Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay held off the challenge of Billy Horschel and Sam Burns to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
Schauffele and Cantlay saw their five-shot lead cut to a single stroke as they stumbled around the turn, but held their nerve on the back nine to close out victory at TPC Louisiana.
A final round of 72 in Sunday’s foursomes gave the Ryder Cup team-mates a winning total of 29 under par, with Horschel and Burns two shots behind following a 68.
Schauffele and Cantlay looked in control of the tournament when they responded to early birdies from Horschel and Burns with an eagle on the seventh to restore their overnight cushion.
A combination of bogeys on the ninth and 10th from the leaders and birdies on the 10th and 11th from their nearest rivals meant the gap was down to one, but Schauffele and Cantlay steadied the ship with a birdie on the 11th.
The lead was back to three when Burns and Horschel bogeyed the 17th and Schauffele and Cantlay could afford to be unconcerned with their own closing bogey as they completed a wire-to-win success.
“It’s awesome,” Schauffele told CBS. “I said earlier this week if there’s any success I could share with someone it’d be Pat so I’m happy we could get it done.”
Cantlay, who lost a play-off to Jordan Spieth in the RBC Heritage last week, added: “It was a great week. We had a lot of fun, both on and off the golf course, and we’re really happy to get it done.”
Shane Lowry and Ian Poulter finished in 13th after a final round 70 left the duo on 21-under for the tournament, eight shots back of the winners. Seamus Power and Graeme McDowell had failed to make the cut earlier on in the week.
On the DP World Tour, Pablo Larrazabal produced a brilliant final round of 62 to claim the seventh tour title of his career, and a first on home soil, in the ISPS Handa Championship.
Larrazabal recorded nine birdies and a solitary bogey despite the windy conditions at Infinitum’s Lakes Course to finish 15 under par, a shot ahead of fellow Spaniard Adrian Otaegui.
Otaegui, who had shared the lead after 54 holes with Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and South African Hennie Du Plessis, had an eagle putt on the par-five 18th to force a play-off, but was unable to hole from 25 feet.
Du Plessis and Cockerill shared third place on 13 under, Cockerill paying the price for a costly double bogey on the 10th after starting the final round with three straight birdies.
Larrazabal began the round three shots off the pace but picked up shots on the fourth and seventh before making five birdies in a row from the ninth to surge into the lead.
A bogey on the difficult 15th meant there was briefly a four-way tie for the lead, but Larrazabal holed from long range for birdie on the par-five 16th and two-putted the 18th for another to set a target which proved impossible to match.
“I knew my golf was there,” the 38-year-old, who won the MyGolfLife Open in South Africa six weeks ago, told Sky Sports.
“I couldn’t make any putts the first three days but I told my girlfriend last night that she had to choose the clothing for the (victory) pictures. I knew that I had a low one in my bag and that’s what I did.
“To shoot 62 in windy conditions with a few Sunday flags out there was good. It’s been quite emotional but I kept the nerves down and concentrated and managed to finish the job.”
Niall Kearney was the only Irish finisher in Spain, his final effort of 72 saw him end up in a tie for 67th on two-over.
In California, both Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow had failed to reach the weekend at the LA Open.
Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Zurich Classic of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana, United States of America
(USA unless stated, Par 72):
259 Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele 59 68 60 72
261 Sam Burns & Billy Horschel 62 68 63 68
264 Doc Redman & Sam Ryder 61 67 69 67
265 Keegan Bradley & Brendan Steele 64 71 63 67, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) & Branden Grace (Rsa) 64 65 63 73, Matthew NeSmith & Taylor Moore 60 73 64 68, Aaron Rai (Eng) & David Lipsky 61 67 65 72, Bubba Watson & Harold Varner III 62 71 64 68, Will Zalatoris & Davis Riley 64 71 64 66
266 Jason Day (Aus) & Jason Scrivener (Aus) 65 65 63 73, Justin Lower & Dylan Wu 64 69 63 70, Cameron Tringale & Wyndham Clark 62 67 65 72
267 Shane Lowry (Irl) & Ian Poulter (Eng) 64 69 64 70
268 Ryan Brehm & Mark Hubbard 65 69 62 72, Tyler Duncan & Adam Schenk 64 72 63 69, Sungjae Im (Kor) & Byeong Hun An (Kor) 65 69 64 70, Justin Rose (Eng) & Henrik Stenson (Swe) 66 70 63 69
270 Hank Lebioda & Chase Seiffert 63 70 65 72, Matt Wallace (Eng) & Sam Horsfield (Eng) 64 70 65 71, Scottie Scheffler & Ryan Palmer 64 72 63 71
