The alligators were there early, but that’s about it.
Perhaps a few volunteers, retirees with no where else to go.
Throw in a few PGA Tour officials who had to be there.
Sir Nick Faldo was probably hating life. He could probably think of a dozen places he preferred to be on a Monday morning. Instead, he was one of the few live witnesses at TPC Louisiana where a couple of unheralded teams were duking it out for the Zurich Classic team title.
It got to be a Monday morning because Kevin Kisner fired the shot head ’round New Orleans at sundown Sunday, a fast-motoring pitch that hit the flagstick on the 72nd hole dead-square and disappeared into the bottom of the cup for an eagle that sent one-shot leaders Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith into a state of shock.
Thank goodness young Smith made a great pitch of his own that assured a birdie and two teams would finish at 27-under par.
It was about as quiet as a tour event could get at 8 a.m. when the foursome reunited to determine a winner.
Should have ended on the first trip down 18. Young Smith blew a six-footer for birdie through the break, started it outside the hole when he shouldn’t have and basically let Kisner and Brown off the hook — neither came close to making four.
As much as it should have ended the first go-round, it should have been done even moreso the second. Kisner stuck his third from 133 within five feet.
The door was wide open after Smith missed from 10 feet then Blixt didn’t come close from nine. But this time it was Kisner who let ’em off the hook. His birdie putt didn’t touch the cup.
Yuck.
They moved to the 195-yard par three ninth and this time it was Blixt’s turn to blow it. Scott and Kisner were too far out to make birdie, the obviously-nervous Smith didn’t sniff the hole with his 13-footer for birdie and it was Blixt who was just seven feet away after a marvelous tee shot. His effort was weak right. Can’t anyone say “choke?”
Double-yuck.
Back to 18 and an hour into it, a few more spectators straggled in.
Young Smith put the rest out of their misery when he hit the fanciest of wedges for his third on their third trip down 18. Stuck it to two feet. No one else was close.
Mercifully, Smith made his birdie putt. Sixteen total attempts at birdie, one birdie.
Thanks Cameron Smith.
He was pretty speechless and deserved to be that way. First win and a ticket to the Players later this month.
Someone actually won this thing.
There was rejoicing among the twenty or so people who saw it.
