Patrick Cantlay-Xander Schauffele set records but Wyndham Clark-Beau Hossler keep PGA lead
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Patrick Cantlay putts on the ninth green during the second round of the Zurich Classic.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay set records on Friday, but it was not enough as the American duo of Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler held the lead at the PGA Zurich Classic.
Defending champions Cantlay and Schauffele, ranked fourth and fifth in the world respectively, combined to shoot a tournament-record foursomes (alternate shot) round of nine-under 63 in the second round of the only PGA pairs event.
“Xander putted great and hit a lot of really nice wedge shots and pitches,” Cantlay said. “Left me three feet and in a couple times and made a bunch of mid-range 15-20 footers, which is exactly what you need to do to shoot nine under par.”
Clark and Hossler, who opened with a 61 in four-ball (better ball) to share the 18-hole lead, added a 67 to top the leaderboard on 16-under 128, one stroke ahead of compatriots Doc Redman and Sam Ryder (66) and South Korean Im Sung-jae and American Keith Mitchell (67) at TPC of Louisiana in Avondale.
Americans Schauffele and Cantlay were in a fourth-place pack of five duos on 130, as play finished just before dark after a storm delay of just over 2½ hours.
The pair, who won two matches together at the 2022 Presidents Cup and the 2021 Ryder Cup, combined for seven birdies and an eagle.
That broke the old 18-hole pairs foursomes record of 65 set by Spain’s Jon Rahm – the top-ranked Masters winner who is off ahead of next week’s PGA Mexico Open title defence – and American Ryan Palmer in 2019 and matched in 2022 by Australians Jason Day and Jason Scrivener and South Africans Branden Grace and Garrick Higgo.
“Xander is really good, and I can play well,” Cantlay added.
“It helps that we’re friends, but when you get two world-class players together and we both have a day where we’re on like today, we can post a low one.”
The duo, who won in 2022 with a 72-hole record
They followed with birdies at the 13th and 16th and eagled the par-five 18th to set a nine-hole tournament foursomes record with a 30 – a mark later matched by Americans Nick Hardy and Davis Riley.
“Pat sent a drive right down the centre, left me 256 yards and hit a hybrid up on the green,” Schauffele said.
“He didn’t need any help reading the putt. He just knocked it right in.”
They also birdied the first and second holes and added another at the fifth.
Clark and Hossler, also back-nine starters, had five birdies.
Finishing last after missing the -10 cut were former Major champions John Daly and David Duval, who shot 83 to total 14-over 158. AFP
