Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin played a lot of rounds on the PGA Tour before they ended up on top.
It was worth it for the pair of North Carolinians.
They became first-time PGA Tour winners by capturing the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday in Avondale, La., posting a final-round 1-under-par 71 in alternate-shot play for a one-stroke victory at TPC Louisiana.
“I’m glad we got it done,” Novak said.
Novak and Griffin finished at 28-under 260, with Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard (68 on Sunday) in second place at 27 under, and Jake Knapp and Frankie Capan III (70) in third place at 26 under.
Novak was in his 100th PGA Tour event, while Griffin was entered for the 90th time.
Novak had several near-misses in pursuing tournament titles this year, including last week’s playoff loss to Justin Thomas in the RBC Heritage.
After three bogeys and three birdies on the front side, the pair had seven consecutive pars until Griffin rolled in a birdie putt from the fringe nearly 35 feet away at No. 17 to break a tie with Knapp and Capan, who took a bogey on the hole.
“That putt, I’m just trying to lag it up there close for Andrew,” Griffin said. “Obviously, I took a line that I thought I’d make it and fortunately hit on it, and it fell to the center. Yeah, the reaction says it all.”
Griffin’s approach shot on the par-5 No. 18 left the team 16 feet away, and two putts later they had a par and a championship.
“We kept it together,” Novak said. “That putt on 17 was unbelievable.”
The Hojgaard brothers applied pressure with birdies on three of the final six holes, including a birdie at No. 18 in the group ahead of the leaders.
“We felt comfortable out there on the first nine holes,” Rasmus Hojgaard said. “And then obviously the (weather) delay, the bad weather showed up and we struggled a little bit to get in a rhythm after but managed to fight good towards the end.”
There was plenty to be pleased about with the runner-up finish.
“It’s an important week for us,” Nicolai Hojgaard said. “We can build a lot and there’s a lot of positives from this week. … It’s a long time since I really enjoyed a week like this where I could have my bro as my partner and also contend. That was pretty fun again.”
The teams of David Lipsky and Dylan Wu, Taylor Dickson and Trace Crowe and Michael Thorbjornsen and Australia’s Karl Vilips all finished with 68s to tie for fourth place with Luke List and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander (69) at 25 under.
Thorbjornsen and Vilips were undone by a double-bogey 5 on No. 17.
Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo, who began the tournament with a 58, finished with 71 for a tie for eighth place at 24 under.
Defending champions Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Shane Lowry (Ireland) dropped to a 12th-place tie at 22 under with their 72. They started the round tied for fifth place and then played the front nine in 2 under before slumping.
McIlroy won the Masters two weeks earlier, so Lowry said he was happy to have him along as they bid for a repeat.
“Just today nothing really happened for us,” Lowry said.
For the second day in a row, there was an afternoon suspension because of weather conditions, this time for slightly more than 90 minutes.
“I think when we went back out after the delay, we felt like we still had a good chance,” McIlroy said. “And we didn’t make birdie on 11, and then we bogeyed 13 again for the second time this week.”
–Field Level Media
