AVONDALE, La. — Beau Hossler and Wyndham Clark have achieved all sorts of accolades as golfers from qualifying for the U.S. Open as a teenager for Hossler and being part of a NCAA national championship team for Clark. Both have been successful at maintaining their PGA Tour privileges, but a win has been elusive so far for both of them.
That could change tomorrow in one fell swoop as they have teamed up to shoot 26-under 190 and claim a one-stroke lead over the team of Sungjae Im and Keith Mitchell heading into the final round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Hossler is 0-for-4 in converting 54-hole leads and Clark is 0-for-1. Could having a partner be the difference in finding their way to the winner’s circle?
“Sometimes when you’re alone, it feels like you’re out on an island. When the momentum gets going bad, when you’re on your own, sometimes it’s tough to turn that,” Clark said. “With a teammate, you you can kind of feed off each other and really not allow that momentum to get going in the wrong direction. So I hope tomorrow we’re light and loose like we’ve been all three days.”
On a picture-perfect Saturday in the Bayou, Hossler and Clark each chipped in five birdies in the four-ball, or best-ball, format and posted 10-under 62 at TPC Louisiana, which tied for the low round of the day. Hossler made a few birdies from inside 10 feet and Clark connected from 21 feet at the third and 26 feet at No. 12.
Zurich Classic: Sunday tee times
“That’s a tough hole, and we kind of snagged one,” Clark said. “That was a huge momentum for the back nine.”
Clark and Hossler have held at least a share of the lead after each round this week.
On Sunday, the format switches back to foursomes, or alternate shot, which defending champions Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were able to exploit to the tune of shooting a remarkable 9-under 63 on Friday. However, they are only a combined 11-under for two rounds of best-ball, settling for 6-under 66 in the third round. Cantlay made just one birdie on the day. They will start six back at 20-under and T-10, and likely will need another special round of 63 or less – and some help – to have a chance to defend.
The final round presents a great opportunity for the 29-year-old Clark and the 28-year-old Hossler — not to mention several other contending team where one or both partners is seeking a maiden victory — to break thorough for the first time.
“I think the more opportunities you get, the more comfortable you get, and hopefully we can lean on that tomorrow,” Hossler said.
“If the momentum goes in our direction, I hope we just keep riding it,” Clark added.
Here are four more things to know from the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Im’s birdie binge
The budding bromance between Keith Mitchell and Sungjae Im was in full flight on Saturday.
Im made golf look easy, pouring in six birdies in the first eight holes in the best-ball format as they teamed to shoot 10-under 62 and improve to 25 under after 54 holes.
“Sungjae probably could have shot that on his own, but I helped him on a couple holes out there,” said Mitchell, who added three back-nine birdies to contribute to the cause.
But everyone should find a cheerleader for team golf like Mitchell, who said of Im’s front nine, “He was honestly incredible. The front nine was some of the best golf I’ve ever seen played — ever.”
Mitchell originally was thinking of skipping the Zurich Classic this year, but decided to play his 11thevent in 14 weeks when Im asked him to be his partner. That’s proven to be a wise decision.
“I’m feeling really good about Sungjae’s golf game. The guy has proven he’s one of the best players in the world. He’s only 25 years old, and the fact he’s only won twice, I think is underrated for how good his game is,” said Mitchell, whose lone win came at the 2019 Honda Classic. “Being 25, being his fifth year on Tour, and this amount of talent, I think we’re going to see a Hall of Famer in the future.”
On Saturday, they teamed for their first bogey-free round of the week. Asked if there would be any changes in strategy for the final round, Mitchell smiled and said, “Zero. Laser beams and smiles.”
Chasing a first 'W'
There are three teams tied for third at 23 under heading into the final round and of the six players only one of them – Taylor Moore – has tasted victory on the PGA Tour, and that was in March at the Valspar Championship.
His partner, Matthew NeSmith, watched Moore close out the victory on TV at home.
“My heart was through the roof. I couldn’t hardly watch him down the last few holes,” he said. “I feel very comfortable knowing that we’ve got somebody who’s been there and done that in the last few groups, not even six weeks ago.”
Moore and NeSmith teamed for a best-ball 9-under 63 on Saturday, which included birdies on the first three holes.
Nick Hardy and Davis Riley matched the 63 but had an even better start, making birdie at the first five holes to temporarily grab the lead but cooled off a bit on the back nine.
Their partnership came together last minute after Hardy’s Illini teammate Thomas Detry, who is a native of Belgium, was asked by European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald to play with Frenchman Victor Perez as a potential pairing in Rome later this year. “So the Illini pairing was vanished after that,” said Hardy, who texted Riley three weeks ago.
Riley finished T-4 here last year when he paired with Will Zalatoris. Hardy finished T-21 last year in his tournament debut with Curtis Thompson.
Neither of the teammates entered the week with much momentum.
Riley, 26, withdrew from the Valero Texas Open earlier this month after an opening-round 78 and missed the cut last week at the RBC Heritage.
Hardy, 27, had missed the cut in six of his last eight starts, and has just one top-10 finish this season in 17 starts (and that was back in October in week two of the season at the Sanderson Farms Championship).
“To get some momentum going in this format with Davis, seeing the ball go in, it’s definitely been nice,” Hardy said. “I think that’s the only difference is a little momentum here and there. That’s really all it takes.”
Whereas Moore-NeSmith and Hardy-Riley came out firing with birdies, Mathias Schwab and Vincent Norrman did their damage late with six birdies in their final seven holes and shot 29 on the back nine.
“Kind of blacked out a little bit,” Normann said.
He and Schwab tied for the low round of the day with 10-under 62.
Fitz Magic
The brothers Fitzpatrick started slowly – Matt took three putts at No. 6 and they made a bogey – but finished with four birdies in their final five holes in four-ball to improve to 21-under 195 and T-7.
They combined to shoot 9 under for their last 12 holes and posted their second 10-under 62 of the week.
In their matching white belts on Saturday, the brother tandem benefited from Matt helping to read the putts for younger brother Alex.
“He makes it easy for me,” Alex said. “He reads the putts, and I line it up, and he tells me it’s good and hit it. So far it’s been going good. We’ll keep hitting that tomorrow.”
There’s a lot at stake on Sunday for Alex, who doesn’t have any status on the PGA Tour. A victory tomorrow would change all that, but big brother, who won last week at the RBC Heritage and is attempting to nab back-to-back titles, isn’t worried about that.
“I’ve seen him out there now. He can hold his own. He can definitely be out here,” Matt said. “He had some great results last year on the European Tour.”
While the Fitzpatrick brothers have cleaned up in the four-ball format to the tune of 20 under, they shot 1-under 71 on Friday in foursomes, which will be used in the final round, and Matt said he struggled to get any rhythm.
“We just didn’t give ourselves any chances,” Matt said.
“We’ll go out tomorrow, and hopefully we learn a few things and play OK and post the number and see what happens,” Alex said.
Shot of the day
Charley Hoffman described the 210-yard par-3 ninth hole as the type of hole where you just want to hit the green and make your two putts and take your par.
He did better than that. Hoffman, who is teaming with his former UNLV teammate Nick Watney this week, was up first and grabbed a 23-degree hybrid and swung and watched as his ball found nothing but the bottom of the cup.
“We were having a pretty dismal day and it was one of those things where I just trying to hit it towards the middle of the green and it just barely got over the ridge and we couldn’t see it from the tee but the fans went crazy and it was good to get some momentum,” he said.
It was Hoffman’s third hole-in-one on the PGA Tour and first since the 2018 Masters. Watney didn’t even bother to hit.
ACE ALERT ‼️@Hoffman_Charley couldn't contain his excitement after carding a 1 @Zurich_Classic. pic.twitter.com/ilbgAYom9z
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 22, 2023
As for the post-round celebration?
“This one’s on me,” Hoffman said. “Nick and I and our caddies are going to go out and have an adult beverage and a nice meal.”
ACE ALERT ‼️@Hoffman_Charley couldn't contain his excitement after carding a 1 @Zurich_Classic. pic.twitter.com/ilbgAYom9z
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 22, 2023
