Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry among big names to miss cut at Zurich Classic

The defending champs were down but not out. With six holes remaining in the second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the only team event on the PGA Tour schedule, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak were sitting at 7 under and two strokes on the wrong side of the cut line. Adding to the challenge at hand was the fact that the second round was being played in foursomes, or alternate shot, the harder of the two formats used at TPC Louisiana in Avondale.

But never fear, because the Griffin-Novak stepped up to make an eagle and two birdies coming home to join the top 33 and ties with weekend plans. Griffin got things started by belting a 351-yard drive at the par-4 13th. Novak took care of the rest, chipping in from 28 yards for eagle and suddenly the defending champs were riding the cutline.

Birdies at 15 and 18 were offset by a dropped shot at 17 but it was good enough for 3-under 69 and a 36-hole total of 10-under 134. That was a shot better than the cut, which came at 9-under 135, and left 35 teams in the trophy hunt. First-round leaders Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer, birdied two of their last three holes, to claim the 36-hole hole lead.

Let’s take a look at some of the teams that were sent packing. Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry Lowry joked that he only partnered with players with five or more majors under their belt. But things didn’t go as swimmingly with Koepka as they had with Rory McIlroy, his partner when they won two years ago.