Weekly Recap: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

Even though it's difficult to glean much from the Zurich Classic for DFS or betting purposes, the tournament is serious business for the golfers, especially the lesser-known participants looking for more job security and -- of course -- more cash.

For Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, they just got job security, cash and a whole lot more -- a life-altering win.

Hardy and Riley, friends since their teenage years, both won for the first time on the PGA Tour, taking the two-man team event at TPC Louisiana on Sunday with a record-setting total of 30-under-par. That was two shots clear of the Canadian tandem of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, who felt much better about that margin after missing a short birdie putt on 18.

In the five previous Zurich Classics in which golfers formed teams, the event was won largely by top golfers, ones who didn't have much on the line other than another opportunity to pad their bank accounts.

But for Hardy, a 27-year-old Illinois alum ranked 180th in the world who had played 50 previous PGA Tour events, and Riley, 26, an Alabama alum ranked 69th who had 58 career starts, this is enormous. They each receive a two-year PGA Tour exemption through 2025. Granted, Riley seemed secure even without that, but you never know and this removes all doubt. For Hardy, his situation was more dicey.

The Illinois native had a pretty good fall season but had plummeted in 2023, leaving him a somewhat tenuous 95th in the FedExCup Standings entering the week. In 11 starts this year, Hardy had missed six cuts and notched only one top-25 -- and that came at the alternate event in the Dominican Republic, in which he recorded a T13. He had two prior career top-10s, both last year at the Travelers and the Sanderson Farms events.

Riley had come close to winning before, as a playoff loser to Sam Burns at the 2022 Valspar Championship, along with a handful of other top-5s.

As we have seen in the past, iron play is imperative in this tournament. Hardy and Riley are among the best on Tour, ranked 11th and 24th in Strokes Gained: Approach, respectively. They aren't the best putters -- Riley is average -- but they were tremendous all week on their way to rounds of 64-66-63-65. That 7-under 65 featured five birdies on the back nine to charge ahead, including a dagger of a 33-footer from Riley on 17. 

Riley now projects to move to 33rd in the FedExCup Standings and Hardy to 39th, which takes on added importance this year with the top 50 after the BMW Championship playoff event qualifying for the eight limited-field designated events in 2024.

This win, however, does not get them into the Masters, and there were no world-ranking points doled out.

Oh, as for the cash? It's $1.24 million apiece, nearly matching Hardy's career total of $1.688 million and about a quarter of the $4.5 million Riley had earned.

Life-altering, indeed.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Adam Hadwin / Nick Taylor
The Canadians soared up the leaderboard with an electric 9-under 63 on Sunday. It ended on a down note, though, when Taylor missed a short birdie putt on the par-5 18th. It didn't matter, however, as they wound up two back. Taylor projects to 16th in the FedExCup standings with Hadwin at 44th.  

Wyndham Clark / Beau Hossler
The 54-hole leaders couldn't get it done on Sunday, shooting only a 71 to slip into solo third. They turned out to be a great tandem, with both very good putters and Clark a beast off the tee. Clark now sits a projected 40th in the point standings and Hossler 75th.

Patrick Cantlay / Xander Schauffele
It was a good week for the defending champions, but 26-under was three shots worse their then-record 29-under last year. Both these guys will take next week off and we should see them at the designated Wells Fargo Championship in two weeks.

Taylor Moore / Matthew NeSmith
Moore was bidding for a second title in about a month. It didn't happen, but a tie for fourth continues to pile on the FedExCup points. He's now ninth in the standings. NeSmith is also in a good place, at 53rd.

Sungjae Im / Keith Mitchell
The social-media darlings of the week proved to be a fun and entertaining pairing, something we had not seen much from Im before (okay, never). They didn't have a good Sunday though, shooting only 72 to wind up solo sixth. With no world-rankings points available this week, Mitchell slipped out of the top-50 to 51st.

Si Woo Kim / Tom Kim
The Kims recreated their successful Presidents Cup pairing, tying for seventh.

Brandon Matthews / Sean O'Hair
The tie for seventh moved O'Hair into 120th place in the point standings, but he'll still have a lot of solo work to do to stay in the top-125. The enormous-hitting Matthews has had a terrible year, and this top-10 moved him only to 162nd in the point standings.

Vincent Norrman / Matthias Schwab
The European duo tied for seventh. That was by far the best result for Norrman, a PGA Tour rookie from Sweden – though he did have a couple of recent top-25s in opposite-field events. Schwab, from Austria, had already had six prior top-10s on Tour.

Sam Burns / Billy Horschel
After top-5 results the past two years, this pairing of good friends could do no better than a tie for 11th. Still a good week, and we'll see whether it can kick-start Horschel, who has endured a terrible 2023 to date.

Byeong Hun An / S.H. Kim
This tandem appeared to severely underpriced on DraftKings at $7,100, and that was borne out with their tie for 13th. Both players continued good seasons that have them ranked in the 60s in the point standings.

Matt Fitzpatrick / Alex Fitzpatrick
When they opened with a 10-under 62, it was a great, feel-good moment for the brothers. But it was unsustainable. Young Alex, 24, was playing in just his second career PGA Tour event. They wound up tied for 19th, and that alone should provide a lifetime of memories for the Fitzpatricks.

MISSED CUTS

Max Homa / Collin Morikawa
A missed cut this week probably means nothing. Either one could bounce back and win the Wells Fargo in two weeks. But neither had been great of late. Morikawa had had only one top-10 in his previous five starts. Homa was T43-MC in his past two starts.

John Daly / David Duval
They finished in last -- by 12 shots. They shot 14-over. Heck, deciding to play together probably sounded like a great idea at the time.

DP WORLD TOUR

Lucas Herbert headed over to the IPSA Handa Championship in Japan and won it in a playoff over Canadian Aaron Cockerill (big runner-up week for Canada). The Aussie moved back into the top-50 in the world rankings at No. 42. The Scotsman Robert MacIntyre tied for sixth to move to 90th OWGR. A week after making the cut on the PGA Tour, 53-year-old Ernie Els did so here, as well, tying for 68th.