Spain's Jon Rahm and American Ryan Palmer partnered for a three-under par 69 Sunday to win the US PGA Zurich Classic pairs event by three strokes. Palmer and Rahm finished 72 holes at the TPC of Louisiana course near New Orleans on 26-under par 262 in the unique tournament with four-ball (best ball) first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds. Spain's Sergio Garcia and England's Tommy Fleetwood were second on 265 with South Korean Lee Kyoung-hoon and American Matt Every sharing third on 267 with Slovakian Rory Sabbatini and American Brian Gay. Palmer, 42, captured his fourth US PGA title but his first since the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii. He had lost three tour playoffs since then, including last year at Torrey Pines to Australia's Jason Day. "Nine years since I last won," said a tearful Palmer said. "Really special." Palmer's other wins came at defunct events, the 2004 Disney World Classic and 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic. Rahm, 24, took his third career US PGA title and first win of the year after crowns last year at Palm Springs, the European Tour's Spanish Open and the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. "This is a very special one," Rahm said. "It's special for Ryan and I'm excited to share it with him. He earned it with all the putts he made. He played a lot of good golf." Palmer blasted a second shot on the par-5 second hole to the fringe and tapped in for birdie after Rahm was just short on an eagle putt. Rahm found rough off the sixth tee and Palmer couldn't reach the green in two as they made bogey but the duo stayed on top and opened the back nine with another birdie when Rahm sank a 13-foot putt. "I'm going to take some pride in that," Rahm said. "I needed to do something." They began to pull away with birdies at the par-4 13th, after Rahm dropped his approach three feet from the cup, and par-3 14th, on Palmer's 11-foot putt. "My putting was there today," Palmer said. "I had some fabulous putts from four to eight feet and they were crucial. It was fun to play with a guy who can hit it as well as he does." Three strokes ahead and with no rival on the course within five strokes, Rahm and Palmer parred to the finish to complete the victory. — PGA
