This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS
Purse: $8.6M
Winners' Share (each): $1.494M
FedEx Cup Points: 400 to each winner
Location: Avondale, La.
Course: TPC Louisiana
Yardage: 7,425
Par: 72
2021 champion: Patrick Cantlay-Xander Schauffele
Tournament Preview
The revamped Zurich Classic, converted to a two-man team event six years ago, has proved to be a fun diversion for both golfers and fans midway through a long PGA Tour season. The thing is, this is not the same PGA Tour season as in years past. Every time you turn around there's another designated event. If it's not the Tour mandating the top guys to play in all these events, the $20 million purses have proven to be quite the carrot. The Zurich is not a designated event, which means it's a great week for a lot of the top guys take a breather. Except a bunch of them are not.
Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim head the field of 80 two-man teams that have committed to play this week. While this may be a more fun, lighthearted approach to golf than the weekly grind that is the PGA Tour, it's still professional golf at its highest level. Those golfers may get through this week with no ill effects, but who knows what the ramifications will be come the dog days of summer, in July for the Open Championship or in August for the three-event playoffs.
Of course, that's of zero concern to Zurich tournament organizers. They will sign up eight days a week for a field that includes almost half of the top 20 in the world rankings.
There are a few super groups, as they used to call them in rock-and-roll, most notably good pals Cantlay and Schauffele back to defend their title. Homa and Morikawa are teaming up for the first time, while Burns and two-time Zurich champ Billy Horschel are back for a second go-round together. Fitzpatrick, fresh off his big win at the RBC Heritage, is keeping it all in the family with younger brother Alex. Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim are joining forces, recreating their Presidents Cup pairing in which they took down Cantlay and Schauffele. Im has an intriguing teammate in Keith Mitchell. Former Southern California college foes Sahith Theegala and Justin Suh will be on the same side this week, as they were in the 2018 Palmer Cup. But our favorite duo of them all, hands down, is 50-somethings John Daly and David Duval.
The New Orleans Tour stop is one of the oldest on Tour, having been around since 1938, when it was named the Crescent City Open. Many of the biggest names in golf have won there. But in a bid to raise sagging interest, the team format was instituted in 2017. So there are five editions we can use as a guide; the tournament was pandemic-canceled in 2020.
Since this is still a relatively new event on the DFS landscape -- this will be just the third year that DraftKings is offering games -- let's detail the format and scoring.
The 80 two-man teams will play best-ball (fourball) in the first and third rounds and alternate shot (foursomes) in the second and fourth rounds. The Friday cut will be the top-33 teams and ties. You still pick six guys with a $50,000 salary cap. Each golfer on a team will cost the same DraftKings price and get the same DK points. You may pick only one of the two -- and it makes absolutely no difference which one. Other than that, the scoring is pretty standard.
Here's a good time to point out that getting six guys through to the weekend will be VERY hard. Normally you need six of the 65+ties. This week it's half of that with 33+ties. Five weekenders can win you some cash.
Needless to say, as is the case most of the time in team formats, you have to go super low to win. Cantlay-Schauffele set the tournament record of 29-under 259 last year. The winning score has been at least 25-under in three of the previous five Zurichs.
The best-ball record of 60 was held by five tandems until it was broken last year by Cantlay-Schauffele, who shot 59 on Thursday, then 60 on Saturday. Jon Rahm-Ryan Palmer set the alternate-shot record at 65, and it was matched by a couple of teams last year. It's safe to say that strong iron play and quality putting will be imperative this week, so a good team should have at least one of each. Two of each, of course, is better.
Palmer has has had quite a history here. For the first two years, he teamed with Jordan Spieth; they finished fourth in 2017. Then the next two he was with Rahm, winning in 2019 and tying for seventh in 2021. Last year, Palmer connected with another elite player, Scottie Scheffler, and this year will team with Scott Piercy, who won with Horschel in 2018. Yes, Palmer hit the holy grail playing with three No. 1 players, but team chemistry is every bit as important as good golf. Some of these teams are thrown to together at the last minute, like two high school kids desperately trying to avoid going to the prom alone.
TPC Louisiana is a 2004 Pete Dye design, and the tournament was first played there in 2005. It was a big-time birdie-fest even before they instituted the team format. Justin Rose set the "solo" tournament-record at 22-under 266 in 2015. The stock par-72 is not especially long -- except with the par-3s, all of which are over 200 yards. There are four par-4s of 400ish or less. The par-5s tap out at 585, all gettable in two by a long hitter. Last year, only four holes played over par, three of them par-3s. The greens are bermudagrass overseeded with poa, average a medium-size 5,200 square feet and run 12 on the Stimpmeter. There's water on eight holes and 106 bunkers.
In August 2021, the course and all of New Orleans was blasted by Hurricane Ida. Nine acres of wooded areas had to be removed along with an additional 700 trees on the property. More than 600 trees have been planted since the hurricane, according to the official Golf Course Superintendents fact sheet, which also noted that "recent renovations have been geared to ensuring the course drains more efficiently since most of it lies below sea level."
You wonder how many more hurricanes the city of New Orleans can withstand.
As for the this week's weather, there is wind and rain in the forecast -- double-digit mph wind all four days and rain on Friday and Saturday. High temperatures will be in the 80s the first two days and then will be hard pressed to break 70 on the weekend.
FedExCup factoid: Not that we concern ourselves too much with FedExCup points, but if you're wondering why it says up top that the winners get 400 points apiece, that's because the winner of a tournament normally gets 500 and the runner-up gets 300. Also, there will be no Official World Golf Rankings points doled out this week.
Key Stats to Winning at TPC Louisiana
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Birdie or Better Percentage
• Team Chemistry
Past Champions
2022 - Patrick Cantlay-Xander Schauffele
2021 - Marc Leishman-Cameron Smith
2020 - None
2019 - Jon Rahm-Ryan Palmer
2018 - Billy Horschel-Scott Piercy
2017 - Jonas Blixt-Cameron Smith
2016 - Brian Stuard
2015 - Justin Rose
2014 - S.Y. Noh
2013 - Billy Horschel
Champion's Profile
We mentioned above how low the scores go, so it's an absolute necessity to get on the green in regulation and make putts. But it's more than just the golf. As we see in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, team chemistry is also imperative. Many of the guys on Tour are friends off the course, so it's natural for them to connect this week. But there are some curious pairings of seemingly different guys. Horschel has won this tournament as both a single and double, so if there's a horse for this course, he would seem to be the guy. Golfodds.com puts the over/under on the winning score at 263.5 -- 24.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Patrick Cantlay-Xander Schauffele - $11,100 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +300)
Schauffele apparently is the one golfer on the planet who doesn't mind being grouped with the slow-playing Cantlay. The things people will do for millions of dollars! Seriously, they are very good friends and have been paired together in international competitions, where they have done well. And they obviously have excelled here, winning last year. They are the two best golfers in the field and are on the same team. That's why they are a minuscule 3-1 at the Sportsbook.
Justin Suh-Sahith Theegala - $10,000 (+2000)
This was a tough call for us, deciding between Suh-Theegala and the two Kims, Si Woo and Tom. It's a coin flip. Why not both? Because we are absolutely taking our first and third choices in Tier 1. Of the four golfers, Theegala is playing the best, now inside the top-25 in the world. And Suh has really come on this season. Theegala is a great all-round player and Suh is ranked 35th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. They know each other from their college days in Southern California -- Theegala playing for Pepperdine and Suh for USC. Suh tied for 11th here in 2021 alongside Doug Ghim.
Sam Burns-Billy Horschel $9,500 (+1400)
The only plausible explanation for five teams being priced higher than Burns-Horschel is Horschel's poor play this season. But things change when golfers get to a course they love, and when paired with a good friend. Burns and Horschel have played the past two years together and their worst finish was fourth. They were runner-up a year ago. Burns is playing great of late and Horschel returns to a track where he not only won with a partner, Scott Piercy, in 2018, but as a solo in 2013.
Tier 2 Values
Kurt Kitayama-Taylor Montgomery - $9,100 (+2200)
This is a first-time pairing at the Zurich but they know each well as former teammates at UNLV. They offer differing styles of play, which is great for this format. Kitayama is terrific tee-to-green, ranked 54th on Tour. Montgomery is the elite putter, ranked third, and you surely will need to make a boatload of putts to contend. Kitayama played last year and made the cut alongside Kiradech Aphibarnrat; this will be Montgomery's Zurich debut.
Joel Dahmen-Denny McCarthy - $8,900 (+3500)
This is a another first-time pairing -- Dahmen made the cut last year with Stephan Jaeger while McCarthy missed with Ben Kohles. These two are virtual opposites of one another. Dahmen does everything well but putt -- he's ranked top-60 on Tour in every other Strokes Gained category. His putting is atrocious. McCarthy's forte is putting. He's ranked 30th this year but is normally far better.
Doc Redman-Sam Ryder - $8,300 (+7000)
Redman continues to languish around 400th in the world rankings while Ryder is amid his best season. They are priced this high because they teamed the past two years and done well both times, finishing third last year and 17th the year before. Ryder is a top-50 player in SG: Approach and an elite second on Tour in SG: Putting. Redman's best stat is also putting, which is a good one to have in this format. He's made only one of his past seven cuts, but it was a T16 at the Valspar.
Tier 3 Values
Tyler Duncan-Hank Lebioda - $7,500 (+10000)
Duncan and Lebioda have not played together before, but they both have had success here with other partners. Duncan tied for 11th and 14th the past two years with fellow ex-Purdue Boilermaker Adam Schenk. Lebioda was 18th last year with former Florida State teammate Chase Seiffert and fifth in 2019 with Curtis Luck. Apologies to Seiffert and Luck, but Lebioda is the common denominator with two subpar golfers. Both Duncan and Lebioda are top-50 players on Tour in greens in regulation.
Trey Mullinax-Scott Stallings - $7,400 (+5000)
Mullinax and Stallings did not play together last year but when they teamed in 2019, they blew the doors off the four-ball days, shooting 61 on Thursday and 62 on Saturday before settling into a tie for 13th. Mullinax is the big hitter of the two. Stallings has been up and down this year, but he had a great Masters week, just missing a top-25 (T26). Stallings was also 11th here in 2021 playing with Brice Garnett.
Byeong Hun An-S.H. Kim - $7,100 (+3500)
Here's the latest case of the DraftKings' folk on the DFS side not being in sync with the Sportsbook side. An-Kim has odds shorter than tandems nearly $2,000 more (see: Dahmen-McCarthy). Frankly, they probably should be priced higher than $7,100 with odds a little longer than 30-1. Regardless, we'll take this very good pairing at a great price. This will be Kim's Zurich debut, but An has played multiple times, including tying for 14th last year with Im. An leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Kim is ranked 18th in Strokes Gained: Putting.
Long-Shot Values
Max McGreevy-Sam Stevens - $6,800 (+11000)
Stevens might be the best single golfer right now in the entire $6000s, which delve deep into the priority list and world rankings. He was runner-up at the Valero and third in the Dominican Republic, and he has two other two other top-15s this year, including at the Farmers. He's also ranked 26th on Tour in greens in regulation. McGreevy has really struggled this season, but at least he made a cut last week at the RBC Heritage. It's tough for one guy to carry a team, but we've seen it happen and the pickings down here are pretty slim.
Tano Goya-Trevor Werbylo - $6700 (+15000)
On the surface, the 34-year-old Argentinian and the 24-year-old Arizonan make for an odd pairing -- have they even met? Kidding, kidding. Both have been playing lots and making lots of cuts -- each of them is 10 for 15 on the season -- albeit without many high finishes. Goya is strong off the tee and Werbylo has been doing it with his short game and putting. That's a good match. This will be the Zurich debut for both of them.
Greg Chalmers-Cameron Percy - $6,200 (+50000)
The two nearly 50-year-old Aussies have known each other forever. Chalmers is 49 and Percy 48. They've hooked up here twice before, finishing 10th in 2018 and 33rd in 2021. Both are excellent putters and Percy is ranked 17th. He's also has a pair of top-16s in his past four starts, at the Valspar and Honda. Chalmers doesn't play much anymore, not enough to qualify for stats rankings, but he has made three of four cuts in 2023.
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