The PGA 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played from Apr 26–29, at TPC Louisiana . This tournament changed a lot last season and quite possibly for the better. PGA Tour officials and officials at TPC Louisiana decided to turn the Zurich Classic into a team event. That means that this tournament is very difficult and challenging to handicap . Eighty teams comprised of 160 players will be on hand. Thursday and Saturday will be played under the rules of four-ball (or best ball) and Friday and Sunday will be alternate shot. Last year’s format was switched, so we’ll see alternate shot for the final round instead of best ball. This year’s event includes walk-up music and a real party atmosphere in the Big Easy, so it should be a lot of fun for the players.. Coverage of the Zurich Classic will be on Golf Channel and CBS this week.
Event: PGA Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Date: April 10-22, 2018
Location: TPC at Louisiana
Purse: $7,200,000
Defending Champions: Blixt/Smith
TV: Golf Channel and CBS
TPC at Louisiana
The track at TPC Louisiana is made for low scores. In last year’s Zurich Classic, Blixt/Smith and Kisner/Brown shot 27-under before extra holes. As an individual tournament, Justin Rose has 22-under to win in 2015.
The 2016 tournament was decided after 54 holes with a winning score of 15-under. This is a friendly course and the team element allows players to be a little bit more aggressive, at least on Thursday and Saturday with the best shot getting used
Previous Winners
Last season, Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith became the inaugural team tournament champions by besting Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown in a playoff.
Favorites
The heavyweight pairing of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson could very well be the team to beat this week at the Zurich Classic, but there are several other intriguing squads. Masters champ Patrick Reed plays alongside Patrick Cantlay, who has been strong this season.
Justin Thomas has a formidable partner in Bud Cauley, and Jordan Spieth with Ryan Palmer, is also quite solid. Matt Kuchar will play with Dell Match Play champ Bubba Watson, who can be an acquired taste for some, but not the soft-spoken Kuchar.
Sergio Garcia and Rafael Cabrera-Bello should have fun with the walk-up music for the weekend and Jon Rahm will play with Wesley Bryan.
Per most Sportsbooks, the Rose/Stenson pairing is the favorite at +750. This really isn’t a big surprise, as this is the most “name-brand” of the pairings. The Rose/Stenson pairing missed the cut last year at 6-under.
Rose was the only one to play in 2016 and he missed the cut with an even-par showing. Rose did win this event back in 2015 at 22-under and grabbed a top-10 in 2014. Rose was 12th at the Masters after finishing 52nd at the Houston Open.
He was third at Bay Hill and fifth at the Valspar, so he has played well this season, with four top-10 finishes and a win at the WGC-HSBC Champions to open the season. Stenson has three straight top-six finishers with a fifth at the Masters, a sixth at Houston, and a fourth in the Arnold Palmer.
The Reed/Cantlay pairing is a co-second favorite with the Spieth/Palmer and Watson/Kuchar pairings. This Ryder Cup-esque format could help Reed, as he shined in the 2016 event. He’s obviously in decent form off of a win at the Masters.
Cantlay is the ringer of this group with three top-10s, including a seventh-place finish at the RBC Heritage last week and a fourth-place at the Genesis Open.
The Spieth/Palmer pairing finished fourth last year. Reed/Cantlay tied for 14th. Bubba Watson played with JB Holmes, but this year he’ll be with Kuchar.
Kuchar was not in this event last season and has not played it for a while.
Longshots
The best price on the board might be Charley Hoffman and Nick Watney at 40/1. Hoffman and Watney finished tied for fifth last year. Including Hoffman’s individual finishes, he has two top-fives and an 11th at TPC Louisiana over the last four years.
Watney missed the cut in 2015, the last time he teed it up as an individual, but he shot 2-under. The cut line has been as good as 4-under here recently, so this really is a course for scoring.
Another longer shot to look at is Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker at 60/1. They are #1 and #2 on the Champions Tour in points. Last year, they finished 17-under and tied for 14th.
This team format could also be beneficial to the older players, allowing more rest, especially with the alternating shot rounds.
ODDS TO WIN (courtesy of BetDSI.eu)
J.Rose / H.Stenson +750
P.Reed / P.Cantlay +1200
J.Spieth / R.Palmer +1200
B.Watson / M.Kuchar +1200
J.Thomas / B.Cauley +1400
J.Rahm / W.Bryan +1600
J.Day / R.Ruffels +2500
D.Berger / G.Woodland +2800
J.Dufner / P.Perez +2800
I.Poulter / G.McDowell +2800
L.Oosthuizen / C.Schwartzel +2800
K.Na / B.H.An +3300
R.Knox / M.Laird +3300
B.Snedeker / J.B.Holmes +3300
B.Steele / J.Lovemark +3300
J.Walker / S.O’Hair +3300
T.Fleetwood / C.Paisley +3300
J.Blixt / C.Smith +3300
C.Hoffman / N.Watney +4000
B.Horschel / S.Piercy +4000
K.Kisner / S.Brown +4000
T.Finau / D.Summerhays +5000
E.Grillo / P.Uihlein +5000
S.Stricker / J.Kelly +6000
C.Reavie / L.Glover +6600
C.Kirk / J.T.Poston +6600
B.Koepka / M.Turnesa +6600
S.Lowry / P.Harrington +6600
H.Swafford / H.English +6600
K.Tway / K.Kraft +6600
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