have to come up with a song.”

The PGA Tour stereotype of being too vanilla and its players a bunch of automatons is a stereotype for a reason. Here’s hoping that players like van Rooyen who want to partake will at least be given that chance. After all, we can all use a little Toto in our life.

“It’s not out of the question that we’ll go back to it,” Worthy said.

Bring back the noise, bring back the funk, bring back the college fight songs, Joel Dahmen getting the adrenaline flowing to “Who Let the Dogs Out,” and the Alan Parsons Project making the first tee feel like moments before the opening tip of a Michael Jordan home game.

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