Another Brick in the Wall

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy used a back-nine 31 to break away from a bunched leaderboard and win the team-format Zurich Classic. It marks the first PGA Tour win for both Riley and Hardy, each of whom were standouts at Alabama and Illinois. While Riley has been knocking on the door of a victory for a year and a half, for Hardy this is a major leap. After working his way to the PGA Tour rather quickly, he has had a series of ups and downs since earning his card, including a wrist injury last year at this same event. For him to win in New Orleans and get karmic revenge for that moment has to be sweet.

Unlike the compelling back nine, the event as a whole maintained its sleepy nature. Despite its best efforts, the Zurich Classic has yet to take off and become a must-watch event. It offers a rare outlier week on tour thanks to the team format, which was introduced in 2017. Zurich also sponsors a stable of player ambassadors, including Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, and Sahith Theegala. Despite these factors, it’s a mere blip on the radar.

You can’t say that the Zurich isn’t trying, but because of its schedule spot, it’s easy for stars to skip it, and the course is just meh. All of which leads to an important question: what will this tournament become in the designated-event era? The answer: probably similar to what we saw this week, with a few good teams and a few downright awful ones. This is the reality for most events on tour, but it’s an unfortunate fate for an event that has at least tried to create a unique identity.

This piece originally appeared in The Fried Egg newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.