The First Look: Zurich Classic

Golf is the most individualistic of sports – except this week on the PGA TOUR, when the world’s best will pair up for a chance to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

In 2017 the Zurich Classic pivoted to becoming the lone team event on the PGA TOUR schedule, boasting 80 duos competing in Four-ball (best ball) and Foursomes (alternate-shot) formats. The winners receive 400 FedExCup points each.

New Orleans, one of the great food-and-culture cities in the United States, is the perfect host for such a unique event. The team bonding continues off the course as well during the Zurich Classic – whether it be scooping up a bag of piping hot beignets or sitting down to a plate of fresh crawfish – while the team golf results in some thrilling finishes.

Presidents Cup teammates and close friends Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele return to defend their title from 2022 – won in record-setting fashion – while plenty of the world’s best (with some new teams in there, to boot) will try to take the title this year.

FIELD NOTES: Cantlay and Schauffele shot an event-record 29 under over four rounds last year and are back to defend … Max Homa and fellow Californian Collin Morikawa are pairing up for the first time. Homa finished tied for 21st last year while Morikawa, paired with Viktor Hovland, finished tied for 29th … Billy Horschel and Sam Burns, last year’s runners-up, are back in action… Fresh off his ninth-place finish at the Masters, Sahith Theegala will tee it up alongside Justin Suh, who stands No. 72 on the FedExCup standings as a first-year TOUR member … Although the University of Georgia topped TCU in the NCAA college football national championship, there’s hopefully no bad blood between the team of Harris English and Tom Hoge, alums of both Georgia and TCU, respectively … Other notable teams include Presidents Cup stars Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim, UNLV alums Kurt Kitayama and Taylor Montgomery, and some Ryder Cup connections in Zach Johnson with captain’s assistant Steve Stricker and Luke Donald with Edoardo Molinari, who is in on a sponsor exemption … All in, eight of the top 20 in the world are teeing it up at TPC Louisiana … Six former champs – covering both the team and individual formats – are in the field.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick will tee it up with his brother Alex, who made his TOUR debut at the Valspar Championship in 2022. He played five events on PGA TOUR Canada last year as well, notching two top-25 results … A pair of PGA TOUR Champions legends and major champions John Daly and David Duval will be paired together … Recent TOUR winner Matt Wallace will have fellow Englishman Callum Shinkwin as his partner. Shinkwin is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour. In 2013 he defeated Matt Fitzpatrick to win the English Amateur … Victor Perez, a three-time winner on the DP World Tour including the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier this year, will be teeing it up at TPC Louisiana alongside Thomas Detry … Sam Saunders, who lost in a playoff on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this season and has one other top-10 result this year as he looks to regain PGA TOUR status, is playing with Eric Cole … Thorbjorn Olesen, who won the Thailand Classic on the DP World Tour in February, will tee it up with Nicolai Hojgaard … Paresh Amin will play alongside two-time TOUR winner Michael Thompson

STORYLINES:

1) SCORING STRUCTURE

The most important thing to follow through the first two days at TPC Louisiana is how the scoring works – and who will make an early move. Each two-man team will start by playing Four-ball (best ball) on Thursday, often leading to the lowest scores of the week. For Friday’s second round, the teams will revert to Foursomes (alternate shot). After the cut is made – only 33 teams and ties find the weekend – they will play Four-ball again before the Sunday drama unfolds with Foursomes.

2) IS IT THEIR TIME?

There are plenty of long-time partners looking for success at TPC Louisiana. Billy Horschel and Sam Burns, who finished second last season and fourth the year prior, are trending. But there are two squads who are playing together for the sixth consecutive time – the only such teams that have been together for every edition of the Zurich Classic. Charley Hoffman and Nick Watney (who won in 2007 as an individual) and Kevin Tway and Kelly Kraft are back together again. Both of the teams’ best finishes came in 2017, with Tway and Kraft finishing third and Hoffman and Watney finishing fifth.

3) FUN WITH PAIRINGS

This is a valuable opportunity for golfers to earn FedExCup points as the PGA TOUR season kicks into high gear through the spring and summer. And what better way to do just that than to pair up with a buddy to boost your game? Countrymen are together as well as Presidents Cup teammates and practice-round regulars. Teams came together from prom-like invitations (like Sungjae Im and Keith Mitchell), and perhaps the most fascinating is to follow how well college teammates will fare. In all, there are seven teams who are alums of the same school, including Ryan Gerard with Ben Griffin. The pair both went to the University of North Carolina, and this is Gerard’s first start since earning Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR.

FEDEXCUP: Winners receive 400 FedExCup points each.

COURSE: TPC Louisiana, par 72, 7,425 yards. Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson served as design consultants of this Pete Dye design, which stretches over 250 acres of wetlands and features 100 bunkers. Located just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans, water hazards are featured prominently on the course but it’s one of the TOUR’s most scoreable layouts.

72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (2022)

FOURSOMES RECORD: 65, Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer (Round 2, 2019), Garrick Higgo/Branden Grace (Round 2, 2022), Jason Day/Jason Scrivener (Round 2, 2022).

FOUR-BALL RECORD: 59, Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (Round 1, 2022).

LAST TIME: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele captured the 2022 Zurich Classic in record-setting fashion after a 29-under-par week. The duo topped Sam Burns and Billy Horschel by two shots. Cantlay and Schauffele, who became the first team to win wire-to-wire, also shot a record-setting 59 in the Four-ball first round. The long-time Presidents Cup teammates backed up their opening-round 59 with a second-round 68 in Foursomes. After a Four-ball 60 in the third round, the pair held a five-shot advantage after setting the 54-hole scoring record. Burns and Horschel ended up getting within one after making birdies on Nos. 8, 10 and 11 in the final round. But Burns’ tee shot on 16 found the water, and a bogey for the pair on the next hole left them three behind heading into the final hole. They finished at 27 under. It was Cantlay’s seventh TOUR title and fifth for Schauffele. Sam Ryder and Doc Redman finished third at 24 under. Will Zalatoris, the 2021 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, and long-time roommate Davis Riley were among the six teams to finish at 23 under and in a tie for fourth. Jay Haas and son Bill finished tied for 32nd and with elder Haas’ weekend finish, he became the oldest player to make a PGA TOUR cut at 68 years, 141 days.

HOW TO FOLLOW:

Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS)

For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR

PGA TOUR Live:

PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+

Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course

Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group

Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups

Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio