Late Bloomers: two pairs post 61’s late in round one to take lead at Zurich Classic, Burns and Horschel three shots back

Two late finishers, Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, and Sean O’Hair and Brandon Matthews posted 11 under 61’s to grab the co-lead after round one of the Zurich Classic.

5 pairs, including the Fitzpatrick brothers, Matt and Alex are a shot off the lead after 10 under 62’s.

Two time champion Billy Horschel and his partner, former LSU Tiger Sam Burns shot 8 under par 64.

Defending champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay shot 5 under 67.

John Daly and David Duval shot 3 over 75.

The first round was four ball. Friday’s second round is alternate shot. Play was moved up 1 hour, 20 minutes Friday due to the threat of inclement weather. Play will start at 7 am.

Here on the notes for the Zurich Classic after the first round.

2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

(27^th of 44 events in the 2022-23 PGA TOUR Regular Season)

Avondale, Louisiana            April 20-23, 2023                                  Purse: $8,600,000/$1,242,700 to each winner

TPC Louisiana                       Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,425              FedExCup points: 400 to each winner

First-Round Notes – Thursday, April 20, 2023

Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 81. Wind SSE 12-17 mph, with gusts to 22 mph.  

First-Round Leaderboard

Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler          61 (-11)

Sean O’Hair/Brandon Matthews       61 (-11)

Sungjae Im/Keith Mitchell                 62 (-10)

Matt Fitzpatrick/Alex Fitzpatrick       62 (-10)

David Lipsky/Aaron Rai                       62 (-10)

Luke List/Henrik Norlander               62 (-10)

S.Y. Noh/Michael Kim                         62 (-10)

Things to Know

• At 11-under 61, Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler and Sean O’Hair/Brandon Matthews share the first-round lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
• Last week’s RBC Heritage champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and brother/teammate Alex, sit one stroke behind the leaders
• Since 2017, defending champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are the only first-round leaders/co-leaders to convert for the win at the Zurich Classic
• Schauffele and Cantlay open their title defense with a 5-under 67
• Format: Four-ball (best ball) in first and third rounds, Foursomes (alternate shot) in second and fourth rounds
• Due to forecasted inclement weather, the second round will begin at 7 a.m. (originally scheduled for 8:20 a.m.)

Team Notes

Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler (T1/-11)

• Playing together as a team for the first time, share the opening-round lead with Sean O’Hair/Brandon Matthews following an 11-under 61
• Hossler missed the cut in both prior starts at the Zurich Classic (2021/Tom Hoge, 2022/Sahith Theegala)
• Clark is making his fourth start at the Zurich Classic (2019/MC/D.J. Trahan, 2021/T17/Erik van Rooyen, 2022/T10/Cameron Tringale)
• Clark (132^nd start) and Hossler (159^th start) are seeking their first PGA TOUR victory
• Both have runner-up finishes on TOUR – Hossler (2018 Houston Open/P2, 2018 Travelers Championship/T2), Clark (2020 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/P2)

Sean O’Hair/Brandon Matthews (T1/-11)

• Playing together as a team for the first time, share the opening-round lead following an 11-under 61
• Matthews’ best finish in 21 TOUR starts is T35 at the 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship
• O’Hair, a four-time PGA TOUR winner, is seeking his first victory since the 2011 RBC Canadian Open

Miscellaneous Notes

• and brother, Alex, open with a 10-under 62 in their tournament debut; the winner of last week’s RBC Heritage, Matt is seeking to become the first player to win back-to-back tournaments since Tony Finau at the 2022 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic; Alex is making his second career start on the PGA TOUR and first since missing the cut at the 2022 Valspar Championship
• , Sungjae Im and Keith Mitchell are one of six teams in the field made up of two players inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking
• David Lipsky and Aaron Rai open with a 10-under 62; last year’s T4 represents their career-best finishes on the PGA TOUR (Lipsky also finished T4 at the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii)
• and Luke List post an opening-round 62; Norlander is making his 41^st start since his last top-10 finish on TOUR (2021 Sanderson Farms Championship/T4), while List is making his 36^th start since his last top 10 (2022 Farmers Insurance Open/won)
• S.Y. Noh and 2018 John Deere Classic champion Michael Kim open with a 10-under 62
• and Sam Burns (T14) record an 8-under 64; Horschel is the only player to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in both the individual (2013) and team format (with Scott Piercy in 2018)
• One year after opening with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans 18-hole scoring record of 13-under 59, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (T56) card an opening-round 5-under 67

• Both captains for the 2023 Ryder Cup are in the field and are competing with one of their vice captains; for the United States, Zach Johnson is paired with Steve Stricker, while Luke Donald is competing with Eduardo Molinari; R1 scores – Donald/Molinari (64), Johnson/Stricker (66)
• Zurich Ambassadors (bold): Sahith Theegala/Justin Suh (T8/-9), Billy Horschel/Sam Burns (T14/-8), Collin Morikawa/Max Homa (T43/-6)
• Ryan Brehm withdrew prior to the round and was replaced by Derek Lamely, who turns in an 8-under 64 with teammate Mark Hubbard