One week earlier, in the immediate aftermath of his sudden-death playoff loss to Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage, Andrew Novak’s disappointment was visible.
He stood with friends and family on Harbour Town’s 18th green and watched as Thomas celebrated, accepting the winner’s tartan jacket and relishing the relief that came with ending a nearly three-year victory drought.
When he spoke with the media afterward, Novak took a philosophical approach, appreciating what the experience would mean down the line, but the energy was gone, the letdown palpable.
“You never really know when you’re going to get your first one, but we put ourselves in position again.” – Andrew Novak
The payoff came Sunday when Novak and Ben Griffin won the Zurich Classic team event, giving both of them their first PGA Tour victory, taking their names off the list of emerging players who have not yet won.
The Zurich Classic may not have the juice of some other events – the one-off format softens the competitive edge slightly – but it provided a long-awaited breakthrough for Novak and Griffin, who have been nibbling around the edges for a while.
“You never really know when you’re going to get your first one, but we put ourselves in position again,” Novak said Sunday evening in New Orleans.
Novak, 30, has made a habit recently of putting himself in position. He tied for third at the Valero Texas Open, didn’t qualify for the Masters then had his near-miss at the RBC Heritage, sending him to New Orleans on a heater.
When he’s going well as he has been for weeks now, Novak’s walk looks a little like Ángel Cabrera’s when he was on the prowl in his prime, aggressive and purposeful. He doesn’t waste time over shots and his strong play (he also finished third at the Farmers Insurance Open in February) has allowed him to get more comfortable playing late on the weekends.
“Early in the year I was doing one week decent, one week poor, some missed cuts, but I’ve kind of hit my stride now,” Novak said. “When I’ve played well, it’s been really good and the putter has been better than it’s ever been, and that’s kind of been the one thing in previous years I felt like when I got the putter going I was always going to contend, and now that the putter seems to be good darned near every week.”
The hot stretch has pushed Novak to ninth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. Granted, the September matches at Bethpage Black are nearly five months away but Novak has done enough to put himself on captain Keegan Bradley’s radar especially with several familiar names having flat starts to their seasons.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job not getting overly frustrated with the close shaves. I’ve been trying to take as many positives from each as I can because the idea is I can put myself in that position as many times as I’m able to,” Novak said.
“I want to get better each time I’m in that position. I want to be more comfortable. I want to have things that I can look back on and improve on. Yeah, it’s frustrating, but it’s also nice going into a tournament knowing you’re playing well.”
Griffin, 28, had three top-10 finishes this year prior to the Zurich Classic and has quietly become one of the tour’s steadiest performers since his career reset in 2021.
That’s when Griffin, frustrated with his lack of success, walked away from professional golf and became a loan officer in Chapel Hill, N.C. Eventually, Griffin came back to the game, worked his way to the PGA Tour via the Korn Ferry Tour and holed a tournament-winning 35-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday to add an exclamation point to his career decision.
“I think for both Andrew and I, it felt like it was only a matter of time out here. We both put ourselves in the mix a bunch, especially this season, but even going back to last season,” Griffin said.
“Just a lot of hard work between both of us, and for me personally, it means the world to finally get it paid off or to finally get it done.”
Griffin and Novak have known each other since before they were old enough to drive. They played Carolinas Golf Association events against each other and, until Griffin recently moved to Florida, they saw each other regularly around St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Their careers have had similar trajectories giving their victory in New Orleans an added dose of meaning.
“I think it really is full circle that now we win together,” Griffin said.
“It seems like a movie, really. It seems like a movie script, like it’s not real. But it’s just perfect how it all came together.”