Rory McIlroy has missed matching fellow Grand Slam champion Gene Sarazen in joining the American in winning a first event since last fortnight’s Masters triumph.

Had McIlroy and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry successfully defended their Zurich Classic title it would have meant McIlroy joining Sarazan as the only player in the games history to win in their very next event after capturing the Grand Slam.

Sarazen did that in 1935 by winning the Massachusetts Open in his very next start after completing the Career Grand Slam in also winning the 1935 Masters.

“Yeah, it’s been a fun week”, said McIlroy after ending their week at TPC Louisiana.

“I think when we went back out after the delay, we felt like we still had a good chance, and we didn’t make birdie on 11, and then we bogeyed 13 again for the second time this week.

“Yeah, just didn’t really have any momentum from when we started back up again, and it was difficult to just sort of get anything. We noticed the greens got pretty fast and pretty firm after the delay, too, so got a little tougher.

“Overall it’s been a good week. It’s always good to team up with this man. We’ve had fun.”

Final-Round Notes – Sunday, April 27, 2025

Americans Andrew Nova and Ben Griffin share the Zurich Classic winning honours. Image PGA Tour

Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 86. Wind SSE 7-12 mph. Play was suspended due to inclement weather at 2:42 p.m. CT and resumed at 4:15 p.m., a delay of 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Final-Round Leaderboard

Andrew Novak/Ben Griffin (1^st/-28)

• At 28-under, finish one stroke ahead of Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
• Since the team format was introduced in 2017, join Cameron Smith (2017 with Jonas Blixt) and Nick Hardy/Davis Riley (2023) as players winning their first career PGA TOUR title at the event
• Become the fourth of eight winning teams who held the 54-hole lead/co-lead; the others: 2022/Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele, 2019/Ryan Palmer/Jon Rahm, 2017/Jonas Blixt/Cameron Smith
• Each receives 400 FedExCup points, $1,329,400, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR (through 2027) and entry into the three remaining Signature Events and the PGA Championship

Andrew Novak – with this victory

• Earns his first PGA TOUR title in his 100^th start at the age of 30 years, 27 days.
• Moves from No. 15 to No. 6 in the FedExCup standings.
• Improves to 1-for-2 with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/2^nd).
• Wins one week after a playoff loss to Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage and now has four top-three finishes in 14 starts this season; the others: 3^rd/Farmers Insurance Open, T3/Valero Texas Open.
• Becomes the first player to lose in a playoff and win the following week since Patrick Cantlay at the 2022 RBC Heritage and Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
• Previous-best finishes on TOUR: 2025 RBC Heritage (P2) and 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship (2^nd).
• Wins in his fourth start at the Zurich Classic (2024/Davis Thompson/T23, 2023/Trevor Cone/MC, 2022/Max McGreevy/MC).
• Only other PGA TOUR-sanctioned title: 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic (Korn Ferry Tour)

Ben Griffin – with this victory

• Earns his first PGA TOUR title in his 90^th start at the age of 28 years, 11 months, 21 days

• Moves from No. 47 to No. 21 in the FedExCup standings
• Improves to 1-for-3 with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (2023 Sanderson Farms Championship/P2, 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/T3)
• Previous-best finishes on TOUR: 2024 RBC Canadian Open (2^nd) and 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship (P2)
• Owns four top-10s in 14 starts this season; the others: T7/The American Express, T4/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, T4/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches
• Wins in his third start at the Zurich Classic (2024/Taylor Montgomery/MC, 2023/Ryan Gerard/MC)
• Only other PGA TOUR-sanctioned title: 2018 Staal Foundation Open (PGA TOUR Canada)

Additional Team Notes

• In their second year as partners (MC/2024), Denmark twins Nicolai/Rasmus Højgaard finish runner-up;
  • Nicolai has three runner-up finishes on TOUR (2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans/2^nd, 2024 Farmers Insurance Open/2^nd, 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship/2^nd)
  • Rasmus earns his third top-10 finish on TOUR (2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans/2^nd, 2022 Genesis Scottish Open/T10, 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship/6^th)
• Jake Knapp/Frankie Capan III, each making their tournament debut, finish solo-third:
  • Capan earns his first top-10 finish on TOUR in 16 career starts (previous-best: T12/2025 American Express)
  • 2024 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld champion Knapp finishes runner-up for the first time in 40 TOUR starts.
• Rory McIlroy/Shane Lowry finish T12 in bid to become the first team to successfully defend their title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans; with a win, McIlroy would have joined Gene Sarazen (1935 Massachusetts Open) as the only players to win in their first start after completing the Career Grand Slam
• PGA TOUR rookies Isaiah Salinda/Kevin Velo finish T8 after holding the 18- and 36-hole lead