Following Stewart Cink’s third win in his career around Hilton Head, the TOUR heads back west a bit to TPC Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
This tournament is not your traditional stroke play event though, as a few years ago it was converted to a team event where players will compete in teams of two. They will play best ball the first and third rounds, while doing alternate shot the second and final rounds.
This is certainly a unique format and set up, but it has brought out a few of the top players in the world. Jon Rahm will team with multi-time partner Ryan Palmer and they are former champions of the event. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele will make up the biggest duo by name as the only two players from within the Top 10 in the world.
The next biggest pairing by name is with Zurich sponsor Collin Morikawa and another young star, Matthew Wolff. Some other interesting names in the field of 80 teams this week are the Australian pairing of Cam Smith and Marc Leishman, as well as Americans Scottie Scheffler and Bubba Watson.
DraftKings came out with a contest structure for this week during the final rounds of the RBC Heritage. They stated that all teammates would receive the same amount of points, regardless of whose score counts on a hole, and there would be a restriction allowing you to only pick on player from a team. This means that regardless of who contributes where or how, Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer will have the exact same score at the end of the week.
You also will not be able to put them in the same lineup. It made a bit more sense once salaries were released on Monday afternoon, which showed that each player on a team was priced the same. Effectively, you will be making a lineup from 80 players (one from each team), and the first thing I will do is to eliminate the other teammate. I’ll get more into that during my GPP article later this week.
The tournament structure is also important to note as with 80 teams, there is a cut but it won’t be set at the traditional 65 and ties. This week, they will cut down after the second round to the Top 35 and ties going into the weekend. It will create some interesting sweats as players look to close out their second round in the alternate shot format. We should expect a winning score in the mid to high twenties under par, as this format is conducive to low scoring.
Now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, let’s get into the course.
Course
TPC Louisiana – Avondale, LA
7,400 yard Par 72
TPC Louisiana was built in 2004 by renowned architect Pete Dye, with recent renovations in 2019 and 2020 to regrass to TifEagle bermuda and reshape the bunkers back to original design. The tournament directors are expected to have the greens rolling at a nice pace, at 12 on the stimpmeter.
The putting surfaces are on the small side at just 5,700 square feet on average, and are bermudagrass but recently overseeded with bentgrass. As is typical in a Dye design, water and sand come into play as the main protection around this track. There are five water hazards that come into play on eight holes, while 106 bunkers litter the course protecting the greens and lining the fairways.
As is to be expected on a Par 72 course, the main scoring opportunities come on the Par 5s. One thing that will be of interest especially in the Foursomes (alternate shot) format is that the teams will split the holes in terms of who hits the tee shot with one player teeing off on all even holes and one on all of the odds. The Par 5s will see each player handle the tee shot from two of them, with two of the three easiest coming on the odd numbers.
Holes 2, 11, and 7 are the easiest holes on the course, each playing 575 yards and shorter and yielding birdie more than 32% of the time. The 7th is the easiest of the bunch, giving up birdie or better over 47% of the time, and playing at a field average just over 4.5. Any par carded in either format on these holes will be losing shots to the field as this is where players should be looking to score.
The Par 3s and 4s are where the course shows it’s teeth, and it’s an interesting breakdown when you factor in the odds and evens scenario. The three hardest, and longest, Par 3s are all odd numbered holes. They all play over 200 yards in length and the field has historically shot over par on them across the event.
Hole 17 is the most difficult of the Par 3s at 215 yards and surrounded by bunkering. During one of the recent renovations they added some bulkheads and reshaped the green a bit, but left the signature pot bunker. Par will be a solid score in all formats on the 17th this week.
While one player will get those troublesome Par 3s, his teammate will get a string of long and difficult Par 4s from the tee box. The three toughest Par 4s, and three of the four toughest holes on the course are even numbered. They all check in short of 500 yards in length, but just barely.
The sixth is 476 yards long, and plays as the most difficult hole on the course as a sharp dogleg left protected by a hazard down the left side of the hole. Both length and accuracy will be required here off the tee to avoid the trouble, but also to position the team for an open approach to the green.
Whoever gets that tee shot off the sixth, will have just gotten done with their responsibility off the tee on the 4th which is the second most difficult hole at TPC Louisiana. This long, 482 yard, Par 4 has a hazard down the right and sets up for a fade off the tee, and a similar approach to the green.
The hazard, pot bunkers around the green, and tree lined nature of the hole make it one that yields birdie just 10% of the time, but bogey or worse more than 23% of the time. Teams will be looking to escape this early stretch of difficult Par 4s at even par this week, knowing that will be gaining some shots on the field.
Team Chemistry
Course Horses aren’t really a thing this week when you consider the requirements of having a teammate be a good fit for the course as well. Instead, I will focus on the teams that will be coming back for another appearance together after having some prior success.
Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer
The 2019 champions of this event stand out the most this week. Rahm and Palmer teamed up to win this event a couple of years ago, which was a big moment in the career of Palmer due to the benefits that came with that win.
Now, Palmer is playing some of the best golf of his career and has ironically been matched up with Rahm at a few key events most recently in Match Play and last summer down the stretch of The Memorial. These two tied the 54 hole scoring record in the short history of this event in 2019 and will look to go low again this year.
Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown
This is a team that clearly enjoys playing the Zurich together. They lost in a playoff in the first year in 2017 to Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith, finished in a tie for 15th in 2018, and tied for 5th in 2019. Neither player comes into this year’s version with much form, but maybe being together at a place they clearly see well can produce a fourth good result.
Chez Reavie/Lucas Glover
There aren’t many other spots to highlight this week, so I’ll go to one that at least has three years of playing together. Reavie and Glover have made the cut all three times they have paired up, though they got cut through the old MDF rule after Saturday’s round in 2017.
They finished just inside of the Top 20 in their last two appearances, and should already have a leg up on other teams this week having built some good chemistry in previous years.
Pictured above: Jon Rahm
Photo credit: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
