59: X-Man And Patty-Ice (Schauffele/Cantlay) Show Their Stuff In New Orleans

There was a very weird outlier vibe early Thursday in New Orleans as a bunch of under-dog teams dominated play until a couple of big names got it going late in the day at the Zurich Classic.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were one of those star-power teams coming into this event and they showed their stuff — and in the process, shot the lowest-ever score in the best-ball portion of this only team event on the PGA Tour.

The Ryder Cup teammates were pretty flawless all afternoon at the TPC Louisiana as they piled up 11 birdies and an eagle between them to shoot a 13-under par 59.

They were well on their way after shooting 29 over the first nine holes.  Cantlay set them up for the record-breaking performance when he pitched in for birdie at the par three 17th.  The world’s No. 4 then hit a sweet three-wood into the par five 18th and two-putted for birdie to hand his team the round one lead.

Cantlay, sometimes called “Patty-Ice” by fellow players, looked nothing short of solid after losing the playoff to Jordan Spieth last Sunday at the Heritage.  They easily out-played the other big name teams and gave the leaderboard some name recognition that it didn’t have in the early going.

The No-Card Holders:

One of the early shockers was the team of Robert Garrigus and Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey combining to shoot an 11-under par 61.  Garrigus grabbed about 10 minutes of attention earlier in the week when he asked the PGA Tour for a release to play in Greg Norman’s struggling Saudi League event scheduled for June in London.

The last time Two-Gloves made the headlines was in December of 2019 when the John Wayne of Florida Law Enforcement — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd — put together a prostitution sting called Operation Santa’s Naughty List.  Well, lo and behold, Two Gloves was one of those stung by Sheriff Judd’s deputies.

Neither Garrigus nor Gainey has a Tour card.  They were invited based on past champions status as the 44-year-old Garrigus and 46-year-old Gainey both have one career victory.  “I’m so glad I’m paired with Tommy,” Garrigus said. “I know his game. I’ve seen him play. It’s kind of ironic we’re playing this week. It’s a pretty easy situation.”

A European Tour Duo:

Aaron Rai and David Lipsky are now on the PGA Tour but both crossed paths the past few years playing on the European Tour, now the DP World Tour.  Both won on that tour but neither has done much to date on the PGA Tour.  They were in with the head-scratching Garrigus-Gainey duo with their own round of 61.

World No. 218 And No. 260:

Sam Ryder and Doc Redman are rarely seen near the top of leaderboards but they joined the trio at 61 — a surprising performance considering Ryder is No. 218 in the world rankings and has missed the cut in his last three events while Redman is a lofty No. 260 — but he managed to finish tied for 67th at the Valero and tied for 48th last week at Harbour Town.

If those teams weren’t obscure enough, Matthew NeSmith and Taylor Moore announced themselves with a 12-under par 60 that tied the existing four-ball record — at least until Cantlay and Schauffele worked their magic.

Neither NeSmith nor Moore has a Tour win.  Moore missed his last three cuts and at least NeSmith found himself at T12 at the Heritage last week.

Add up the wins and that makes a grand total of two wins among the eight players closest to the leaders and those with the wins have lost their Tour cards.

Day one was one of those “Lean On Me” days thanks to the best-ball format.

Things will get a little tougher on Friday when they switch to alternate shot.

And the weather forecast calls for winds blowing 15, up to 20 miles-per-hour.

Good luck with that, fellas.

Zurich Classic Scoreboard: