“I think we just had a good mojo going” - Nick Hardy and Davis Riley reflect on their 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans victory

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley won the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The duo clinched their debut PGA victories by beating the pairing of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor in the final round. The dynamic duo carded rounds of 64-66-63 and 65 to bag the winner’s medals.

Recalling their win, Hardy has now credited the “good mojo” between them. According to Hardy, the duo believed in each other.

Speaking ahead of the 2024 edition of the team competition at TPC Louisiana, the 28-year-old said that he had “good vibes” with Riley on the greens. He noted that the duo held “great attitudes” and that kept the momentum going for the week. The golfer’s comments reiterated that they are indeed ‘best friends’ on and off the field.

Speaking in the pre-event press conference at the 2024 Zurich Classic, Nick Hardy said (at 2:36):

"I think we just had a good mojo going the whole week. I think we believed in each other. I remember walking off the green on Friday with Davis and we were like, ‘man let's go, we're right in it. I think we're only a few back, let's go win this thing,’ like we were serious about it. We said that to each other and I think we just had good vibes.

"We didn't really get down on ourselves, we both held great attitudes and I think that kept the momentum going. We just jived off each other really well. And we just had the momentum going and kept it going until late on Sunday afternoon, the back nine, we really blitzed it."

Davis Riley backed Hardy’s comments and stated that he fed off his good friend’s energy and confidence.

Davis added:

“So like Nick said, we're good buddies and we kind of feed off of each other really well. There was a really good sense of confidence and mojo about us, pretty much the whole week."

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Can Davis Riley and Nick Hardy defend their Zurich Classic title?

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley’s relationship began at the age of 14. The American duo’s friendship proved to be fruitful last year as they won the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans by beating a stacked field. The young golfers finished 30 under after rounds of 64-66-63-65 to claim their first career titles.

Hardy and Riley return to TPC Louisiana this weekend to defend their title. However, the duo aren’t favorites at the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. According to SportsLine, they enter the team event with 800-1 odds. The PGA Tour golfers sit on the lower half of the odds table.

It is pertinent to note that Hardy and Riley weren’t favorites in the competition last year as well. However, the young golfers managed to surprise many with the result. It’ll be interesting to see how the duo finishes this weekend.