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At last year’s Zurich Classic, rookie Nick Hardy’s PGA Tour season was derailed.
He suffered an injury to his left wrist, which forced him to miss two months and eventually had to redeem his PGA Tour card for the Korn Ferry Finals.
In contrast, his partner this week, Davis Riley, has had a phenomenal rookie season in 2022, nearly making it to #36 in the FedEx Cup standings. But he didn’t win.
This week, though, Riley and Hardy both claimed their first PGA Tour titles after the pair shot a 65 on Sunday on an alternate shot to finish at minus 30 and win the Zurich Classic by two strokes. Riley and Hardy are the second and third players to win their first Tour title in Zurich since it became a team event in 2017 when Cameron Smith made its debut.
“I feel like we both handled it very well,” said Hardy. “First timers, obviously. To be able to do this together, it kind of took away each other’s confidence and kind of attitude. It was definitely special to have a partner for the first one.”
And while the sophomores had to team up for their first victories, they still get all the benefits of an individual PGA Tour win, i.e. exempt status on the tour through 2025. Both will also earn 400 FedEx Cup points, moving them into the top 40 on the Tour. season standings, splitting the winner’s share of $2,485,400.
While both players would gladly take advantage of the benefits, it will likely mean the most for Hardy, who has also been playing this season on a major medical exemption due to time lost due to a wrist injury. He returned last June and entered the US Open in Brooklyn, where he finished T14 after going through the weekend only twice in the top spot.
“I got hurt on this day last year here. I sprained my wrist here on this day. I was actually in hospital probably at this point last year. It’s a much better place to be,” Hardy said. “Recovery from that, that stuff, It is definitely a huge thing for me. Yeah, I’m just looking back at the past year now, and we’ve come a long way kinda.”
A win was also unlikely because the pairing only came about three weeks ago. Hardy was scheduled to play fellow Illinois alumnus Thomas Detry, but the Belgian asked European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald to play Victor Perez. Hardy then texted his friend since he was 14 years old, Riley, to set up the pairing.
They entered the third last round with the backing of leader Windham Clark and Bo Hossler at 23-Under.
However, Canadian duo Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin were the story early in the afternoon. They made seven consecutive birdies to take the lead at 28-under for the 13th, but pared the final five holes to finish with that and tied the tournament record of 63.
Clark and Hosler stopped midway through the round, allowing Riley and Hardy to pounce with five birdies on the back nine, including Riley’s birdie claw off the green on the 17th to extend their lead to two.
The pair placed 18th from 5-5 and managed a 30-under championship record and retained the win. Clark and Hossler settled for 71 and a single third behind the Canadiens.
“Honestly, it was nerve-wracking,” Riley said. “Anytime you’re trying to win a golf tournament, getting your first win more or less is always tough. You’re going to have to get up there and hit a few shots. Luckily we were able to hit some really good shots, and that was really fun.”