The PGA Tour shifts to Avondale, Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans this week. This event dates back to 1938 and has been an annual stop on the PGA Tour since 1958. However, this year’s event will have a new 72-hole stroke play format that will feature foursomes during the first and third rounds and four-ball during the second and fourth rounds. The starting field will consist of 80 teams. Each of the top players from the PGA Tour Priority Rankings who commits to the tournament will choose his partner, who in turn must have PGA Tour status unless chosen as a tournament sponsor exemption. Following the conclusion of the second round, there will be a cut to the low 35 teams and ties at the 35th position. In case of a tie after 72 holes, there will be a sudden-death playoff using the four-ball format. The new look to the tournament should provide even more intrigue with an intriguing set of pairings in the spotlight to begin the week.
Event Details
Event: Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Category: PGA
Date: April 27-30
Location: TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana
There were just 23 of the top-100 players in the world in the lineup when this event took place a year ago. Fast-forward to this year and there are 24 of the top-50 players in the world competing at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The loaded field should make for an exciting week with the new format providing even more excitement.
Past Five Winners
2016: Brian Stuard -15 (Playoff)
2015: Justin Rose -22
2014: Seung-Yul Noh -19
2013: Billy Horschel -20
2012: Jason Dufner -19 (Playoff)
What To Know About The Course
The TPC Louisiana course has hosted this event every year since 2007, which was a year after Hurricane Katrina hit the area. Driving Distance hasn’t been a key stat at this course. Driving Accuracy has been more relevant than DD, but the average DA for the last 11 course winners is still just 37.45. Greens In Regulation is arguably the most important statistic to consider at this week’s event. Scrambling should also be taken in to account since last year’s winner Brian Stuard ranked first in that category. Putting Average, Putts Per Green In Regulation and Strokes Gained Putting will all factor in to the winner’s success this at Louisiana.
The Field
The absolutely loaded field for this year’s event has golf enthusiasts excited after a down year in 2016. The top pairings will be Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, as well as Justin Rose with Henrik Stenson. Those two tandems are the co-favorites to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at +700 odds. Meanwhile, Ryan Palmer will join up with Jordan Spieth at +900 odds to win outright. The tandems of Daniel Berger and Thomas Pieters as well as Brendan Grace and Louis Oosthuizen are expected to contend for the outright win as well this week.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Grace/Oosthuizen over Spieth/Palmer
Spieth and Palmer have both played reasonably well of late but they are a little overrated according to the sports betting odds to win this event. Grace and Oosthuizen are both playing at a high level and they should be able to handle the windy conditions at Louisiana. Putting will be the key in the sports betting matchup and we like Grace and Oosthuizen to do a better job in that key area.
Top Winner Pick: Day/Fowler
The tandem of Day and Fowler are the sports betting favorites to win this event for a reason and they will be very difficult to stop. Day has finished fourth and fifth here in each of the last two editions of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Fowler’s course form isn’t as good but his current form is ridiculously good and he should be confident paired with Day. Chemistry should also count for something this weekend so this tandem should have a significant edge over their competition.
2017 Zurich Classic Tee Times
9 a.m./1:05 p.m.: Freddie Jacobson/Willy Wilcox, Steve Marino/Will MacKenzie
9:11 a.m./1:18 p.m.: Chris Kirk/Brendon Todd, K.J. Choi/Charlie Wi
9:21 a.m./1:31 p.m.: Brooks Koepka/Chase Koepka, Geoff Ogilvy/Ian Poulter
9:32 a.m./1:44 p.m.: Jason Day/Rickie Fowler, Daniel Berger/Thomas Pieters
9:42 a.m./1:57 p.m.: Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama/Hideto Tanihara
9:53 a.m./2:10 p.m.: Tony Finau/Daniel Summerhays, Peter Malnati/Mark Wilson
10:03 p.m./2:23 p.m.: Ben Martin/Ben Crane, Wes Bryan, Ryan Blaum
10:14 a.m./2:36 p.m.: Whee Kim/Greg Owen, Zac Blair/C.T. Pan
10:25 a.m./2:49 p.m.: Grayson Murray/Cameron Percy, Kyle Stanley/Ryan Ruffels
10:36 a.m./3:02 p.m.: Bryson DeChambeau/Rory Sabbatini, Seamus Power/Steven Alker
1:20 p.m./8 a.m.: Morgan Hoffmann/Camilo Villegas, Shawn Stefani/John Rollins
1:31 p.m./8:13 a.m.: Chez Reavie/Lucas Glover, Carl Pettersson/Jason Bohn
1:41 p.m./8:26 a.m.: Brian Stuard/Chris Stroud, Alex Cejka/Soren Kjeldsen
1:52 p.m./8:39 a.m.: Mackenzie Hughes/Nick Taylor, Fabian Gomez/Jhonattan Vegas
2:02 p.m./8:52 a.m.: Billy Horschel/Matt Every, David Lingmerth/Danny Lee
2:13 p.m./9:05 a.m.: Tyrrell Hatton/Jamie Donaldson, Si Woo Kim/Sung Kang
2:23 p.m./9:18 a.m.: Patrick Reed/Patrick Cantlay, Hudson Swafford/Harris English
2:34 p.m./9:31 a.m.: Patrick Rodgers/Cameron Tringale, Michael Thompson/Tim Wilkinson
2:45 p.m./9:44 a.m.: Michael Kim/Brandon Hagy, Derek Fathauer/Sam Saunders
2:56 p.m./9:57 a.m.: Trey Mullinax/Bobby Wyatt, Xander Schauffele/Tag Ridings
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