Davis Riley has had an up and down year, missing five cuts but finishing inside the top 30 on three different occasions as the Hattiesburg native inched toward his first win on the PGA TOUR.
Well, on Sunday, all came to fruition as Riley and teammate Nick Hardy became first-time winners on the tour, taking home $1.24 million each after topping the leaderboard at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
The 26-yer-old Riley and 27-year-old Hardy shot a four-day total of 258 – a tournament record of 30-under – to earn a two-stroke victory.
“We got off to a great start, both hitting fairways and greens, but we may have slowed up on the last four or five holes,” Riley said. “We had a great day and putted really well.”
Riley had previously been on the brink of a PGA TOUR victory twice with a two-hole playoff loss in the 2022 Valspar Classic and a fourth-place finish in the 2022 Zurich Classic. He also had a notable finish of even par at the 2022 PGA Championship, which was good enough for 13th place.
The Presbyterian Christian School alum won four straight MAIS titles and made the finals at the U.S. Junior Amateur two years in a row, joining Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth as the only players to achieve the feat. Riley then attended the University of Alabama before earning his PGA TOUR card in 2021.
