Zurich Classic of NOLA: Memorable moments

Want to make sure your event ranks high in one of these Memorable Moments photo galleries? Have someone hole out to beat Greg Norman. So, taking his chronological place behind Bob Tway (1986 PGA), Larry Mize (1987 Masters) and Robert Gamez (1990 Bay Hill) is David Frost (1990 New Orleans). Frost and Norman were tied at 11 under with Norman in the clubhouse and Frost on the 18th tee. Frost pulled his tee shot into a fairway bunker, then hit his approach into a greenside bunker. Needing to get up and down to force a playoff, he holed the shot, leaving Norman thinking, “Not again!”

Chris Couch’s week in New Orleans had gotten off to a bad start, with him ending up in a seedy part of town and having to call police for help. Now, on tournament Sunday, he was watching his lead try its best to slip away. He had to make a 12-foot putt to save bogey on 17, and now here he was in a muddy bunker on 18, with an awkward, nasty, downhill lie. He failed to get the ball to the green, advancing it to the rough, but now he needed to get up and down for a bogey that would get him into a playoff. Instead, he holed out from 55 feet for his first PGA Tour win.

In 1995 New Orleans was the last tournament before the Masters, and Davis Love III needed a win to get in. He got it, but he did it the hard way, making bogeys on the last two holes of regulation to fall into a tie with Mike Heinen, then winning with a birdie on the second extra hole. Oh, and Love made good use of his ticket to Augusta, closing with a 66 to finish one shot behind Ben Crenshaw. That was as close as Love has ever come to winning a green jacket.

It’s an understatement to say that 2004 was a good year for Vijay Singh. He won nine tournaments, topped $10 million in single-season earnings, and supplanted Tiger Woods as the No. 1-ranked player in the world. Singh’s third win of that year came at New Orleans, and the notoriously hard worker had to work extra hard for it. He overcame a six-shot deficit in the last eight holes to post a back-nine 29 and a final-round 63 and nip Phil Mickelson and Joe Ogilvie by one shot.

No South American had won on the PGA Tour since Roberto De Vicenzo at the 1968 Houston Champions International. Carlos Franco ended that 31-year drought when he won in New Orleans in 1999, topping Steve Flesch and Harrison Frazar by two shots. “I’m pretty sure I’ll get a parade,” the Paraguayan said. “Maybe more than that.”

Four years after Se Ri Pak put Korean women’s golf on the map by winning the U.S. Women’s Open, K.J. Choi became the first Korean man to win on the PGA Tour. How big a deal was it in South Korea? Korean TV bought the rights to televise the final round, showing Choi putting out for a four-shot win at 7 a.m. local time. When he returned to his home country, he got not one parade, but two.

With three majors and ranked seventh all-time on the PGA Tour win list, Billy Casper has been called the most underrated golfer in Tour history. The last of his 51 wins came in New Orleans, when he was 43. He shot 17-under 271 to finish two shots ahead of Peter Oosterhuis. It was Casper’s second win in the New Orleans Tour stop, coming 17 years after he beat Ken Venturi in a playoff in 1958.

Carlos Franco enjoyed winning in New Orleans in 1999 so much, he did it again in 2000. Franco made a 5-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole to tie Blaine McAllister, then won with another par putt on the second extra hole. “The trophy is very nice,” Franco said. “It’s for my wife. I like the money.”

Golf stories that include a double hit rarely end well – isn’t that right, T.C. Chen? But this one had a happy ending. Playing the 14th hole on Sunday, Westwood attempted to putt from the rough just off the green. The ball popped up and came down on his putter – a double hit. After taking his penalty stroke, he calmly rolled in his bogey putt. How did he stay so calm? Easy – he had a five-shot lead at the time. He cruised home for his first PGA Tour win.

The Zurich Classic officially became a team event in 2017. Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith joined forces to win, and got all the perks as it counted as an official victory and official earnings.