Scores were lower on Friday at the Zurich Classic in the alternate shot portion of the first two rounds. This was to be expected as alternate shot almost always yields higher scores because players have to switch back and forth on every shot as opposed to just playing their own ball in and taking the best number (strangely, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar were an exception to this; see below).
The team of Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam followed up their best-ball 62 on Thursday with a 69 on Friday to get them to 13 under overall, which is one stroke better than last year’s playoff-losing team of Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown and leads the event.
The big story of Friday, however, was not in which teams were near the top, rather in which big-time squads missed the 5-under cut. The field was cut to 36 teams, and some of the biggest names in the involved were not among them.
More on that and other takeaways from Round 2 in New Orleans.
1. Big names miss cut: The team of Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer missed the cut after shooting a 74 in Round 2. The Justin Thomas-Bud Cauley duo also missed the weekend after going 70-70 over the first two days. Finally, Jon Rahm and Wesley Bryan shot a 75 in Round 2 and will not play Saturday or Sunday either. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a disappointment for the event when the top three ranked players — and three of the top four in the world — will be absent for the final two rounds.
It was especially painful for Spieth and Palmer who double bogeyed the final two holes to fall a shot outside the cut line.
“We held it together for a while and then it finally just came out,” said Spieth. “Unfortunately all we needed was two more swings. Yeah, that’s how it works, I guess.”
2. The Patricks lurk: Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Reed combined to shoot a 1-under 71 on Friday that included three birdies in their final four holes. They’re inside the top 20 and certainly have the capability to shoot something in the low 60s on Saturday in best ball to get set for a Sunday run. Masters champ Reed revealed he enjoys playing with the other Patrick
“I think the biggest thing is just there is not really too many highs and lows emotionally,” said Reed. “I’ve always known what’s worked best for me because of how emotional I can get. If I make a bunch of birdies I’m really jacked up, and if I make a couple bogeys I start getting down on myself.
“But to have Cantlay there when you make the putts, is there to pick you up and keep you going … nothing seems to phase this guy. He’s got ice in his veins. It’s always nice to see because that allows me to be a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more confident, and take some risks that I’m not scared to take.”
I’m pretty sure there were only a couple of risks Reed has ever been scared to take and none of them involved anything at the Zurich Classic other than maybe alligators.
3. The Zurich Classic is, uh, pretty laid back: How good is this between Tony Finau and Harris English to see who would putt first. It seems to have worked out better for Finau (whose team is near the lead) than English (whose team missed the cut).
4. Some celebrations are … odd: Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar are 9 under and four back after two rounds in New Orleans, and they actually shot a round-of-the-day 67 on Friday in alternate shot (which was a shot better than their 68 on Thursday in best ball!). How did they celebrate this 67? Well, they slapped each other in the face and acted like they were scolding the other.
“Well when you think about it, we want you to be inspired to make some more birdies,” said Watson. “So we basically slap each other in the face and say, ‘Come on, do another one, get another one.’ That’s what we’re trying to do. Trying to cheer us on and get us excited about the 1st hole.”
“Everybody has got something, some sort of handshake, some sort of fist bump, some sort of tap on the hiney,” added Kuchar. “I figured this was a good opportunity for me to slap Bubba in the face. Everybody wants to do that, and I talked him into it.”
Whatever works!
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