Andrew Novak And Ben Griffin Seal Maiden PGA Tour Titles At Zurich Classic Of New Orleans

Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin each claimed their maiden PGA Tour titles after the duo emerged victorious at the unique team event the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Despite the pair holding a three-shot lead heading into Sunday’s action, most of the attention was on Masters champion Rory McIlroy and his teammate Shane Lowry as they attempted to claw back a five-shot deficit at the start of the day to win the title at TPC Louisiana for the second successive year.

However, their challenge never really got going as they eventually had to settle for T12 at 22-under, leaving some of the PGA Tour’s lesser lights to shine on the final day. As well as Novak and Griffin, that included the team of Jake Knapp and Frankie Capan III, who shared second with Ryo Hisatsune and Takumi Kanaya when the day began. Just behind them were Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard.

The final round got off to a bad start for Novak and Griffin with a bogey at the first, while the Hojgaards birdied the first two holes to sit right behind the leaders. However, by the end of the second hole, Novak and Griffin had regained the three-shot advantage when Novak completed a birdie putt as the Hojgaards bogeyed the third.

Knapp and Capan III remained in the thick of it with birdies at the fourth and the seventh, but Novak and Griffin stood firm with another birdie at the 7^th to remain three ahead.

A weather delay appeared to knock Novak and Griffin out of their stride with successive birdies on the eighth and ninth after play resumed, and Capan III and Knapp birdied the 10^th, which drew them level at the top of the leaderboard. The Hojgaards then got in on the act with successive birdies at the 13^th and 14^th to move one back of the lead.

However, there was a crucial moment for Novak and Griffin when Griffin birdied at the 17^th with a brilliant effort after Capan III and Knapp had earlier bogeyed the hole. That moved the leaders to 28 under, one ahead of the Hojgaards, and they held on.

For Griffin, his maiden PGA Tour win will be a sweet moment just weeks after the disappointment of narrowly missing out on the last Masters spot to Michael Kim at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. For Novak, there will be similar joy after even more recent pain when he missed out in a playoff to Justin Thomas at last week’s RBC Heritage.