NEW ORLEANS — It’s going to be tough to top last year for the Australians.
Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman conquered the field and Pete Dye’s TPC Louisiana course in 2021, taking down the South African pair of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Swartzel in extra holes to win the team title.
The win marked Smith’s second victory in New Orleans, as he and Jonas Blixt took home the hardware in 2017. That was the first season the Zurich Classic became a team event.
The pair’s good luck charm? Leishman’s mullet wig that he rocked before teeing off on Saturday.
“I still have it. It’s not here with me,” Leishman said in the team’s Wednesday news conference. “I thought that would be a one-and-done thing. It’s like telling a good joke. You don’t want to tell it too many times.”
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Despite the successful trip a year ago, Leishman admitted to not always feeling comfy on this track.
“To be honest, it’s not that comfortable of a course for me, especially when it’s soft,” he said. “So I was happy to see the forecast.”
Winds are expected to hold in the mid-teens to low 20s all week long, perfect conditions for two players comfortable in gusty weather.
For Smith, this week is an opportunity to put a tough stretch of golf behind him. During the final round of the Masters, his tee shot on the diabolical par-3 12th found the water, and his chances of winning drowned. Then, just five days later, he was headed back home to Jacksonville after missing the cut at the RBC Heritage.
“It’s been good, mate. I’ve done everything I could reflecting on it,” Smith said when asked about how he’s putting Augusta behind him. “I wouldn’t have changed anything, just a bad swing at the wrong time. That’s just how golf is sometimes.”
For most of us, that’s how golf is all the time.
As the 2022 Players champion moves on, he took a moment to reflect on what made last year so special.
“I think it’s going to be hard to top last year just because we were all staying together and we had such a good week off the course as well,” Smith said about staying with Leishman and their caddies last year. “But in saying that, we were here to win a golf tournament the whole time, and that kind of took a backseat on the weekend and really knuckled down and played some good golf. So hopefully we can do more of the same this year.”
It’s easy to have a good week off the course when you’re in New Orleans, as the city oozes character, history, and tradition — one of those being indulging in a few adult beverages. However, the Aussies kept it light on their way to victory.
“We weren’t going on benders or anything like that. We’d have a few beers with dinner every night, and we did Friday and Saturday night as well,” Leishman said of their 2021 social calendar. “I think early in the week you can do a little bit more just because you don’t know what situation you’re going to be in. It’s not like we were getting drunk every night.”
But if this week ends in a similar fashion to last year, that drink bill might include more than just a few beers.
