Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were among the favourites coming into the week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and for once in golf, form held. The pair built a five-shot margin through three rounds of the two-man team event at TPC Louisiana, then held on with a pedestrian (save for one eagle) round in the alternate-shot finale to take the title by two strokes over Sam Burns and Billy Horschel.

Cantlay, the 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year, had gone nearly half a year without finishing outside the top 10 in a tour event. That hot streak ended at the Genesis Invitational and started a four-tournament lull in which he missed one cut and didn’t finish better than T-33 in a stroke-play event. But at last week’s RBC Heritage, a playoff loss to Jordan Spieth started turning things around for Cantlay, and the momentum from Hilton Head carried over to New Orleans.

Cantlay had been struggling with his approach shots despite his early season success. Coming into the Heritage, he ranked 146th in strokes gained/approach the green but leapt to 63rd after a good week at Harbour Town and that good play continued at the Zurich.

The irons Cantlay uses are Titleist’s 718 AP2 model with True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100 shafts with Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. However, the key approach shot on Sunday was a 254-yard shot on the par-5 seventh, Cantlay using a Titleist TS2 21-degree 7-wood with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 80 TX shaft to leave the ball eight feet from the hole. Schauffele then converted the eagle putt with his Odyssey O-Works Red 7 CH mallet putter, the club employing what the company refers to as a “crank hosel.”

“The hosel is interesting,” Schauffele told Golf Digest last year. “It creates a little bit of toe hang whereas many mallets are face-balanced. It helps it swing a little easier. I’ve always wanted to be a blade guy but never really got into it. This putter is an old friend of mine. It almost swings itself and those two long white parallel lines in back kind of let you know when you’re not doing the right thing with your stroke and when you are.”

That eagle putt falls into the “when you are” category and was a crucial stroke that helped lead to a team win.

What Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele had in the bag at the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans 

Patrick Cantlay

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Driver: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX), 9.5 degrees

3-wood: Titleist 915F, 15 degrees

7-wood: Titleist TS2, 21 degrees

Irons (4-9): Titleist 718 AP2; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM7

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52 degrees); Titleist SM9 (57 degrees) Titleist SM8 (61 degrees)

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 prototype

Xander Schauffele

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft

Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond (Mitsubishi Kai’li White 70 TX), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: Callaway Epic Speed, 15 degrees

5-wood: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero, 20 degrees

Irons (4-PW): Callaway Apex TCB

Wedges: Callaway Jaws MD5 (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM6 (56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)

Putter: Odyssey O-Works Red 7 CH