Weekly Recap: Team Aussie Takes It

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is an event more reminiscent of golf's erstwhile "Silly Season" than the PGA Tour. You know, the old Skins Game, the Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge and the like. 

But while there were a lot of smiles during play at TPC Louisiana all week long, there was a bit of drama late on Sunday as the teams of Marc Leishman-Cameron Smith and Louis Oosthuizen-Charl Schwartzel battled for the title. The CBS crew did its best to pump up the volume, though a seemingly large gallery on hand was able to accomplish that all on its own.

But Oosthuizen sent his tee ball on the first playoff hole into the water, taking all the air out of the room and leading to the Australian team's victory.

The golfers don't receive world rankings points for this event, but they do get FedExCup points. Smith -- seemingly a lock for the Tour Championship -- is now third in the standings and Leishman 29th, moving inside the coveted top-30 line.

Smith has been playing well all season long, as his place in the standings illustrates. But it had been largely a down season for Leishman, at least until this month. He tied for fifth at the Masters and now has a sixth PGA Tour title. It's impossible to conclusively know how the results of the team event will translate to upcoming singles play, but Leishman has to be feeling good about the rest of his season.

For Smith, it's his second Zurich Classic title -- he won the inaugural event with Jonas Blixt in 2017 -- and third victory on Tour.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Louis Oosthuizen / Charl Schwartzel
There's a long way to go, but the second-place finish may be enough for Schwartzel to finish inside the top 125. He moved from 137th to 93rd. Oosthuizen is secure.

Richy Werenski / Peter Uihlein
It's been a huge two weeks for Uihlein, who won the Korn Ferry Tour's MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute and then locked up solo third with Werenski. They finished just one stroke out of the playoff. The Zurich result will go a long way in helping Uihlein regain his PGA Tour card. He jumped from 193rd to 149th in the standings, so he still has work to do. Werenski is clear, having won the Barracuda Championship last year. But he did snap a stretch of three straight missed cuts.

Brandt Snedeker / Keith Mitchell
This unlikely duo tied for fourth, moving Snedeker from 135th in the standings to 112th and Mitchell from 149th to 130th. You can see how important this event is to a lot of golfers.

Billy Horschel / Sam Burns
Horschel is a known commodity at TPC Louisiana, having won the Zurich Classic when it was a singles event in 2013 and also partnering with Scott Piercy to win in 2018. It was likely an invaluable week for the young Burns, much more than the cash and points he received for the T4. He had looked lost since losing his Sunday lead at Riviera in February, missing three straight cuts until a T39 last week at the RBC Heritage. Let's see if this gives Burns a boost in the coming weeks.

Xander Schauffele / Patrick Cantlay
These guys were the power couple of the week but never contended. They did close on a high note, shooting a Sunday 67 -- the best round of the day -- to tie for 11th.

Viktor Hovland / Kris Ventura
These childhood friends and former Oklahoma State teammates were in the mix for three rounds before tumbling down the leaderboard Sunday. In the third-to-last group, they were 5-over-par through 10 and closed at 6-over to finish tied for 25th. Ventura is 26 and Hovland is 23, so perhaps they needed a veteran presence when things began to go sideways on Sunday.

Jason Kokrak / Pat Perez
The two veterans imploded on the back nine Sunday, playing the final five holes in 5-over-par. Each of them hit into the water once and they tumbled to a tie for 21st. They had been humming along at 3-under on the day and were inside the top five. If they had simply played the final five holes at even par, they would've tied for fourth. It was a very expensive hour and a half, especially for Perez, who began the week 130th in the standings and had a chance to climb well inside the top 125. Instead he's now 131st.

David Hearn / Zack Sucher
Hearn has played the tournament all four years, with three different partners, and has made the cut every time. He notched a top-25 with fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet in 2017, top-10s with Seamus Power in 2018-19 and then, after Power withdrew Tuesday, a solo 32nd with Sucher. Hearn must be a great partner.

Kevin Kisner / Scott Brown
This had been one of the most successful duos since this became team event, as they lost in a playoff in 2017, held the 54-hole lead in 2018 and tied for fifth in 2019. But with Kisner struggling, a similar result was unlikely. A missed cut was an absolute surprise, though, perhaps signifying that Kisner's recent poor play runs deeper than we thought.

Sungjae Im / Byeong Hun An
You'd think that when a star player teams with a lesser player -- at least one playing poorly now -- he'd have the ability to at least carry that team to the weekend. Not so here.

Scott Piercy / Akshay Bhatia
Who could've possibly seen this missed cut coming?

Lower on the Leaderboard

Bo Hoag-Wes Roach, Kiradech Aphibarnrat-Arjun Atwal, James Hahn-Martin Trainer, Kevin Stadler-Johnson Wagner, Hunter Mahan-Bill Haas, Collin Morikawa-Matthew Wolff, Matt Every-Charlie Beljan, Ricky Barnes-D.J. Trahan, Ben Taylor-Rhein Gibson.

One of these teams is not like the other and, while we have every confidence you'd have guessed which one, we highlighted it. Of the bottom nine duos that missed the cut, only three golfers are ranked in the top 150 in the world. Hahn is now 149th. But the other two are actually ranked much higher. You'd think when you pair the No. 4 golfer in the world with one who was recently top-15, it's tantamount to unfair. But not with the way Wolff's season has gone. There was always the chance that Wolff would be rejuvenated teaming with a friend and contemporary, but that didn't come close to happening.