Apr 29, 2018 3 min read

Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy won the Zurich Classic team event Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 5-under 67 in alternate-shot play.

Horschel became a two-time winner at TPC Louisiana. He captured his maiden PGA Tour triumph at the 2013 Zurich Classic when it was a traditional every-man-for-himself event.

Horschel and Piercy surged into the lead with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes. They followed that with seven pars to hold off Jason Dufner and Pat Perez by a stroke. Dufner had a 14-foot putt for the tie on 18, but left it a foot short.

This was the second year of the Zurich’s switch to a two-player team format.

The victory was Horschel’s fifth and Piercy’s fourth. They each earned $1.04 million and 400 FedExCup points.

The result did not count toward the world ranking.

A year ago, the Zurich format called for best-ball play in the second and final rounds, with alternate-shot on the first and third. But organizers decided this year to switch that around so that the final round would have the alternate-shot format, with one player hitting the tee shots on even-numbered holes and the other on odd numbers. That set the stage for substantial moves up or down the leaderboard; players had no choice but the play the lies their teammates left them on the previous shot.

Horschel and Piercy began the day three shots back, but immediately surged into contention with birdies on the first two holes.

Piercy’s 146-yard approach set up Horschel’s 5-foot birdie putt on the opening hole. On the par-5 second hole, Piercy chipped to 4 feet to set up another birdie putt for Horschel.

Horschel returned the favor on the par-5 seventh with a chip to 3 feet and did even better on the 10th, dropping a 148-yard approach shot a foot from the hole.

Horschel’s 88-foot wedge out of a green-side bunker stopped less than 2 feet from the hole on the par-5 11th to set up his team’s final birdie – and that was just enough.

The team of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel finished third at 20 under. Tied for fourth at 19 under were the teams of Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Paisley, and Brice Garnett and Chesson Hadley.

Ko wins 15th LPGA title: Lydia Ko hit a 3-wood to 3 feet for eagle to finish off Minjee Lee on the first hole of a playoff in the chilly LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship

Ko won her 15th LPGA Tour title and first since July 2016, a 43-event stretch marked by changes in instructors, caddies and equipment and a large weight loss. Five days after turning 21, the New Zealander won for the third time at Lake Merced after taking the Swinging Skirts LPGA at the tree-lined layout in 2014 and 2015.

Twenty yards behind Lee in the fairway on the par-5 18th in the playoff, Ko hit a soaring 3-wood that cleared the tree limbs on the right, landed in front of the green and rolled inches by on the right side.