Zurich Classic Recap: Palmer and Rahm Team Up for Win

Ryan Palmer seems like a nice enough fellow. As it says on his player page on the PGA Tour website, he has a charitable foundation in his home state of Texas that helps kids. He's also had a pretty darn good career, one that 99 percent of golfers would kill for: nearly 400 PGA Tour starts, three victories, about $25 million earned. These days, at age 42, he's still a decent player, but his best days are in the rear-view mirror.

PGA Tour golf is all about winning, so we're wondering what it is about Palmer that makes him such a desirable partner in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. For the first two years of the two-man team event, he partnered with Jordan Spieth. And this year, he connected with another A-lister, Jon Rahm.

It's as if Palmer is the Ringo of golf. Such good fortune!

After a near-miss with Spieth in 2017, Palmer struck gold with Rahm, notching a three-shot victory over Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia on Sunday to come away with the trophy at TPC Louisiana outside New Orleans. Palmer thus netted his fourth career win, his first since the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii. For the 24-year-old Rahm, it was his third.

With Palmer and Spieth, despite a significant disparity in age, there was a natural geographical connection: Both are Texans. They finished fourth in the first Zurich team event before missing the cut last year. But with Rahm, a native Spaniard young enough to be Palmer's son, the reason for hook-up was not so obvious.

It turns out, there is no great story here. Simply, they both needed a teammate. Spieth took a pass this year, and Rahm's partner from a year ago, Wesley Bryan, is injured. So Palmer picked up his phone and shot Rahm a text (smart move, why not aim high?).

Done deal.

It's not as if there were no links between the two. They had played a number of times on Tour, beginning when Rahm was still an amateur back in 2015. Further, Rahm's caddie was friendly with both Palmer and his caddie. So there you have it.

The win was a huge boon to Palmer more than Rahm – just like a regular Tour event, they get two-year exemptions that Rahm probably won't need but Palmer might. But for the rest of us? Overall, the tournament that was a novelty with the format switch three years ago has turned into a bit of a bore.

To wit: Jim Nantz doesn't even bother to show up. Further, and most importantly, there is no DFS play. There presumably could be more excitement if they reversed and played four ball on Friday and Sunday instead of alternate shot. That way, there's a really chance of seeing a sub-60 round at the finish. Perhaps the opposite argument is that four ball could take longer than alternate shot, and CBS does not want to go long on a Sunday night.

The play of the golfers who made up the 160-man field really is irrelevant for future DFS consideration. So it's pointless to recap guys individually. Instead, as we did last year, we'll use this week's Backspin to take a look at the state of the top golfers' games, and what could happen over the next two and a half months, during which the three remaining majors will be played, beginning with the PGA Championship in two weeks.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
What can we say? Woods has already exceeded expectations for this season and, for many golf observers who never thought he'd win another major, for the rest of his career. While all eyes will be on Woods in two weeks at the PGA Championship, the chances of him winning another major this season aren't great. There are just so many obstacles – notably, all the great golfers. In listening to Woods' interview last week, he talked about how he's still coming to grips with his Masters win. That tells us he's not yet ready for Bethpage. All that said, Woods may very well be the best golfer in the world. Over the past 16 months, when his latest comeback began, the numbers says he is. 

Dustin Johnson
Johnson is in the mix at the majors year after year maybe more than anyone else. And, of course, he still has only one title. Johnson added a 16th top-10 in a major with his runner-up at the Masters, and his odds of winning any of the remaining three this season are better than for anyone else. He's clearly equipped to handle Bethpage Black in two weeks. Will he win? He just might.

Rory McIlroy
The four-time major champion is coming up on five years without one. Since winning the final two majors of 2014, McIlroy has finished top-10 eight more times. But he hasn't really come close again. All eyes will be on him at Royal Portrush in July in his native Northern Ireland. The pressure there could be enormous, even overwhelming. We know McIlroy turned in a brilliant effort at THE PLAYERS, but it's not a major. If we had to pick whether or not he'd win a major this season, we'd have to lean toward not.

Brooks Koepka
Oh, yeah, Koepka, the fourth guy mentioned. In some metrics, he should be the first guy discussed when it comes to majors. Koepka of course has won three of the last seven played and came very close at adding a fourth at Augusta last month. Bethpage is a great fit for his game. But more importantly, we are learning that majors are a perfect fit not only for Koepka's game but his temperament. We could easily see Sunday at Bethpage coming down to Johnson-Koepka.

Justin Rose
He's No. 2 in the world, a win would likely move him to No. 1, yet you get the feeling many people are fading Rose, at least for the PGA. The missed cut at the Masters, when hardly anyone missed the cut, was inexplicable. Keep in mind that Rose won just three months ago at Torrey Pines, another long, brutish course in the mold of PGAs and U.S. Opens. Rose's best chance for a major title this year was at Augusta. That doesn't mean he can't win one of the remaining three, but we think he's a rung below the top guys.

Francesco Molinari
Molinari won the Open Championship last summer, then just missed at the PGA and this year's Masters. And before that, he tied for second at the 2017 PGA. That's a round-about way of saying he's been in the mix in lot of recent majors. The big question in two weeks is whether Molinari has gotten over blowing the Masters. Five weeks may not be enough time after the way Molinari imploded on the back nine on Sunday.

Justin Thomas
Thomas hasn't won in a long time. For someone of Thomas' caliber, anyway. It's now nine months since he captured the WGC-Bridgestone. He's had a couple of close calls since then but now is riding a stretch of four straight events without so much as a top-10. He isn't playing as well as he had been in recent years, and he's not as sharp right now as some of the other golfers in the top-10 in the world.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler has not been winning majors for so long that he was around the last time Bethpage Black played host (kind of a cheap shot, sorry). He missed the cut at that 2009 U.S. Open, but that was only his second major start. Since then, as we all know, Fowler has not won, but he's come close quite a few times. Fowler doesn't seem like a long enough hitter to contend at Bethpage but he is averaging more than 300 yards off the tee. But his best remaining shot this year might be at Royal Portrush in July.

Xander Schauffele
We say it all the time: This guy is in the mix at so many big tournaments. The course doesn't matter; he adjusts and adapts. Schauffele has finished in the top-six in half of his eight career majors, including T2 last month at Augusta and last year at the Open Championship. If there's one major Schauffele has struggled, however, it is the PGA. He missed the cut in 2017 and tied for 35th a year ago. That's more of a curious factoid than a reason to fade Schauffele.

Jon Rahm
Rahm is starting to get the hang of this major thing. He was top-five in two of the four last year, then tied for ninth at the Masters last month. Bethpage certainly seems like a track at which Rahm could excel. At least more so than Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open or Royal Portrush. While there are a number of guys better equipped to win at Bethpage, it would not be a stunner if Rahm somehow emerged.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau has played in nine majors as a pro, 11 overall, and has yet to notch a top-10. Plus he's been playing pretty poorly for three months. He's ranked eighth in the world, but he doesn't even belong in any major conversation right now.

Jason Day
Day is not in the top-10 like all the others above are. He's 14th. But we rate his chances in the remaining majors better than No. 12 Matt Kuchar or No. 13 Paul Casey. The Aussie won his lone major at the 2015 PGA at Whistling Straits and was runner-up the next year. Really, his game is suited for all the majors except maybe the Open Championship. He's a really long hitter with the best short game (scrambling/putting) in the game today, Day is always a threat – if his balky back holds up.