BY JIM DERRY | Home Field Sports
It’s far from a major event on the PGA Tour, but the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is certainly unique. It is the only team event throughout the year-long schedule, and it happens at TPC Louisiana in Avondale from Thursday through Sunday.
The way it works is simple: Two golfers pair up and play best ball in rounds 1 (Thursday) and 3 (Saturday), while it’s alternate shot in the second round (Friday) and in Sunday’s final round. The top 33 teams after the first two days advance to the final two days.
This is not a very tough course for PGA golfers, as last year, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele won with a score of -29, which was two shots better than Billy Horschel and Sam Burns. Fifteen other teams were at -20 or better.
Cantlay and Schauffele are favored to repeat at FanDuel Sportsbook and are favored in a big way at almost ridiculous odds of +290. Collin Morikawa and Max Homa are second in odds at +750.
Let’s take a deeper look into the course, the weather, the odds and we’ll give you a few best bets:
The course
TPC Louisiana in Avondale
Note: Course information, in part, aggregated from Andy Lack, who writes a weekly tournament preview for RickRunGood.com.
2022 winner: Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (-29) defeated Billy Horschel and Sam Burns by two strokes.
Event history: This has been a PGA Tour event since the late 1950s and has been contested at multiple courses, including City Park (until 1962) Lakewood Country Club in Algiers (from 1963 through 1988) and English Turn in Algiers (1989 through 2004). It switched to a team event in 2017, but past individual winners include Billy Casper in 1975, David Frost over Greg Norman in 1990, Davis Love III in a playoff in 1995 and Vijay Singh over Phil Mickelson by one shot in 2004.
Course design and length: The Pete Dye course opened in 2004 and is a par-72 with an overall length of 7,425 yards, which is slightly longer than the average PGA Tour course.
Hazards: Water comes into play on five holes, while the rough is shorter than the average PGA course. The greens aren’t extraordinarily tough and roll 12 on the stimp meter, which is about average.
Weather forecast
(according to The Weather Channel)
Thursday: Warm with highs in the low to mid-80s. Little chance of rain and winds SE 10-20 mph.
Friday: The only likely rain day, as there is an 80-90% chance of thunderstorms with a high of 77 and strong winds (10-25 mph) changing direction in the afternoon from SE to WNW.
Saturday: Partly cloudy and cooler. Temps in the 60s in the morning with a high of 72. Little to no chance of rain with winds north winds of 10-20 mph.
Sunday: Even cooler than Saturday with highs likely in the upper 60s and fairly strong north winds of 10-20 mph and stronger gusts.
TV information
Thursday: ESPN+ from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. with featured hole and group coverage. Overall coverage on Golf Channel from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on Peacock from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: ESPN+ from 9:15 a.m. until 6 p.m. with featured hole and group coverage. Overall coverage on Golf Channel from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on Peacock from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: ESPN+ from 8:45 a.m. until 6 p.m. with featured hole and group coverage. Overall coverage on Golf Channel from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and on CBS from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Also streamed on Peacock from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Paramount+ from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: ESPN+ from 10:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. with featured hole and group coverage. Overall coverage on Golf Channel from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and on CBS from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Also streamed on Peacock from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Paramoun+ from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Odds and best value bets
NOTE: All odds (as of late Tuesday) are provided by FanDuel Sportsbook. We list our best values over best bets. In other words, we don’t think there’s any value in the favorites – Cantlay/Schauffele – so we won’t be betting on them.
Top 5 favorites and odds: Patrick Cantlay / Xander Schauffele (+290); Collin Morikawa / Max Homa (+750); Sungjae Im / Keith Mitchell (+950); Billy Horschel / Sam Burns (+1300); Si Woo Kim / Tom Kim (+1500).
Our outright picks: Kim / Kim at +1500; Horschel / Burns at +1300.
Other value plays: None.
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