Zurich Classic is an instant classic

The Zurich Classic took 76 holes of great golf to declare a winner.

The Zurich Classic featured two different formats. PGA TOUR players Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith might argue that it took mastering a 3rd format to actually win. They would likely call it survivor.

Think about these facts: Smith and Blixt actually navigated 76 holes without recording a bogey. The Swedish-Australian duo carded a final round 64. They began the final round with a 4 shot lead over their nearest challengers. AND THEY DIDN’T WIN THE TOURNAMENT.

Yet, the 23 year old Smith had to make a 3 footer in the dark to get the pair into a sudden death playoff on Monday morning. An 8-under 64 on Sunday and you have spotted the field by at least 4, and it takes a 3-footer in the dark to get into a playoff in a tournament you never made a bogey in?

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That has to be some sort of historic record, doesn’t it? Somehow the vibe given from just the inaugural, reworked, much needed change of pace, lots of fun Zurich Classic suggest that given enough years of the same format Blixt and Smith’s week at TPC Louisiana will become what’s pretty much par for the 7500 yard course.

Somehow you just knew Sunday at the 2017 Zurich would be a gun fight. Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner brought Uzis for the occasion, equipped with high powered scopes that were calibrated to an almost precise perfection.

The storm that so rudely interrupted play at TPC Louisiana for 6 hours on Sunday was directly responsible for the complete disregard for pars exhibited throughout the entire field on Sunday. Scott Brown birdied number one. Kevin Kisner birdied 2-6. The storm and subsequent 6 hour delay failed to cool the pair off. Upon the resumption of play Kisner immediately birdied 7 for his 6th in a row. Brown went ahead and made birdie on 8 before they recorded their first par of the round, on the 9th hole.

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Posting 8-under on the front 9 for 28 will generally shoot you to the top of any leaderboard on any Sunday at any golf tournament. To expand on that, posting a 12-under final round 60 on Sunday will work almost every time even if conditions mandated lift clean and place which was pure gasoline on the bonfire of birdies sure to rage when two touring pros team up and play best ball.

The pressure of Cameron Smith’s darkened 3-footer was actually applied courtesy of Kevin Kisner chipping in for eagle on the 72nd hole in the same darkness for a final round of 12-under 60. One team shoots 12-under on Sunday and doesn’t win. The leaders are ahead by 4 and make birdie on the last hole for a final round 64 and aren’t the winners?

What would Monday bring?

The answer to that question would be not a lot. For an hour and a half beginning at 8am on a perfect Monday morning it appeared one of the VooDoo Queens snuck away from the Quarter overnight and cast a spell on all putters at TPC Louisiana. The teams of Blixt-Smith and Kisner-Brown basically slept through 3 playoff holes without a Birdie until on the 4th hole of sudden death which was actually the 588 yard par 5 18th for the 3rd time of the morning, Cameron Smith made another 3 footer for a birdie that secured his first PGA win and all the goodies that go with it.

Next: Zurich Classic team format a roaring success

The playoff wasn’t very spicy and the weather wrecked havoc pretty much all week. Several big names didn’t even make the cut. All that aside the 2017 Zurich was absolutely one of the best “regular” tournaments in recent memory and sure to become one of the most popular stops on the calendar after a great decision to change the format. Winning in The Big Easy has never been harder. Ask Blixt and Smith.

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