AVONDALE, La. — If PGA Tour events were people, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans would be the cool uncle with the earring and soul patch who everyone wants to hang with at the family reunion.
The Zurich, which tees off Thursday at thebucolic, alligator-riddled TPC of Louisiana, might just be the most unique tournament on the PGA Tour, with its team format and one-of-a-kind walk-up music. For players, the tournament is a welcome diversion from the grind of the tour. And after a one-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament has again attracted a competitive field of 160 golfers. Best of all, the weather, which is traditionally hit or miss in April, looks like it will cooperate this year.
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“Whenever I come here, I get off the plane, it feels like a second home,” said Billy Horschel, who won the Zurich in 2013 when it was an individual event and again in 2018 when he teamed with Scott Piercy. “I’ve gotten to have some really good friends here. We have our regular routine of going out to dinner certain nights at certain restaurants and just, it’s a nice relaxing atmosphere.”
Here’s what you need to know about this unparalleled tournament on the PGA Tour schedule:
1. The team format is unique
This is the only team event on the PGA Tour. The field’s 80 two-man teams compete in best-ball on Thursday and Saturday and alternate shot on Friday and Sunday. This is the fourth year of team play, which lends itself to volatility because of the unusual format.
Tony Finau, who is teaming with Cameron Champ, said the biggest difference in team and individual play is “the emotions involved.”
“You’re not playing for yourself anymore,” he said. “You got a teammate now, and his caddie and your caddie, so it’s a real team. Four guys out there inside the ropes.”
2. Back after a year away
The tournament was one of several PGA Tour events canceled last year because of the pandemic. PGA Tour officials announced last September the tournament would return to the 2020-21 schedule. It was the first time the tournament had been canceled in New Orleans since 1957.
3. The galleries will be crowded
A daily limit of 10,000 fans will be allowed in the tournament, making it the largest attendance for a sporting event in the New Orleans since the start of the pandemic. New Orleans Saints games were limited to no more than 7,000 fans at home games last season. Only 3,000 fans attended the Sugar Bowl. The allotment features 7,500 day-specific tickets for course access and a maximum of 2,500 fans in the popular premium hospitality areas.
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4. The course has been renovated
The 7,425-yard course at the TPC of Louisiana has undergone a pair of major renovations since the last time the pros played there. Fourteen of the 18 holes have been rebuilt and re-grassed, and the fairways and greens have been seeded with Celebration Bermuda grass and TifEagle Bermuda, respectively. Weather permitting, the greens could run up to 12.5 feet on the Stimpmeter, and several players noted their speed during Tuesday’s pro-am practice round.
“The golf course here at TPC Louisiana has got some really good birdie chances, but there’s a couple of holes, in particular a few of the par-3s, that are very challenging and you certainly are feeling a lot better if you’re standing there with a 4-iron with water down the left side if your partner is on the edge of the green or on the green,” said Henrik Stenson, who is partnering with Justin Rose. “You’ve got to play aggressive … because the scores have generally been very low around this golf course, so you don’t want to get left behind and try and make up a lot of ground, so you better be out there firing and ready to go when Thursday morning comes.”
5. Several stars shine in the field
The field features five of the top 10 players in the latest world golf rankings and nine of the top 20, led by defending champs Jon Rahm (No. 3) and Ryan Palmer, and emerging star Collin Morikawa (No. 4), who is paired with Matthew Wolff. No. 5 Xander Schauffele will team with No. 10 Patrick Cantlay, and No. 8 Tyrrell Hatton is paired with Danny Willett. Among the notable defections were No. 2 Justin Thomas and No. 7 Patrick Reed, who have played here regularly in the past.
6. Who’s favored?
Palmer and Rahm have been installed as the early 7-1 co-favorites by BetMGM along with the top-10 team of Schauffele and Cantlay. Next are Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman at 11-1 and Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler at 14-1. The longest shots in the field are the 50-somethings team of Woody Austin and Rocco Mediate at 1,000-1.
7. Who’s coming in hot?
Rahm is coming off a top-five finish at Augusta. He squared off against Palmer in the group stage at the Match Play three weeks ago, and the two tied their match before Rahm advanced in a sudden-death playoff. Palmer also arrives in top form. Leishman tied for fifth at the Masters, while his teammate, Cameron Smith, is coming off back-to-back top-10s at Augusta and Harbour Town. Chris Kirk, meanwhile, enters the tournament off back-to-back top-10 finishes. He’s also on a 209-hole streak without a three-putt, the longest active streak on Tour.
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8. Who’s not?
Since a third-place finish at the Genesis International in February, Sam Burns has been scuffling. The former LSU standout, who is teaming up with Horschel, missed three consecutive cuts before finishing 39th at the RBC Heritage. Watson, a two-time Masters champion, also arrives in need of a breakthrough. In his last seven tournaments, he has failed to record a single top-20 finish and missed the cut three times. Likewise, 2021 has been tough for Champ, who has missed five cuts and failed to record a top 20 in nine events.
9. Ties bind several teams
One of the cool things about the team format is it allows players to rekindle past relationships. Kirk and Brendon Todd played together at Georgia. Likewise, Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura were teammates at Oklahoma State. Meanwhile, fellow Aussies Smith and Leishman are teaming for the first time since finishing as runners-up at the 2018 Melbourne World Cup of Golf. For them, this figures to be an audition for the 2022 Presidents Cup. Likewise for South Korea’s Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An and the formidable South African duo of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
10. There will be a soundtrack again
One of the Zurich’s most popular features is the walk-up music for players as they prepare to tee off on Saturday and Sunday. In past years, players have gotten really creative with their selections. We’ve seen everything from Louis Armstrong’s “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” for Watson and J.B. Holmes to the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” for Keegan Bradley and Jon Curran. It’ll be interesting to see if Rahm and Palmer reprise Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” from their 2019 championship run.
“We actually have a band playing, a local band playing, so we’re going to have a little bit of jazz music, actually, just to kind of pay homage to New Orleans,” Finau said Tuesday.
11. Big stakes will be on the line
The Zurich offers one of the most lucrative purses on the PGA Tour schedule. Players will compete for $7.4 million in prize money, with more than $2.1 million being split by the winning team. The purse has doubled in the past two decades. The event, which was previously known as the HP Classic and Compaq Classic, had a purse of $3 million in 2000.
12. Laissez les bon appetit roulez
It’s New Orleans. Good food is ubiquitous, even at the remote Avondale course 15 miles from downtown. One of the most popular aspects of the Zurich is the cuisine available at the TPC of Louisiana course. Chefs from some of the city’s top restaurants work the tournament, and players regularly cite the tasty food selections as one of the tournament’s highlights. Some of the options for the pro-am alone: alligator sliders; shrimp remoulade; pork boudin and jalapeno cheddar sausage; and Genovese panini.
13. Sand traps aren’t the only hazards
The players are only part of the show at the Zurich. Tripod, the TPC’s legendary three-legged alligator, will once again be one of the stars. He’s one of more than 20 gators who live in the lakes at the TPC of Louisiana. But the 11-foot Tripod is the oldest of the congregation and the boss of the course. At previous events, Tripod has received as much publicity as some of the players. He even has his own Twitter account.
(Photo of Ryan Palmer: Stephen Lew / USA Today)
