Cantlay and Schauffele continue strong run Friday at Zurich Classic of New Orleans

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Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele

WESTWEGO – In a windswept, warm and cloudless day at TPC Louisiana, first round leaders Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele added an alternate shot score of 68 to go along with their first-round best ball score of 59 to post a one-stroke lead over David Lipsky-Aaron Rai (61-67) and Doc Redman-Sam Ryder (61-67) halfway through the tournament.

The teams of Rai-Lipsky and Redman-Ryder have a lot to play for this weekend. The quartet are all winless on the PGA Tour. It is quite obvious what a win would do for their careers, along with the $1.2 million to each winner.

Coming into the Zurich Classic as clearly a strong team on paper, Cantlay, ranked fourth in the World Golf Rankings, and Schauffele, ranked 12th, have played like their placements reflect. The pair have produced only one team bogey to go along with one eagle and 16 birdies through 36 holes.

“I think we just wanted too hit a bunch of quality golf shots, and we did that today,” Cantlay said. “We really fought hard and made a bunch of those mid-range putts, especially in the middle of the round, and that kept the momentum going.”

”Alternate shot is an opportunity to do some cool things if you’re making a lot of birdies,’ Schauffele said, “but for the most part you’re trying to leave your partner in a good spot to make easy par.”

The status quo would seem to be enough to put the leading duo in a great position to win the event.

“I just felt like we just had good vibes all week and we’ve been playing really solid golf. Same game plan for the weekend,” said Cantley.

Meanwhile, the feel-good story of the week carries on to the weekend as history is being made on the PGA Tour.

The father-son team of 68-year old Jay Haas and 39-year old Bill Haas posted a second-round score of 71. Added to their first-round score of 65, the family affair finished 8-under par to make the 36-hole cut on the number, with dad making a crucial five-footer on the last hole.

“I told myself walking up (to the 47-footer for birdie at the last), I said, ‘let’s just get this thing close and let’s tap it in and hopefully that will be good enough’. I knew the cut was going to be close. It’s just hard when you’re trying so hard. It’s one of the hardest things to do in golf is to let that go and quit trying so hard and just execute. I was struggling out there to execute,” explained the younger Haas.

Despite his decades of big time golf experience, nine-time PGA Tour winner Jay Haas was feeling the pressure.

“That was probably as nervous as I’ve ever been over a putt of that length certainly. It sounds silly just to have a chance to make the cut. We had, not a big cushion but a cushion, and it didn’t like we had it by any means, but to somehow shake that putt in on the last hole was something I will never forget,” explained the relieved elder Haas.

Haas becomes the oldest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, topping the winningest golfer of all time. It was 82-time Tour winner Sam Snead who held the mark set in 1979 when he was 67.

Another feel good story comes from Down Under. Teamed with fellow Australian Jason Scrivener, Jason Day’s team had the low round of the day with a score of 65. Equaling their first-round score placed them at 14-under par and just three strokes off the lead.

Day, the former No. 1 ranked player in the World, has gone winless on Tour since 2018. He is still putting the piece of his life together after the recent loss and long illness of his mother, diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Day lost his father when he was 12 to cancer, and his mother played a major role in his life.

With the two bouncing of each other’s momentum, Day called the round special.

“I feel like we’re gelling really, really well together on the greens and we’re similar in regard to how we read the putt and how we like to see the putt go in the hole.”

“Obviously, it would be nice to win, but I can’t think about outcome stuff because obviously that’s going to stress me out if I think about it too much and things don’t happen my way,” Day noted.

The pairing could be on their way to the 33-year old Scrivener’s best Tour finish. He has only played in six PGA Tour tournaments in the U.S. with a victory to his credit on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

The third round returns to the best ball format Saturday while the final round willfeature the alternate shot format Sunday in the only team tournament on the PGA Tour.

PGA TOUR NOTEBOOK:

2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
(27th of 47 events in the 2021-22 PGA TOUR Season)

Avondale, Louisiana April 21-24, 2022 Purse: $8,300,000/$1,199,350 to each winner
TPC Louisiana Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,425 FedExCup points: 400 to each winner

Second-Round Notes – Friday, April 22, 2022

Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 83. Wind ESE 15-25 mph

36-hole cut: 39 teams at 8-under 136 from a field of 80 teams

Format: Four-ball (best ball) in first and third rounds, Foursomes (alternate shot) in second and fourth rounds

Second-Round Leaderboard
Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele 59-68—127 (-17)
Doc Redman/Sam Ryder 61-67—128 (-16)
Aaron Rai/David Lipsky 61-67—128 (-16)
Cameron Tringale/Wyndham Clark 62-67—129 (-15)
Garrick Higgo/Branden Grace 64-65—129 (-15)

Things to Know
In bids for their first wins of the season, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele follow a tournament record 13-under 59 in round one with a 4-under 68 in Foursomes in round two.

With each team trailing by one stroke, Aaron Rai/David Lipsky and Doc Redman/Sam Ryder all seek their first career TOUR victory.

Australians Jason Day/Jason Scrivener and South Africans Branden Grace/Garrick Higgo tie the Foursomes tournament record with a 7-under 65 (Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer/round two/2019).

Two of the previous four winning teams have come back from four-or-more strokes after 36-holes (2018 Scott Piercy and Billy Horschel/seven back, 2021 Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith/four back).

Defending champions Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith sit T8 and trail by six strokes.

Making his 799th official TOUR start, Jay Haas (playing with son, Bill) becomes the oldest player to make a PGA TOUR cut at 68 years, 4 months, 20 days.

Player Notes

Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (1st/-17)
Followed the Zurich Classic of New Orleans 18-hole scoring record of 13-under 59 (Four-ball) with a 4-under 68 in Friday’s Foursomes format.

Second-round leaders to convert for the win since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans became a team event in 2017: Jonas Blixt/Cameron Smith (2017), Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer (2019).

Lone bogey through 36 holes came at the par-4 12th in round two.

Finished T11 in their debut appearance as a team in 2021
Zurich Classic history entering the week: Cantlay (3-of-4 made cuts; best finish – T7 in 2018), Schauffele (2-of-2 made cuts; T11 in 2017 and 2021).

Cantlay, the 2021 FedExCup Champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year, seeks his seventh PGA TOUR win; last victory came at the 2021 TOUR Championship; Schauffele’s most recent of four TOUR titles came at the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Cantlay comes into the week on the heels of a playoff loss to Jordan Spieth at last week’s RBC Heritage.

Miscellaneous Notes

  • Following their 11-under 61 in Four-ball in round one, Aaron Rai/David Lipsky (T2/-16) offset one bogey (par-4 sixth hole) with six birdies, good for a 5-under 67; both remain in search of their first career PGA TOUR title; both have collected one top-10 finish in 16 starts each this season (Lipsky: T7/Corales Puntacana Championship, Rai: T6/Farmers Insurance Open)
  • Playing together for a second time (T17/2021), Doc Redman/Sam Ryder (T2/-16) followed an 11-under 61 in round one (Four-ball) with a bogey-free 5-under 67 in round two; Ryder, No. 111 in the FedExCup, seeks his first PGA TOUR title in his 126th start; Redman, No. 153 in the FedExCup, seeks his first TOUR title in his 81st start; both have collected a pair of runner-up finishes
  • Paired together for the first time in the event, Cameron Tringale/Wyndham Clark (T4/-15) offset a lone bogey with four birdies and an eagle (par-5 seventh hole), good for a 5-under 67; each seeks first career PGA TOUR title
  • Australians Jason Day/Jason Scrivener (T6/-14) and South Africans Branden Grace/Garrick Higgo (T4/-15) tie the Foursomes tournament record with a 7-under 65 (Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer/round two/2019)
  • Billy Horschel/Sam Burns (T6/-14) followed an outgoing nine of 1-over 37 with a 5-under 31 coming in, good for a 4-under 68; Horschel is the only player to win the Zurich Classic in both the individual (2013) and team format (with Scott Piercy in 2018)
  • Defending champions Marc Leishman/Cameron Smith (T8/-11) offset two bogeys with six birdies to get in with a 4-under 68; Smith is a two-time winner of the event (2021/Leishman; 2017/Jonas Blixt) and currently leads the Presidents Cup International Team standings, while Leishman is No. 12
  • Making his 799th official PGA TOUR start, Jay Haas (and son, Bill), followed a first-round 7-under 65 in Four-ball with a 1-under 71 in Foursomes; at 68 years, 4 months, 20 days, Jay Haas becomes the oldest player to make an official cut on the PGA TOUR (previously Sam Snead/1979 FedEx St. Jude Championship at 67 years, 2 months, 23 days)
  • Zurich Ambassadors (bold): Billy Horschel/Sam Burns T6/-14), Collin Morikawa/Viktor Hovland (T22/-9), Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson (T29/-8)
  • The team of Joaquin Niemann/Mito Pereira withdrew prior to the start of round two, due to a Pereira back injury
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