Michigander Ryan Brehm Earns Third Place at PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic
Teamed with Mark Hubbard the pair shot 24-under par
By Tom Lang
Playing alongside eventual playoff winners Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the final round, Traverse City’s Ryan Brehm, an MSU graduate, finished just one-shot out of first place in the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic. Brehm was paired with teammate Mark Hubbard and together they scored 24-under par over four days in the team-based, fourball and alternate shot formats. They shot 61-70-64-69-264.
Brehm made what Trevor Immelmann said on the CBS broadcast on Sunday (April 28) was the best shot of the tournament. On the 13th hole, a dogleg left turning 391 yard par four, Brehm blasted his tee shot that cut the corner, carried some sand traps, and rolled across the green missing the cup by about 15 inches. It came to rest about 10 feet past the hole; meanwhile McIlory /Lowry were left with an approach shot more than 120 yards from the hole.
In alternate shot, Hubbard missed the eagle putt attempt, but Brehm made the birdie, keeping the pair on the main leaderboard. On the 18th hole, trailing McIlroy/Lowry by one stroke, Brehm’s length came into play again. After Hubbard’s tee shot, Brehm was left with nearly 290 yards to the flag on the par 5 that’s protected by water right. An eagle would have given the duo the title, and a birdie would have placed them in the playoff. So, Brehm cranked it to try putting the team in position for a 3, but he hit it so well the ball came to rest behind the green. Hubbard followed with a mediocre chip that came to rest on the back fringe of the green. Brehm had a delicate downhill putt for birdie that was tracking, but turned right at the very end and burned the edge for an eventual par.
“Our main goal was to give ourselves a chance,” Brehm said. “That rarely happens in golf when you say, ‘hey, we want to give ourselves a chance.’ Mark hit a great drive on 18 and I found myself with a 3-wood into the green, and I'm like, this is it, this is the chance we were looking for. (I) hit a great shot and Mark hit a great chip that held up (on the edge) and then (I) hit a great putt that didn't go in. You've just got to move on and really take a lot from it because I think it could be a confidence booster for both of us.”
Hubbard has not won on Tour; Brehm has one PGA Tour title, the Puerto Rico Open in 2022.
“It means a ton but it also doesn't,” Hubbard said about the Zurich. “It's not going to change our friendship at all, whether we shot 100 every day or found ourselves in this playoff. Our friendship wasn't going to change, and our families are still going to hang out and we're all going to party tonight. It was an awesome, awesome week, and we're very lucky that we get to do it together. It's a great event. But as far as just us, we're going to be all right no matter what.”
Being paired in McIlroy’s group was something to weigh due to the busyness of a larger gallery and more background noise.
“It's a big confidence boost for me because when you get paired with Rory McIlroy there's a lot going on,” Brehm added. “We can each draw a lot from that. Just know that you're going to feel pressure again hopefully in your career, and that's a good thing.
“You have to walk the tightrope between being too aggressive and too conservative, and I thought we did a good job all week long of pushing the gas when we needed to and not. After today, I think probably what ultimately cost us the victory this week is the back nine yesterday (3rd round) and the best ball that we didn't get the birdies probably where we needed them. But you know what, we have a lot to build on.”
