It seems like a movie script, like it's not real,” Novak said. “But it's just perfect how it all came together.” The Zurich Classic is a 72-hole stroke play format featuring four-ball (best ball) during the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) during the second and fourth rounds.

The win was just as gratifying for Griffin, a 28-year-old Chapel Hill, N.C., who entered the Zurich with 12 top-10 placings, including runner-up finishes at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open and the 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship.

Andrew Novak couldn’t get it in San Diego. He couldn’t get it in San Antonio. He couldn’t even get it last week in a playoff with Justin Thomas in Hilton Head. No, the hottest golfer you didn’t know kept coming up so close and so short.