Chad Ramey/Martin Trainer fall in Zurich Classic playoff after heroic comeback effort

The contrast was striking in Sunday’s playoff at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans: relative unknowns Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer, squaring off against major champions Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.

It wasn’t just that Ramey and Trainer entered the week with a combined two PGA TOUR wins, compared to 26 between the all-Irish duo. It was that Ramey and Trainer began the final round in 27th place, seven strokes off the lead, with little evidence in recent form that a near-historic comeback was in the offing.

But the match of swashbuckling Californian and soft-spoken Mississippian nearly turned the golf world on its head, as Ramey and Trainer teamed for a 9-under 63 in Sunday’s Foursomes (alternate shot) format – tying the event’s Foursomes record and posting 25-under 263 nearly three hours ahead of the final grouping. Ramey and Trainer waited as several contending groups fell short of that mark, before McIlroy/Lowry eventually made birdie on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, then won with an alternate-shot par on the first extra hole – as Trainer couldn’t convert a 6-footer for par to extend.

“Obviously a little disappointed, but overall I think it's important to see the big picture, and we had a really good week,” Trainer said afterward. “That's all we can hope for really … Obviously golf is hard, and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”

Added Ramey: “There are a lot of really good things to take from this week, and that's what I'm going to do. Solo-second finish in the end is still pretty good.”

Ramey and Trainer fell short of the winner’s circle in Louisiana, but the result offers important perks. This marked the first top-10 finish for each since they teamed for a T9 at last year’s Zurich Classic. Ramey arrived in New Orleans at No. 128 on the season-long FedExCup standings, whereas Trainer arrived at No. 165. The first three rounds at TPC Louisiana were solid if unspectacular – 66 in Thursday Four-ball, 69 in Friday Foursomes, 65 in Saturday Four-ball. It looked like a middle-of-the-pack finish, maybe make a few birdies to build momentum into THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson next week.

Then they showed up Sunday morning and came up gangbusters. Ramey/Trainer opened with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3 at TPC Louisiana, then rebounded from a bogey at No. 6 with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8. The back nine got nearly silly with five straight birdies on Nos. 10-14, then shaking off a bogey at No. 15 with birdies at the short par-4 16th and par-5 18th to post a 25-under number that stood its ground on an increasingly windy afternoon in Cajun country.

Aside from McIlroy/Lowry, that number held against all challengers. Playing in the penultimate grouping with the Irishmen, the veteran American duo of Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard had an 18-foot birdie try at the last, from just off the green’s back edge, to also post 25-under and enter the playoff, but the putt tailed off at the last second.

The all-Utah duo of Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn, the 54-hole leaders, stood 25-under with two holes to play but made double bogey on the par-3 17th as Blair missed right of the green with a 4-iron and Fishburn’s chip shot failed to reach the putting surface. It was an admirable effort just six days after Blair’s wife Alicia had the couple’s third child, a daughter named Izzy, as longtime friends Blair and Fishburn nearly earned their first TOUR title together. The duo made par at the last for a T4 finish at 23-under, two back of the playoff.

Although they didn’t come away with hardware, Ramey and Trainer will cherish the memories from a remarkable Sunday that nearly saw the TOUR’s largest final-round comeback (by position) since Brandt Snedeker won the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open from T27 into the final round. The only two larger comebacks in the TOUR’s modern era (since 1983) came from Tommy Gainey (T29 into the final round at the 2012 RSM Classic) and Smylie Kaufman (T28 into the final round at the 2015 Shriners Children’s Open).

Trainer will also improve his reshuffle position immensely, having entered the season on conditional TOUR status as a past champion. It’s a silver lining from a wild Sunday that nearly turned celebratory.

“Just the relief of having such a good round,” Trainer said, “I think that was special for sure.”