Horschel’s hot putter helps land second New Orleans title

Billy Horschel won his second Zurich Classic of New Orleans title onSunday by teaming up with Scott Piercy for a one-stroke victory overcompatriots Jason Dufner and Pat Perez to add to his 2013 individualtriumph.Solid putting by Horschel helped bring home the second crown as he andPiercy posted a bogey-free final round of five-under-par 65 in thealternate shot format to finish at 22-under 266 at TPC Louisiana. Theirfellow Americans Dufner and Perez made it tight with a closing 68 butDufner came up short with a 14-foot putt at the last which would haveforced a tie. South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen were third at20-under 268 after carding a 62 but overnight leaders Kevin Kisner andScott Brown soared to a 77 and slumped to a share 15th. “The key to thisis Billy’s putter,” Piercy told PGA Tour radio. “It really was. Herolled it amazing all week.”Horschel’s 2013 win was his first on the PGA Tour, but he said Sunday’s triumph also meant a lot.“You never want to let a teammate down and to feel you helped out theteam to victory, that was huge,” said Horschel of winning his fifth tourtitle, one better than Piercy’s career tally of four.The pair started the day three shots back, but picked up shots at thefirst two holes and another at the seventh before seizing the lead withback-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 before finishing up with sevenconsecutive pars.“I knew if we were going to have a chance to win, I was going to have tomake some putts and I knew I was going to have to make some par putts,”Horschel said. “It was nice to feel comfortable that I was going tomake it.”Dufner and Perez also were bogey-free with four birdies but their lastcame at the 11th and they were unable to make a push for victory overthe final seven holes.Kisner and Brown, one-stroke leaders to start the day, fell apart on theback nine with three bogeys and a double-bogey after making the turn ateven par following two bogeys and a pair of birdies.Michael Kim and Andrew Putman, who led after the second round, also hadtheir troubles with three consecutive bogeys to start the back nine and adouble-bogey at the par-four 15 to shoot 76 and also tie for 15th.Leading scores after final round 266-Billy Horschel/Scott Piercy (USA/USA) 65-73-61-67267-Jason Dufner/Pat Perez (USA/USA) 6672-61-68268-Charl Schwartzel/Louis Oosthuizen (RS/RSA) 66-72-62-68269-Chris Paisley/Tommy Fleetwood (ENG/ENG) 62-75-63-69, Brice Garnett/Chesson Hadley (USA/USA) 64-73-61-71270-Tony Finau/Daniel Summerhays (USA/USA) 62-72-63-73271-Patrick Reed/Patrick Cantlay (USA/USA) 65-71-66-69, TylerDuncan/Adam Schenk (USA/USA) 64-72-64-71, Russell/Knox Martin Laird(SCO/SCO) 64-73-63-71272-Seamus Power/David Hearn (IRL/CAN) 66-72-66-68, GregChalmers/Cameron Percy (AUS/AUS) 66-72-65-69, Brendan Steele/JamieLovemark (USA/USA) 64-71-66-71, J.J. Henry/Tom Hoge (USA/USA)62-73-65-72, Troy Merritt/Brendon de Jonge (USA/ZIM) 62-75-62-73273-Nate Lashley/Rob Oppenheim (USA/USA) 64-69-68-72, ZachJohnson/Jonathan Byrd (USA/USA) 66-70-65-72, Michael Kim/Andrew Putnam(USA/USA) 62-69-66-76, Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown 62-70-64-77274-Chad Campbell/Matt Jones (USA/AUS) 63-70-70-71, Justin Rose/HenrikStenson (ENG/SWE) 65-71-65-73, Retief Goosen/Tyrone Van Aswegen(RSA/RSA) 65-71-64-74.