AVONDALE, La. — Beau Hossler and Wyndham Clark have known each other since they were 10 years old, but that doesn’t mean their partnership was years in the making.
It turns out neither player had a partner lined up for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when they were paired together for the first two rounds of the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.
“We kind of were talking it through, and by the end of the first two days, we were like, all right, let’s play together,” Hossler said.
That decision has paid off so far. Clark, 29, and Hossler, 28, carded a bogey-free 5-under 67 in foursomes at TPC Louisiana to claim the 36-hole lead.
“We didn’t do anything crazy, but we also didn’t really make any mistakes,” Hossler said. “It was a really clean round.”
The first-round co-leaders are bogey-free so far this week, improving to 16-under 128, one stroke better than their nearest competitors. Hossler did do one crazy thing Friday, burying a 60-foot birdie putt at the fourth hole. Otherwise, they kept it pretty simple.
“I’ll hit it pretty far off the tee and then he’ll have a wedge and he’s been stacking it,” Clark said. “It’s made it pretty easy.”
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Play was suspended due to inclement weather for more than 2 and a half hours, but even that didn’t bother Hossler.
“I was pretty thrilled about it, to be honest. Standing on the sixth tee, it was raining pretty good, and it’s probably the most demanding tee shot out here, so I was happy to not have to hit it at that moment,” he said.
That's how you take the solo lead 💪@BeauHossler rolls it in for birdie from nearly 60 feet! pic.twitter.com/vuic1ieiPs
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 21, 2023
And Team Clark-Hossler has been enjoying not just the golf but the cuisine this week in the Big Easy. Hossler said Clark has been the director of food and beverage since they hit the town.
“We’ve gone to some really good spots,” Hossler said. “After tonight [Friday] we’ll have hit the best four (restaurants) in town, so it’s been really cool.”
Here are four other really cool things to know from the second round of the Zurich Classic.
What's up, Doc (and Sam)?
Doc Redman and Sam Ryder finished third last year and are poised to improve upon that finish last year. Why have they performed so well in this two-man team format (they also finished T-17 in 2021)?
“I think there’s a comfort level. We’ve played quite a bit of golf together. We play golf together back home,” said Ryder. “Having played in this a couple times now, it’s like, yeah, I kind of know what he’s thinking a little bit. He knows kind of what I’m thinking, how we play.”
On Friday, they carded a bogey-free 6-under 66 and are one stroke off the lead at the midway point.
“No bogeys, always good, and that’s kind of the name of the game in this format,” Ryder said. “You just really don’t want to go backwards.”
Redman, 25, has been going the wrong way in the FedEx Cup standings, missing six of his last seven cuts and entered the week No. 167 in the season-long points race so this could be a big week for him.
“You don’t have to play 18 perfect holes or even great holes because your buddy has your back, and you can still post a good team score,” Redman said. “Every week is a good opportunity to get some confidence, and this week is no different.”
'Very fun' for Sungjae Im
It’s impossible to have too much in the Big Easy, but Keith Mitchell and Sungjae Im are trying their best at TPC Louisiana this week.
Told that it looked like they were having fun out on the course, South Korea’s Im said simply, “Very fun.”
“Sungjae, like I said yesterday, he hits it right down the middle and high fives and smiles. It’s hard not to have fun when you do that,” Mitchell said. “Golf is always fun when you’re playing well. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing with, it doesn’t matter where you are. When you love the game like we do and have been practicing our whole lives, when you play well, it’s fun no matter what.”
It wasn’t too fun for Mitchell when he drove it in the water at the par-4 sixth hole, leading to a double bogey, but other than that they bagged seven birdies and shot 5-under 67. Their budding bromance survived the sixth hole and the duo are at 15-under and tied for second heading into the weekend.
“I think if Sungjae plays like he’s playing and I can continue to make a couple long putts and keep the one or two bad swings out for the weekend, I think we’ll have a good chance,” Mitchell said.
Defending champs strike back
Patrick Cantlay dressed in all black and Xander Schauffele wore mostly blue. It won’t win any prizes for the best coordinated team outfit, but they left the field feeling black and blue after shooting a tournament record 9-under 63 in foursomes. That’s flat-out filthy good, and it has the defending champions —after a sloppy 5-under 67 in the easier best-ball format on Thursday — feeling good about their position heading into the weekend, lurking just two strokes back and T-4. For more on this sensational round, click here.
Philly connection
Brandon Matthews was born in Pennsylvania, played college golf in his home state at Temple and got to know his partner in the Zurich Classic during his college days when they’d tee it up at Aronimink in Philadelphia, where O’Hair enjoyed a membership.
There may be a 12-year age gap between the two pros – is O’Hair really 40? OMG! – but a mutual respect is ever-present.
“I was incredibly excited the first time I got to play with him. Obviously he’s someone that I looked up to growing up as a kid,” Matthews said. “To be paired with him here is something special.”
“The way he plays golf frees me up,” Matthews added. “He’s so consistent, rarely misses a shot. That’s kind of fun to realize that I have that in my back pocket when I need it.”
“He’s a hell of a player,” O’Hair said. “He hits the ball a country mile. I’ve never seen anybody hit it so far, so it’s kind of fun to have a partner that does that. I just try and free him up as best I can. It makes a good team.”
And one that shot 3-under 69 in foursomes to get to 11-under and tied for fourth through 36 holes. Matthews, a rookie, has made only four cuts in 16 starts. O’Hair has made five in eight starts, but only one top-20 finish and the four-time Tour winner hasn’t lifted a trophy since the 2011 RBC Canadian Open.
“We’re excited about this weekend,” O’Hair said.
