Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak team up to win Zurich Classic for their first PGA Tour wins

USA Today

28-04-2025

Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak team up to win Zurich Classic for their first PGA Tour wins
Winning on the PGA Tour hasn't been easy for Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin. In their 100th and 89th Tour event respectively, they finally took care of business in the Big Easy, winning the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday by one stroke over Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Novak and Griffin birdied the 71st hole to break a tie and closed in 1-under 71 in the foursomes format at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana, for a 72-hole total of 28-under 260. Griffin pumped his fist and then searched for his caddie and partner for the celebration.
"The reaction said it all," Griffin said.
The Zurich Classic is a 72-hole stroke play format featuring four-ball (best ball) during the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) during the second and final rounds.
Griffin and Novak held the 54-hole lead by three strokes but bogeyed three holes on the front nine and had to grind out victory on the back nine.
The winning duo, who have played a lot of golf together over the years as residents of Saint Simons Island, Georgia, bogeyed the first but bounced back with a birdie at the second. Novak rammed in a 47-foot birdie putt at the fifth to stretch the lead back to three strokes. But they had to sit out a 93-minute weather delay due to lightning.
When play resumed, Griffin and Novak missed an 18-foot par putt at No. 8 and followed with another bogey at nine, shrinking their lead to one at the turn and Capan and Knapp caught them with a birdie at 10.
It was down to wire with three teams duking it out late on Sunday for the title. The team of identical brothers from Denmark – Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard – trailed by a stroke and needed to make something happen at 18. It looked over when Rasmus blew his tee shot left and couldn't do better than birdie for a 68.
Frankie Capan III and Jake Knapp shared the lead and had the honor at the 183-yard par-3 17th. They hadn't made a bogey all day until Capan, a 25-year-old rookie, tugged his tee shot into the water and the best they could do was salvage bogey. They closed in 70 and finished third.
Novak stepped up next and his tee shot hit left of the hole and barely stayed dry, hanging on to the fringe. Novak spread his right hand across his heart as CBS's Trevor Immelman noted, 'My heart skipped a beat.' It soared again when Griffin poured in a 35-foot birdie putt to build a two-stroke lead.
"The wheels were coming off and I was having some issues out of the weather delay but we kept it together and that putt on 17 was unbelievable," Novak said.