Out of the Rough: Zurich Classic of New Orleans (2026)

With the stress of the Masters Tournament and the Signature Event, RBC Heritage that followed, behind us, the PGA Tour takes a break from standard stroke-play in favor of this week’s unique format.

The world’s best golfers will team up in groups of two to take to TPC Louisiana for this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

This is a polarizing event that is either loved by golf fans or hated. It seems that there is no inbetween.

This event has served as the Tour’s lone duo-event since 2017 as previously, it served as a standard stroke-play event.

The Scoring

Scoring is the most important thing to understand this week as every day calls for a different format.

The event begins on Thursday with the duos taking part in a best ball format. This means that each golfer will play their own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole being recorded. Saturday is also best ball.

Friday and Sunday are played in a foursomes format. This means that players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shot on the odd-numbered holes as the other tees off on the even numbered holes. Golfers then alternate shots from there.

Most of the scoring will be done through the best ball format as the likes of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay opened with a 59 in 2022. They would win the event at -29, with -25 coming from the two best ball rounds.

As for DFS scoring, only one golfer per team can be played, but the cumulative score of the duo will count towards scoring. For example, if you play Schauffele in one lineup, you too cannot play Cantlay. However, if you played Cantlay in a separate lineup, they would each record the same DFS score.

Easy enough to understand, right?

The Field

The defending champions, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak, will return this season to defend their title. This event served as Griffin’s third victory of the 2025 season and Novak’s first PGA Tour victory.

One of the biggest storylines coming into this week is that 2025 champions and life-long best friends, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy will not be playing this week. Instead, as McIlroy sits idle for a second consecutive week following his Masters Tournament victory, Lowry will team up with Brooks Koepka this season.

Charley Hoffman and Nick Watney will return this season, having played all of the prior eight events of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans together.

This event allows for some teams to be formed by various connections. We have best friends, siblings and fellow countrymen.

Recent first time DP World Tour winner Alex Fitzpatrick will once again tee it up alongside brother Matt Fitzpatrick for the fourth consecutive season at this event. Additionally, brothers Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard, the runner-ups a season ago, will also team up again this year.

As previously mentioned, we’ll also see fellow countrymen teaming up to represent their respective homelands. Some notable pairings include Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes (Canada,) Erik van Rooyen and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa,) Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura (Norway,) John Parry and Dan Brown (England,) Keita Nakajima and Kensei Hirata (Japan,) Pontus Nyholm and Jesper Svensson (Sweden,) Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin (Canada) and Marcelo Rozo and Camilo Villegas (Colombia.)

Winners in 2023, Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, will be pairing up again this season. 

The Course

TPC Louisiana plays as a par-72 at 7,400 yards and sits just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans.

It too is a Pete Dye design which resides in Avondale, Louisiana. It was constructed on 250 acres of former wetlands and features 100 bunkers.

The course is littered with water hazards which are a prominent feature of TPC Louisiana. However, the course is still one of the most scorable tracks on the PGA Tour.

Such is the case with most Pete Dye designed courses, along with the familiarity of TPC courses, they play towards a tendency of positional angels off-the-tee with around-the-green emphases.

Bunkers, along with the water hazards, play as the main line of defense at TPC Louisiana. There too are random hazards such as trees in the center of the fairway.

Despite the lists of hazards previously mentioned, there are plenty of scoring opportunities to be had.

Play off-the-tee will not be of the utmost importance this week as proven in years past. We’ve seen the likes of both teams and individuals find success without being strong off-the-tee.

In all, TPC Louisiana is a glorified second-shot course which emphasizes on strong approach play to avoid the aforementioned greenside water hazards and bunkers.

The signature hole here at TPC Louisiana is the par-five 18th, where there’s water all the way down the right hand side.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is a 25-percent chance of precipitation on Thursday, a 25-percent chance on Friday and a 55-percent chance on Saturday. Sunday is calling for a 55-percent chance of scattered thunderstorms in the morning. Temperatures will begin the week at 79-degrees on Thursday before peaking at 80-degrees on Friday. Temperatures will return to 79-degrees across both days of the weekend. Winds are set at 15 miles-per-hour for Thursday and Friday. Winds will settle to 13 miles-per-hour on Saturday and finish the week at 11 miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Key Statistics

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Par-Five Average Scoring

• Scrambling

• Bogey Avoidance

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Strokes Gained: Total (SG: TOT)

Betting Card

Haotong Li & Jordan Smith (+2500)

Li and Smith were graduates of the DP World Tour last season, seeing Li claim his PGA Tour card for a second time and Smith a first. They play rather similar games on paper. Both golfers with plus distance off-the-tee and strong approach games. This team’s downfall will be the short game as both of these golfers are below average in that category. Li is currently 13th on Tour in GIR%, 42nd in par-five average scoring, 46th in SG: APP, 47th in sand saves percentage, 60th in SG: TOT, 76th in bogey avoidance, 82nd in scrambling, 115th in SG: PUTT and 118th in SG: ATG. Smith is currently 11th on Tour in GIR%. 22nd in sand saves percentage, 29th in SG: APP, 30th in par-five average scoring, 43rd in SG: TOT, 53rd in bogey avoidance, 61st in birdie-or-better percentage, 101st in SG: PUTT, 117th in scrambling and 128th in SG: ATG. Li placed 38th in his latest outing at the Masters Tournament. Smith placed 16th last week at the RBC Heritage.  

Max McGreevy & Kevin Roy (+3500)There are multiple ways you can go about putting teams together for this event. Like previously mentioned, you can go the route of similar golfers such as Li and Smith. Or, in this instance, you can go with golfers who excel in the other’s weakness. That is the case with McGreevy and Roy. As McGreevy is 30th on Tour in SG: APP, Roy is 132nd. As Roy is 21st on Tour in SG: ATG, McGreevy is 85th. Roy is 50th in sand saves percentage as McGreevy is 106th. Roy is also 61st in SG: PUTT as McGreevy is 136th. McGreevy is fifth in par-five average scoring as Roy is 54th. Roy is 57th in scrambling as McGreevy is 129th. McGreevy is also 23rd in GIR% as Roy is 121st in. Both have played this event before, but never together.

Beau Hossler & Sam Ryder (+5500)

Hossler and Ryder last played this event together in 2024 where they missed the cut. Both individuals have had success at this event in the past. Hossler placed third in 2023 with teammate Wyndham Clark and Ryder placed third in 2022 with Doc Redman. Like the aforementioned team of McGreevy and Roy, Hossler and Ryder compliment each other’s weaknesses. Ryder is currently 19th on Tour in SG: APP as Hossler is 134th. Hossler is currently 29th on Tour in SG: ATG as Ryder is 144th. Hossler is first on Tour in sand saves percentage as Ryder is currently 79th. Hossler is 16th in scrambling as Ryder is 103rd. What I do like about this team, especially being in the “long shot” category, is that they both can putt. Hossler is currently ninth on Tour in SG: PUTT and Ryder is 21st.

2025 Betting Card

• Billy Horschel & Tom Hoge (+2800) - 36th

• Sepp Straka & Brice Garnett (+3300) - T12th

• Ryan Gerard & Danny Walker (+5500) - T12th

• Beau Hossler & Andrew Putnam (+6000) - MC

2024 Betting Card

• Collin Morikawa & Kurt Kitayama (+1600) - T23rd

• Tom Hoge & Maverick McNealey (+2800) - MC

• Davis Thompson & Andrew Novak (+5500) - T23rd

2023 Betting Card

• Si Woo Kim & Tom Kim (+1600) - T7th

• Wyndham Clark & Beau Hossler (+2400) - 3rd

• Tom Hoge & Harris English (+3700) - T13th

• Joel Dahmen & Denny McCarthy (+4600) - T11th