AVONDALE, La. — Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman outlasted Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel to win the Zurich Basic in a playoff that capped a good and tense last spherical Sunday.
Smith and Leishman received with a par on their second journey up the par-5 18th after Oosthuizen pushed his tee shot into the water and narrowly missed an 11-foot putt for par.
The Australians pressured the playoff by taking pictures a 2-under 70 in alternate-shot play on the PGA Tour’s lone regular-season crew occasion. Oosthuizen and Schwartzel started the spherical with a 1-stroke lead, however shot a 71 with three pars and two bogeys.
It is Smith’s third profession victory — second on the Zurich crew occasion — and greatest consequence since tying for second on the pandemic-delayed 2020 Masters final November. It is also was his sixth high 10 for the reason that present tour season began final October.
Smith’s final victory got here on the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii.
It was Leishman’s sixth profession victory, his greatest consequence since tying for fifth on the Masters this month and his first win for the reason that 2020 Farmers Insurance coverage Open.
The climactic end capped off a compelling duel between two groups that teed off collectively within the last grouping and took turns holding leads that by no means grew to greater than 2 strokes.
After Smith made birdie putts of 9 toes on the par-5 seventh and seven toes on the par-Three ninth to drag his crew even atop the leaderboard, the Aussies went in entrance on 10, when Schwartzel’s method discovered the bunker and his crew two-putted for bogey.
Smith and Leishman took a 2-shot lead with a birdie on the par-5 11th, the place Leishman drove 307 yards into the green and Smith despatched the crew’s second shot 265 yards to the inexperienced, establishing a birdie.
However they gave a stroke again on 13 when Leishman’s drive went into the TPC Louisiana’s trademark, a towering, old-growth cypress tree that stands alone like a monolith within the fairway. That pressured the crew to take a drop that led to a bogey.
The South Africans moved again into the lead on 15, the place Schwartzel adopted up Oosthuizen’s 205-yard method shot with an almost 15-foot putt for birdie, whereas Smith, whose method had fallen in need of the inexperienced, narrowly missed a 13-foot putt for par.
Smith then bounced his booming, 294-yard tee shot on 16 into the water, however it went out of bounds shut sufficient to the inexperienced that Leishman was in a position to hit a chip on his crew’s third shot and rolled it in from greater than 23 toes for birdie to tie Oosthuizen and Schwartzel at 21 below.
Each groups bogeyed the par-Three 17th to go to the par-5 18th tied at 20 below.
Peter Uihlein and Richy Werenski shot a 67, with six birdies and one bogey, to shoot up the leaderboard from 18th to 3rd.
Billy Horschel and former LSU participant Sam Burns shot a 69 to tie for fourth with Brandt Snedeker–Keith Mitchell and Brendan Steele–Keegan Bradley.
Ryan Palmer and Jon Rahm, the defending champions from 2019, closed with a 70 to complete seventh at 17 below.