Andrew Novak, Ben Griffin (-28) win 2025 Zurich Classic | Final Round Recap

Trevor Immelman, Patrick McDonald, and Doug Bell join CBS Sports HQ to recap the Final Round of the 2025 Zurich Classic.

[00:00:00] 2025 Zurich Classic Final Round Results
[00:04:06] FedexCup Standings
[00:04:35] Recap Part 1 with Trevor Immelman & Patrick McDonald
[00:08:55] Recap Part 2 with Patrick McDonald & Doug Bell

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Final round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana, where danger always lurks. Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin, your favorites to get it done. A threeshot lead entering the final day of play. Both looking for their first career victories. The horn sounded once again for a second consecutive day. Play suspended at 2:42 local time due to inclement weather, but eventually would resume at 4:15. And at the resumption of play, backto back bogeies for Novak and Ben Griffin. Just like that, their lead shrunken to one. Jake Knap and Frankie Sappin trying to take advantage. A birdie look at the par4 10th. The sweet swinging nap to the bottom from 8 ft. Now a share of the lead and a smile at 27 under. Nap looking for a second win. Sappen winless to this point. How about the twins Nikolai and Rasmus Hoygard making a Sunday charge this one from range 42 feet for Nikolai the brothers Hoygard now just one off the lead to the par 416th from 27 ft Rasmus trying to do the same but this one hangs on the edge would be a tapin par efforts thwarted as they would run out of holes and run into issues at the 72nd hole they finish at 27 under Rory Maroy Shane Lowry your defend defending champions trying to go back to back but just stuck in neutral until the last at the par 51 18th going out in style a birdie for an even par 72 they finished T12 still basking in the glow of M’s glorious Mroy back to the parties at 27 under here at the par 31 17th uh Sappin better learn how to swim started on a bad line and moving left that one’s wet at. So the door opened for Novak and Griffin to take square control of this tournament. After the Novak approach, Griffin, the unlikely birdie got it. Dead weight from 34 ft and a fist pump. A solo lead at 28 under. It would be a twoshot lead after a bogey there from Nap and Sappen. Novak and Griffin just needing to par at the last for their first career victory. Side by side and they do it. A tap-in from Benny G and a win for the pair. First career win for both in a combined 190 starts on the PGA Tour. What a moment for that pair at 28 under. Winners here at the Zurich Classic. Specific to Novak, he becomes the first player to lose in a playoff and win the following week since 2022 when Patrick Kentlay did it on the same one two step. RBC lost in a playoff, a win at the Zurich. Trevor Immelman asked the question, “What team is going to go out there and grab this victory?” It felt like that’s exactly what you did on 17. Take me into that 35-footer for birdie. Yeah, you know, um, fortunately, we had a little upper hand there on 17, so I knew he had a good opportunity and honestly that putt I’m just trying to lag it up there close for Andrew. Obviously, I took a took a line that I thought I’d make it and fortunately hit it on it and it fell to the center and uh, yeah, the reaction says it all. It certainly did, Andrew. Considering the season you’ve had, the week you’re coming off of, this kind of felt inevitable. How did you use your past experiences so far this season to turn what was just a dream into reality? I’m really I’m really glad I had Ben to guide me through it today. I was wheels were coming off. I was having some issues, especially after the weather delay, but he played awesome. Uh we kept it together. You know, that putt on 17 was unbelievable, and I’m glad we got it done. This is something you guys said you’ve dreamed of your whole lives. Enjoy this one. You two have absolutely earned it. We definitely will. Getting by with a little help from friends. Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin. Both winners on the PGA Tour after solid seasons to this point. Had six combined top 10 finishes coming into this week. And now a win a piece for Griffin and Novak. Time now for your FedEx Cupdate presented by FedEx where now meets next. And you might know the name there. sitting at six. We said it’s been productive that and then some for Andrew Novak who moves into sixth place with this win at the Zurich. It’s his first professional victory since winning on the Cornferry tour all the way back in 2020. That’s your FedEx Cup update. First word goes to Patrick McDonald, CBS Sports writer. Patrick, I’m always uh taken back by your ability to synthesize the complex into a palatable ideas here and Sunday threw a little bit of everything at us. How do you put this one into words? It it was uh it was tough to watch at some points, Muso. There was a lot of good golf, a lot of bad golf. You saw the nerves of a couple guys trying to win their first PGA Tour events. We saw through the first 54 holes, this team of Novak and Griffin were by far the best team there in Louisiana. And they were dealt with some adversity there right out of that rain delay. The bogey on number eight was really poor. The bogey on number nine even worse with that short miss from Novak. But you saw them ride the ship really well. And I I think that was kind of emblematic of these guys’ careers. Couple guys in their late 20s. Novak up to six in the FedEx Cup standings. This is a guy who had to play through the FedEx Cup fall. He’s been in the final pairing in his last three tournaments. And Griffin, a guy who stepped away from golf and coming back. It was just really emblematic, I felt, of their careers. A big moment for both Patrick McDonald. We appreciate the thoughts here on CBS Sports HQ. You take a look at Novak over his last three events. Only one place to go. Third, second, and a win following that near miss at the RBC a week ago. Side by side with Ben Griffin. Now a winner at the Zurich Classic. Post round is presented by the latest P790 irons from Tailor Made. Trevor Ilman joining us from the Super Tower. Trevor, this was less than linear our route to victory here for this pair at the Zurich. How do you put into words all that this day threw at us? Well, it was so interesting cuz we had the delay. We had a delay both days on end. And after the restart, it seemed like Novak and Griffin didn’t quite have their best up. They were just hanging in there. Andrew just said to Amanda that he felt like the wheels were coming off, but his partner held him in there. And what a putt and a timely putt for Ben Griffin to make on 17 from 34t 9 in right into the heart. And then they played 18 exactly the way they needed to. Really impressive stuff from these guys in the end to get their first win. I tell you what, man. I these guys are legitimate players. They have been playing extremely well for the last couple seasons. Like you just mentioned, Novak has been banging on that door trying to get his first win. And it’s great to see him do it and see all the hard work pay off. We’ve talked about it a bunch throughout this week, Trevor. It’s interesting as you allude to there, six top 10s between these two coming into this week. Both right around that 90 100 starts in their career. Both still efering that first win. How were they able to maybe, as you said, hold each other up and walk across that finish line together? Well, there was they got a bit of help from the guys they were playing against. Nobody was really making too many moves. I will preface that by saying this is a very difficult format. This alternate shot. It’s tough to get any real momentum and rhythm out there. And so nobody was really coming at them and they were able to just b their time and wait for something good to happen. They got good breaks at 16 with that ball not kicking down into the water. 17 again was really really close on Novak’s T-shot and then they took that opportunity with a putt. Uh but you know I kind of feel like they deserve it. They started the day with a three shot lead. Squandered it around the turn. Eight and nine was pretty messy with the two bogeies there, but they found just what they needed at just the right time. Specific to Novak, he does the can’t lay in 22. That’s a runner up at the RBC to only win the next week here at the Zurich. We talk about wins serving as springboards at times. Trevor, how do you take a shared success this week and take it as individual momentum moving forward? Yeah, I think it’ll feel the same for the both of them. They’ve had these opportunities. They’ve had a couple seconds each player, a bunch of top fives, but just not quite able to get across the the winning line. Uh, and they’re absolutely going to be building on this. And now the spoils that come with getting this win. They’ll both be teeing it up in the signature events. They’ll both be in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in a few weeks time. So now they’re going to really be able to go to these big big tournaments knowing that they’re in form. They’re coming in with a ton of confidence. And so I I I see them playing well, continuing to play well now that they have this extra little boost of confidence. Always on form, the great Trevor Imlman, we appreciate you stopping by as always, pal. Thank you. Post round is presented by the latest P790 irons from Tailor Made. Patrick McDonald attorney to the conversation. Doug Bell on the grounds offering his perspective as well. Doug, I’m coming to you first here. It was an interesting Sunday here with our stoppage and the resumption of play that seemed to throw everybody into the blender for a moment. What’s your biggest takeaway here from the last five hours of play? Well, first and foremost, uh Rory Maroy is the most popular golfer in the world, and the Zurich Classic needs him to come back every year. Uh the galleries, Joe, are enormous. I mean, this is like a major championship gallery following him and Shane Lowry. Now, they didn’t respond today, uh, which to me was a little bit of a surprise, even though, uh, we we saw some good plays from some other players, but my take is there’s a lot of young players after that rain delay that came back tight. We saw some shots in the water and we saw some young guys who had opportunities that faltered down the stretch. They will learn from that, Joe. Uh, but in the end, the two guys who played a lot of tournaments this year and have come close, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak, they they’ve had a few notches on their belt, right? They got some scar tissue and I think it all came to light for them today. Well, let’s pull out that string a little further here, Patrick, because it’s one thing to succeed and fail on one’s own ball, but with the pressure of having somebody else relying on you throughout the entirety of this week, what did you observe in those pressure- packed moments where these guys are maybe taking out of their normal routine week to week? Yeah, I saw a duo that was very comfortable with themselves individually. We saw Sappin and Knap really look at each other’s putts, talk through through each other’s shots. We saw the Hogard twins there on 18, drop, drop, and then drop again. Raasmus looking at his twin brother. It looks like he got him in trouble and and kind of hiding hiding behind his golf bag a little bit. But we saw Novak and Griffin kind of take a different route there. Two guys very comfortable in their skins, very comfortable with their games and very confident. Like Doug mentioned, these guys have been playing a lot of golf and a lot of good golf recently, playing a lot together there on Sea Island, beating everyone, taking everyone’s money. There’s a large contingent of PJ Tour players there. And so it seemed like they were just very cool, calm, and collected with what the other guys were doing. They were, you know, no sorryries and forums and four balls. Play your own ball and see where your partner puts you. And it felt like two guys who were the most sure of themselves throughout the week were the ones standing at the end of the week. It certainly felt that way, Doug. Team golf is a rarity out here, but the mind naturally does go to another team event where Andrew Novak is currently climbing that leaderboard. We heard it on the broadcast late where he might situate in terms of a Ryder Cup conversation. How big of a data point is this four days for Captain Bradley? I I think it’s big uh because I think what we’re going to have ultimately for the RDER Cup are some newbies. And I think we’re seeing some of these newbies come to the forefront now. uh three months ago, Andrew Novak would not even have been on the radar screen. He wouldn’t have been in the conversation. You would have got laughed out of the local pub, right? But that’s no longer the situation. This guy can play and this guy is a personality. If you go to his podcast, he broke down the NFL draft just a few nights ago. This guy, this guy’s fun to be around, but he’s got game and he plays really fast. I like that. And then the the flip side, Ben Griffin is slowly climbing the ladder, too. Both guys now top 30 FedEx Cup points. Remember, if you make the Tour Championship, you’re in all the majors next year. You’re in all the big signature events. So, those two guys are climbing the ladder. And yes, both guys. They’re talking RDER Cup. It no longer It’s like I hope so. It’s like I think I can. And that’s pretty cool. I’m ready to put Novak on the team. Uso, he’s he’s number six in the FedEx Cup. And like Doug said, he’s someone who’s really easy to root for. And you look at the American teams, I love some of the guys, but they aren’t really the easiest to root for, right? With Kantlay, Morawa is going after the media and whatnot. And he’s kind of an an everyman golfer, it seems like, with an NFL betting podcast. He’s going after uh people on Twitter, too. Tongue and cheek, really funny, DMing with with the fellas, too. And so, I think Novak, he plays super quick also, which is awesome to watch. He’s so fun to watch in that regard, too. And so with that back half of the US team, Captain Bradley has a lot of question marks there. I think there’s probably seven sure things as it stands, five months out from the competition, but the last five players, it it’s really choose your own adventure right now. And as it stands, I I’d choose the Novak adventure. It’s certainly one that has our attention moving forward and for good reason. He’s playing fantastic golf. 321 in his last three starts, a win here at the Zurich. I want to get back to the moment that we just saw because I’m looking at historically what a firsttime winner at the Zurich means. We’ve had two other duos since the format changed do this. Jonas Bixed and Cam Smith, Nick Hardy, and Davis Riley. More recently, of those four players, only one has really taken it as the springboard to move forward with more wins, that being Cam Smith, who no longer plays on the PGA Tour. What does this win mean moving forward for these two individuals? Patrick, it validates a lot of work. And I think I’ve always pictured Ben Griffin in particular as someone who could win a lot of these regular PJ tour events, but now he’s a guy who’s in these signature events also. And on Bermuda golf courses in particular, he definitely has a fighter’s chance. And one shot in particular really stuck out to me. Frankie Sappin the third is long off the tea. And Ben Griffin, he’s not typically the longest, but he put one right there next to him down the stretch and it kind of caught my eye as, okay, this guy’s working on a little bit of something, too. And so Griffin, he’s the guy who came away from the game, brought back into it. He played every single week up to the Masters, missed it barely when Minmu Lee won there in Houston. Michael Kim clipped him in the top 50 in the OGR as well. So the work ethic and the talent I don’t think is a question. It was just about the opportunities and for Griffin, he’s going to have those moving forward. And we’ve already seen what Novak can do on that stage. I mean, he was an eight-footer away from having this first victory just seven days ago against the, you know, top end field on a PGA Tour stage. So, I’m looking for more stuff out of them. Not necessarily the Jonas Blitz route, per se, but definitely definitely better than that, I would say. You know, I’m out with these guys a lot. And when we’re on the air, sometimes six to seven hours a day. I mean, you walk with everybody. And I walk with Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin a lot over the last few years. And let me just say right now, they are legit. Uh some guys who win, they it’s it’s one-time flash, right? These guys are legitimate players. They’re really, really good. Very emotional. Now, when you crack the winner circle for the first time, I mean, tears were coming out of their eyes a few moments ago on the interview. Good for them. Now, they’ve secured the win. Let’s go to the next level. And I it’s not hyperbole. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon because I was just with the guys. They’re legitimate players. their top 30 FedEx Cup. Andrew Noak is even higher. I think these guys are going to be knocking in the door this year for an individual win at some big places. I I’m just telling you guys, they’re legitimate players. Really, really good. Yeah. Names we’ve had highlighted and circled prior to this week and an affirming moment for the both of them here side by side. It’s interesting just how momentum, belief, confidence changes so quickly in this game from where Ben Griffin was just a couple years ago to where he is right now walking head high as a winner now on the PGA Tour. Doug, I I want to go back to you spending time around these players and maybe we go back to the the guy taking up all the oxygen in the room this week and Rory Mroy. You’ve been in his orbit for two plus decades now. Did you observe a different Rory Mroy throughout the week, the Grand Slam champion that is now? Um, I I observed a guy who now is relishing the moment. A guy who is playing the best golf of his career at 35 years of age. Now, think about that. Think about all his accomplishments. We saw the dramatic finish at the Masters. And now, look out. Uh, I think Rory came back here because he promised Shane and last year we saw that celebration when they won, right? And and he told the crowd, “I will be back.” And and a lot of people would have understood if he hadn’t have come back. But he promised his friend they came back to defend their championship. He came in tired after being in Ireland and getting a little sick flying overseas and coming back. But listen, I I saw a superstar on display this week. He signed literally hundreds and hundreds of Mast’s flags. How do you get those so fast if you weren’t at Augusta, right? He was signing the flags. He was relishing the moment. He’s a superstar in the game. He’s the most popular player in the world. And Shane Lowry relished being with his buddy, right? Uh it was it was great to have him here. Like I said at the beginning, Zurich Classic, they need Rory here every year. He may not come back now after he defended his championship, but man, the last two years have been something special in New Orleans, and they’ve made this team event. They’ve elevated it to a new level. And then today, obviously, you have two great young players winning. So, the Zurich Classic uh is climbing the ladder of popularity. There’s no doubt about it. Yeah, you could see the weight just off his shoulders completely. Moso, when Rory Mroy is already making fun of the US Open last year in in the pre-ournament press conference, I think it’s safe to say he’s in a a pretty decent mental state. He said both professionally and personally. Remember last year during the PGA Championship, he was going through all that personal stuff, too. 2024 was quite the year to be Rory Mroy. In 2025, it’s just all washed away from him. And like Doug mentioned, he is playing the best golf of his career. This is the most well-rounded we have ever seen Nory Mroy and certainly the most mentally sharp two moving forward. So, it’s all house money from here moving forward. He’s got to be supremely confident with Quill Hollow coming up, US Opens, which have quietly become his best major championship and then a return to Royal Port Rush at the end of the summer where he has a little bit of unfinished business. So, it should be a great summer moving forward. Pat Mack, Doug Bell, always a pleasure to do these weeks with you. Safe travels to those on the road and I’m sure we will talk soon.