Expert Picks: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

With the opening tee shots struck on Thursday, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship becomes the first PGA TOUR event to be played twice in the same season in 70 years. But the way tournament director and head professional Jay Overton sees it, the 182 days that separate Hudson Swafford's win in September with Sunday's crowning of a champion are only part of the story. Consider this. When Corales Puntacana was postponed a year ago in March in the wake of the pandemic, the tournament was just two weeks away from being played. The grandstands and hospitality venues had already been erected. The course was roped off. The volunteers were ready to serve. All the work that goes into staging a PGA TOUR event had been completed - just as it was in September and again this week. But there was one important thing missing. "Now, keep in mind that the way I perceive it - and this is a more a sense when you have 100% build-out - this is the third event we’ve had in 365 days," Overton says. "We just didn’t have players the first time." Overton said that he and his staff started planning for this week's event the day after Swafford won in September. They made smart decisions, like storing as many things on site as possible rather than in warehouses 40 miles away. The quick turnaround - in tournament time, at least - proved beneficial. "If you think about it, all tournaments go from a calendar year to a calendar year and change volunteers, change rules, change protocols," Overton says. "But in this particular case, it’s almost an identical situation - limited spectators, limited volunteers. … "So, it’s just been so much smoother and so much easier because it’s still in everyone’s memory. Exactly what we did six months ago. I hadn’t really focused on that until I’ve seen what’s gone on this week. So, the volunteers haven’t forgotten what to do. A staff hadn’t forgotten what to do. "It really was an easy gear up and it’s just been fun." Overton says the resort contemplated closing the Tom Fazio-designed course for an extended period of time after the tournament in September due to the various worldwide travel bans. But enough property owners decided to stay on the island that the course remained open, and golf was played every day. The six months since Corales Puntacana was last played has also allowed the course to flourish. The growing time was needed after the supply chain for fertilizer and chemicals from the United States and Canada was shut down from April until August due to the pandemic, and their reserves depleted. "We had to use everything that we still had, or that we could gather on the Island, to get the course in as good a shape as we could for the event (in September)," Overton recalls. "In all honesty, we had about a three- month, four-month period there where we’re just trying to keep the course cut and survive. … "So, the course after the tournament was a little stressed out. I think you could see that probably on the weekend. But then things began to open up and we were able to get the course back. "I don’t think the course has been any better than it is this week. All the challenges that we had last year proceeding the tournament, we didn’t have those this year." Jordan Harris, one of the PGA TOUR rules officials on site this week, says the course has "rebounded tremendously" compared to where it was in September and calls the turf "excellent." So, there will be more flexibility with hole locations that will make the course play similarly to what is normally seen in March. And best of all, the players are back for the second time in six months. Overton says his phone was "ringing off the hook" with players wanting to play in September once the PGA TOUR announced its Return to Golf last summer. This week has been no different. Granted, there was some uncertainty at the time given that Corales Puntacana would be the TOUR's first international stop. But the precautions taken, and strict protocols observed - even down to those 12 tees and pencils handed out in sanitized baggies, Overton noted - made players feel more secure. Corales Puntacana also ushered in some semblance of normalcy on the PGA TOUR when a 20-team pro-am was played in September - the first since the Return to Golf began. There was strict coronavirus testing for the amateurs, as is the case this week for the Wednesday event that featured 42 teams. And has been the case on TOUR for the past month or so, a limited number of fans will be in attendance. No tickets were sold but invited guests, property owners and members will be allowed at Nos. 1, 9, 16, 17 and 18 where there will be bleachers around the green. Charley Hoffman, a member of the PGA TOUR Policy Board, says the safety measures in place eventually made him feel comfortable with traveling internationally to play in September. And those protocols, as well as the beauty of the island, prompted him come back this week. "I had big doubts that we’d ever be able to come down here in September," Hoffman admits. "Like I said, the safety that they — the Dominican did, and their tourism did to keep us safe out there was amazing. To throw on top of that a pro-am, and they tested everybody. "It was just nice to have some interaction back with the fans and the sponsors. It went on without a hitch and it was great to be back. This week, adding a few invited guests, it’s going to be nice to hear some claps and cheers, which I feed off of. "I think the majority of us, we would all rather play in front of a few fans, I think we can gain momentum from that or maybe even have them cheer us out of a rut we’re in." Swafford said he told his caddie earlier this week that it felt "kind of like yesterday we were here making a putt on No. 18 to win by a shot. And he was only half-kidding. Like Hoffman, he was worried about leaving the United States, but he and his wife "embraced" the opportunity to take a vacation and possibly find a degree of normalcy. Swafford was the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s as he broke a 4 ½-year victory drought. "It was unbelievable how the Dominican and Grupo Puntacana ran the event," Swafford says. "… It was truly incredible what they pulled off and accomplished as the first international event and really kind of broke away from the PGA bubble of having — you know, being stateside. I thought they did a phenomenal job and just looking forward to being back here."

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Webb Simpson had just shot 64 and was packing his things in the parking lot when he and his caddie, Paul Tesori, were asked how TPC Southwind was playing. “Harder,” Simpson said. “Really windy,” Tesori added. Indeed, Sunday put the wind in Southwind. That wind, plus a slow-play warning, brought chaos to the conclusion of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Harris English, who had looked in control after taking a two-shot lead into the back nine, hit tee shots into the water at the par-3 11th and 14th holes, double-bogeyed both, and suddenly there was a five-way tie at the top. He had one last gasp to save the tournament, but after dropping one more shot on 16 failed to birdie the 18th hole and walked away with a 3-over 73, one shot out of a playoff. “Yeah, we were warned on the front nine (to pick up the pace),” said English, who was trying to become the first three-time PGA TOUR winner this season (Sentry Tournament of Champions, Travelers Championship) and came into the week fifth in the FedExCup. “Kind of got behind, felt like we were running pretty much the whole round and never really caught up.” The final twosome was first warned on the fifth hole, English said. Bryson DeChambeau needing a ruling at the sixth didn’t help, and poor play by both players set them back even further. A left-to-right wind exacerbated anything that leaked right on 14, and a rushed English took his hand off the club as his tee shot never came close to finding land. It was the killing shot, allowing a handful of players back into the tournament and knocking English for a loop. “You definitely start the day in one rhythm and then you kind of get out of that having to walk faster, having to do everything a little faster because you don’t want to get a bad time,” he said. “It was tough, the wind was swirling obviously coming down the stretch, there was some very important shots in there and it was tough. But I’ve got to learn to slow down, go through my routine and not really worry about being put on the clock.” He missed a birdie try from just over 12 1/2 feet on 18. English was vying to surpass Collin Morikawa at FedExCup No. 1, and to be the third wire-to-wire to winner in this event after Tiger Woods (2000) and Stewart Cink (’04), both of whom accomplished the feat at Firestone South. Now he’ll move forward knowing that 63 really good holes were wiped out by a back-nine 40. “It’s just tough to rush like that,” he said. “We were getting warned on the front nine and it’s tough to catch up. I made double on 11, Bryson made triple, and you can’t catch up doing that. From 12 on I felt like we were running. “And it’s tough out there,” he continued. “The wind’s picking up. Obviously, there’s some really good pins out here. You’re trying to win a championship and it’s hard. I don’t really like speeding up like that or feeling like I’m rushed, but I’ve got to get better at that.”

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