5 days Ago
Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo wait their turn on the 18th green during the second round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Friday, April 25, 2025.(Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A wild weekend beckons at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Rookies Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo maintained their surprising lead in the tightly contested field at 17-under par after two rounds of play Friday at the TPC of Louisiana.
But their precarious one-shot lead feels anything but safe. Behind them, lurks an army of contenders, including the tandems of Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak at 16-under and the Hojgaard twins – Nicolai and Rasmus – at 15-under. In all, 15 teams are within five shots of the lead on the contentious leaderboard, including former LSU standout Ben Taylor and fellow Englishman David Skinns, who are one of two tandems four shots back at 13-under.
A cluster of nine teams sit at 12-under, including the formidable tandems of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, Sepp Straka and Brice Garnett and Aaron Rai and Saheeth Theegala. But they’re all chasing Salinda and Velo, who battled the hot, windy conditions to card a score of 69 during the alternate shot format. “I know best ball is obviously where you can take (the score) low, but I like our chances in alternate shot versus anyone in the field,” said Salinda, 28, a San Francisco native.
“Tomorrow, we just keep playing how we're playing, set ourselves up for Sunday and give ourselves a shot.” Salinda and Velo, a pair of PGA Tour rookies, entered the day with a one-shot lead after carding a course-record score of 14-under par 58 in the four ball (best ball) format on Thursday. They started slowly with a score of 37 on the back nine, then caught fire with consecutive birdies on Nos.
1, 2, and 3 to finish the front nine in 4-under 32. “We really played to our strengths today,” said Velo, 27, a Redwood City, California native. “We both missed a couple short ones that kind of led to our bogeys, but besides that, we played pretty flawless.
” The Hojgaard twins struggled to consistently score in the hot, windy afternoon conditions, but the duo managed to stay in contention by saving several pars. Their only bogey came on the par-3 No. 9.
“It was quite tricky out there,” Nicolai Hojgaard said. “The wind was a bit swirly. Very pleased with how we hung in there today and grinded it out.
.. I think that's the most thing when you're playing alternate shot is the good pars you make.
The saves are more important than the birdies to keep the momentum.” Novak and Griffin took advantage of their early tee time to post a round of 6-under 66 in the relatively calm, morning conditions. The tandem carded seven birdies and just one bogey (No.
4) in their round. Their lead stood for most of the day until Salinda and Velo overtook them late in the afternoon. “There was a lot of good golf shots today,” said Novak, a 30-year-old North Carolina native, who has three top 10 finishes this year.
“...
Our short games kind of take care of a lot of missteps. But a lot of good putting, and seven birdies today. That's really strong for alternate shot (play).
” Tournament favorites Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry loom six shots back at 11-under, but it was a disappointing finish for the defending tournament champions. Playing in front an enthusiastic gallery of about 1,000 patrons, the duo made a bold charge with a 4-four 32 on the front nine, including an eagle on the par-5, 548-yard No. 2.
They birdied five of the next nine holes to pull within two strokes of the lead only to flounder down the stretch with three bogeys in their final six holes Among the headliners who failed to make the cut were the Fitzpatrick brothers, Alex and Matt, who missed the cut by a stroke at 9-under, and the teams of two top 20 players -- Kurt Kitayama and No. 4 Collin Morikawa, and Taylor Moore and No. 17 Wyndham Clark – who were at 8-under.
Today’s round of best-ball play begins at 7:50 a.m. The leaders will tee off at 11:45 a.
m..
