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AVONDALE, La. – Among the many elements making the Zurich Classic of New Orleans’ team format so distinctive is an intangible not usually present at individual stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR. Chemistry. With 80 two-man teams to start the week, the dynamic between partners can be a determining factor on which team holds up the new Fleur-de-lis crystal trophy after the final putt drops Sunday at TPC Louisiana. “I think chemistry helps,â€� said Billy Horschel, the defending champion along with teammate Scott Piercy. “Do you need it to play good team golf? No. But I think if you do have a good strong chemistry with somebody and get along and there’s a good mojo between you two, I think it can only enhance the teamwork-type deal…we all want to play great for our teammates.â€� That’s especially true on Friday and Sunday when Foursomes are played in the second and final rounds. Under the alternate-shot format, no player wants to leave his partner in a bad spot by hitting a poor drive. And certainly no player wants to miss a short birdie attempt after his partner just stuck an approach inside 5 feet. Without the right chemistry, without confidence in each other, a partnership can be strained if players are constantly having to bail out each other. Although they’ve yet to win, the tandem of Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown has played about as well as any since the team format was instituted in 2017. They lost in a playoff two years ago to Cameron Smith-Jonas Blixt, and last year were the 54-hole leaders before stumbling to a 77 in the final round. In their previous seven rounds before that, they were 47 under. It helps that they’ve known each other for 25-plus years. They were traveling roommates when starting their pro careers on the mini-tours and then the Web.com Tour. They’re practice partners in the off-season back home in Aiken, South Carolina, and they also spend plenty of time together off the course – or, as Brown described, “We hang out all the time.â€� That chemistry is one of the primary reasons they entered Thursday’s first round of Four-balls as one of the favorites. “Tons of camaraderie,â€� Kisner explained. “That helps out there when you’re trying to win a tournament or just from a teammate or partnership. It’s nice to know each other’s games so well.â€� Added Brown: “More so than anything, the bad shots don’t make us very upset at each other because we’ve seen each other’s bad shots on an everyday basis when we’re at home. We just kind of go out there and do our things like we do at home.â€� As for the defending champs, Piercy was born and raised in Las Vegas and attended college in San Diego; Horschel, meanwhile, is a Florida native. While they didn’t grown up together like Brown and Kisner did, they have become close friends since turning pro. Piercy didn’t play the Zurich Classic in 2017, while Horschel partnered with fellow University of Florida alum Matt Every and missed the cut. When Piercy put Zurich on his 2018 schedule, they decided to hook up. Their chemistry strikes a perfect balance – the emotional, talkative Horschel and the laid-back casual vibes of Piercy. It even extends to TPC Louisiana. Horschel loves the course, having won in 2013 when the Zurich Classic was an individual stroke-play event. Piercy, meanwhile, had missed the cut six times in his eight starts prior to last season. But now that he’s part of a team, he has a much more positive outlook since he can avoid some of the shots that have previously given him trouble. “I’ll say as an individual stroke-play event, this hasn’t been my favorite course,â€� Piercy said. “But a lot of the shots that I haven’t liked, Billy hits – and they’re mainly on odd holes. “For me, the chemistry that I feel from Billy’s vibe here, because he likes it so much, I’ll say that it picks me up and it makes me feel good.â€� Said Horschel: “I love being here. I have good vibes whenever I step on this golf course.â€� Added Piercy: “He’s riding cloud 9 around this place. He loves it. So it’s nice to get on that cloud with him.â€� While some teams have established chemistry, others are trying to build chemistry. In fact, that’s one of the big goals this week for International Team Captain Ernie Els. Not only is he playing with fellow South African (and assistant captain) Trevor Immelman, Els had a hand in determining some of the teams involving players who may be on his 12-man roster for the Presidents Cup in Australia this December. Not included the Els-Immelman tandem, there are 13 teams in which both players represent International Team countries. Els hopes whatever chemistry is developed by some of those teams this week at TPC Louisiana will carry over for the rest of the year. Getting accustomed to the Foursomes and Four-balls formats is also key to that chemistry building. At the 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National, the International Team trailed 14-1/2 to 3-1/2 after the completion of all Foursomes and Four-ball sessions, as the Americans nearly clinched victory prior to Sunday’s Singles. The International Team had a 7-1/2 to 4-1/2 advantage on a final day in which the outcome essentially was already determined. “We cannot win the Cup if we don’t play these disciplines very well,â€� Els said. “Foursomes and Four-ball is very important to winning the Presidents Cup in December. “Now, saying that, not all our players are here. We’re trying out some selections. Some of the guys just want to play together…we’ll see how it goes. We’ve got another plan when we get to December.â€� That plan, no doubt, will rely heavily on the chemistry built this week.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Improbable shots abounded on one of the most stressful days of the PGA TOUR season. Sunday’s final round of the Wyndham Championship is the last day for players to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 125 after the final putt drops – in this case, Henrik Stenson’s 3-footer for a one-shot victory – earn their berths into golf’s postseason, and many players need to be among that elite group to retain their full playing privileges for the following season. Both title hopes and jobs are on the line, a drama-inducing combination. A hole-in-one, a 60-footer from the fringe and unlikely birdies at the last hole all helped players qualify for next week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST, the postseason opener. And all these shots happened Sunday on Sedgefield’s final three holes. J.J. Henry narrowly grabbed the 125th spot in the FedExCup standings, and he did it by the slimmest of margins. He finished just 1.13 FedExCup points ahead of No. 126 Zac Blair. Henry birdied two of his final three holes to sneak into the top 125, including a 5-foot birdie putt on Sedgefield Country Club’s demanding finishing hole. “I’m very proud of the way I finished today,â€� Henry said. “I’ve won three times and played on a Ryder Cup team, and it was probably some of the most pressure I’ve felt, playing today.â€� Henry was one of four players to crack the top 125 at the Wyndham Championship. Martin Flores, Rory Sabbatini and Harold Varner III joined him. Both Henry and Sabbatini, who holed a 58-foot birdie putt from the fringe on No. 16, made the top 125 without a shot to spare. Sabbatini shot 64 on Sunday to finish T4. Four players were bounced out of the FedExCup Playoffs to make room for the successful foursome. Blair, David Hearn, Seamus Power and Daniel Summerhays were the unfortunate foursome. Flores shot Sunday’s low score, a 7-under 63. He made a hole-in-one on the 175-yard 16th and a birdie on No. 18, where he hit his 140-yard approach shot to 8 feet. “I just kept telling myself, ‘You have to make it. I don’t care what you have to do. Just find a way to make it,’â€� he said of his final putt. He pumped his fist after sinking his 8-foot birdie putt at the last hole, then got emotional during his post-round interview on CBS. “I knew exactly what I needed to do,â€� he said. “I did everything I could today and I’m really proud of how I played.â€� There were other players who saw their postseason hopes slip away on the final day. Shane Lowry, winner of the 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, shot 67 on Sunday but finished one shot outside the top 125. Johnson Wagner started Sunday in fifth place thanks to an albatross and two eagles in his first three rounds. His final-round 74 dashed his hopes of leaping into the Playoffs from 141st in the FedExCup standings. Wagner’s bogey at the reachable par-5 15th, where he hit his 215-yard second shot in the water, gave Henry his slim advantage over Blair because it dropped Wagner behind Henry, who’d already finished his round, on the leaderboard. Blair, who began the week ranked 120th in the FedExCup, had to follow the final round from his hotel room after missing Saturday’s cut; he lipped out birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 17 to finish two shots outside the 54-hole cut. What Blair saw on television was one of the most dramatic finales to the Wyndham Championship in recent memory. More than a half-dozen players were hoping to make Hail Mary runs into the postseason, including 53-year-old Davis Love III, who started the final round in sixth place. Sam Saunders’ first FedExCup Playoffs berth was within reach as well. He shot 1 over par on the weekend (72-69) after starting the tournament with rounds of 63 and 68, finishing two shots short of the cut line. “It was the least enjoyable round of golf I’ve ever played in my life,â€� Saunders said. “You don’t know if you’re going to throw up or have a heart attack. It’s worse than trying to win a tournament, tenfold. … I’ve never had to birdie one hole to change my life for the entire year. And that just kills me.â€� Geoff Ogilvy was the man who started Wyndham week at No. 125 in the FedExCup standings. Ogilvy, winner of the 2006 U.S. Open and three World Golf Championships, said the stress of defending his Playoffs spot inspired some of the best golf of his life. He had to birdie five of his final seven holes Friday just to make the cut. He shot 6-under 29 on Sunday’s front nine, including a hole-out from 93 yards for eagle on No. 8. “If I wasn’t on (No. 125), I probably would have turned that front nine into a low-60s round. I felt like I was playing that well,â€� he said. “There’s a level of tension and stress in your body that’s on a different level when you’re in that position. “This is a different sort of pressure and a more uncomfortable type of pressure than trying to win a tournament. My body felt (bad) all week. You just don’t feel right.â€� Now his focus turns to winning the FedExCup. He has high hopes that moving inside the top 100 after THE NORTHERN TRUST could ignite a run to the TOUR Championship. He has two runners-up at TPC Boston, site of the second Playoffs event, the Dell Technologies Championship. “You can be right on the razor’s edge, one round away from going home, and then have a chance to go to Atlanta,â€� Ogilvy said. “That’s the cool thing about the FedExCup.”

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