Reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay set records on Friday, but the US duo of Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler held the clubhouse lead at the PGA Zurich Classic.
Defending champions Cantlay and Schauffele, ranked fourth and fifth in the world respectively, combined to shoot a tournament-record foursomes round of nine-under par 63 in the second round of the only PGA pairs event.
“Xander putted great and hit a lot of really nice wedge shots and pitches,” Cantlay said. “Left me three feet and in a couple times and made a bunch of mid-range 15-20 footers, which is exactly what you need to do to shoot 9-under par.”
Clark and Hossler, who opened with a 61 in four-ball (best ball) to share the 18-hole lead, added a 67 to seize the clubhouse lead at 16-under 128, one stroke ahead of compatriots Doc Redman and Sam Ryder and South Korean Im Sung-jae and American Keith Mitchell at TPC of Louisiana in Avondale.
Also on 15-under with three holes to play were Americans Nick Hardy and Davis Riley, among those trying to finish in the wake of a storm delay that lasted just over 2 1/2 hours.
Americans Schauffele and Cantlay were on 130 along with Americans Sean O’Hair and Brandon Matthews, France’s Martin Trainer and American Chad Ramey and Americans Taylor Moore and Matthew NeSmith.
Schauffele and Cantlay, who won two matches together at last year’s Presidents Cup and the 2021 Ryder Cup, combined for seven birdies and an eagle.
That broke the old 18-hole pairs foursomes record of 65 set by Spain’s Jon Rahm — the top-ranked Masters winner who is off ahead of next week’s PGA Mexico Open title defense — and American Ryan Palmer in 2019 and matched last year by Australians Jason Day and Jason Scrivener and South Africans Branden Grace and Garrick Higgo.
“Xander is really good, and I can play well,” Cantlay said. “It helps that we’re friends, but when you get two world-class players together and we both have a day where we’re on like today, we can post a low one.”
Cantlay and Schauffele, who won last year with a 72-hole record 29-under 259 total, started on the 10th hole Friday with back-to-back birdies.
They followed with birdies at 13 and 16 and eagled the par-5 18th to set a nine-hole tournament foursomes record with a 30 — a mark later matched by Hardy and Riley.
“Pat sent a drive right down the center, left me 256 yards and hit a hybrid up on the green,” Schauffele said. “He didn’t need any help reading the putt. He just knocked it right in.”
They also birdied the first and second holes and added another at the fifth.
Clark and Hossler, also back-nine starters, birdied the par-5 11th and par-4 13th, then the par-5 second and par-4 fourth. They birdied the par-5 seventh after the delay.
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