The Zurich Traditional of New Orleans is in contrast to some other occasion on the PGA Tour.
As a substitute of particular person stroke play for 72 holes, this event employs a crew format that options two gamers every.
For Thursday’s first spherical and Saturday’s third spherical, groups will play 4-ball, which suggests every participant will play their very own ball. The most effective rating among the many two gamers is then taken on every gap for the crew. Then, for Friday’s second spherical and Sunday’s remaining spherical, groups will compete in foursomes—also referred to as alternate shot—so just one rating is tallied per gap.
Of the 80 groups within the subject, the highest 33 and ties make it to the weekend. The profitable crew receives 800 FedEx Cup factors—400 to every participant—and two-year exemptions on the PGA Tour. Nevertheless, the victors don’t obtain invites to The Masters the next 12 months, nor do they acquire any Official World Golf Rating (OWGR) factors.
Zurich Traditional of New Orleans Odds:
Listed below are the present odds for the groups to win, per DraftKings:
- Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele +500
- Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry +800
- Will Zalatoris & Sahith Theegala +1100
- Collin Morikawa & Kurt Kitayama +1600
- Tom Hoge & Maverick McNealy +2500
- Matt Fitzpatrick & Alex Fitzpatrick +2500
- Taylor Pendrith & Corey Conners +3500
- Rasmus Højgaard & Nicolai Højgaard +3500
- Taylor Montgomery & Ben Griffin +4000
- Sepp Straka & Ben Griffin +4000
- Nick Taylor & Adam Hadwin +4000
- Keith Mitchell & Joel Dahmen +4000
- Brice Garnett & Sepp Straka +4000
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Zurich Traditional of New Orleans Predictions
An all-Irish duo of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry spotlight this 12 months’s Zurich Traditional in New Orleans. However so do Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele—the one crew that includes two gamers ranked throughout the prime 10 of the OWGR.
Three units of brothers will even compete, together with the Fitzpatrick’s, who tied for nineteenth a 12 months in the past right here. Netflix’s season two of Full Swing underscored their triumphs and tribulations from this occasion via The Open Championship final season.
The opposite brothers on this week’s subject embody the formidable Danish duo of Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard and People Pierceson and Parker Coody. As such, the 2024 Zurich Traditional marks the primary time in PGA Tour historical past that two units of twins will compete in the identical occasion.
Cantlay, Schauffele contend however fall quick once more
Cantlay and Schauffele arrive within the Bayou because the odds-on favorites, and rightfully so. They type the perfect crew on paper, however Cantlay has not had a terrific 2024 marketing campaign.
The previous UCLA Bruin at present ranks 91st on tour in general strokes gained and 149th in strokes gained, approaching the inexperienced this season. He solely has two top-10 finishes as properly.
Cantlay’s iron play has sorely let him down, however maybe he found one thing final week at Harbour City. He tied for third on the RBC Heritage and ranked fifth in strokes gained approaching the inexperienced on a golf course that locations a premium on iron play. That marked his greatest end for the reason that Genesis Invitational, the place he held the lead for a lot of the event however in the end tied for 4th.
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In the meantime, Schauffele has had a wonderful season, rating second behind Scottie Scheffler in general strokes gained. He tied for 18th on the RBC Heritage, however previous to that, he recorded three straight prime 10s, which features a tie for 2nd at TPC Sawgrass and a solo eighth at Augusta Nationwide.
It might not shock us if this duo went on to win the Zurich Traditional of New Orleans as soon as once more. In any case, they did so in 2022 with an unimaginable rating of 29-under par. However these two golfers have struggled to complete the job this 12 months when the sunshine has shined brightest. We envision that narrative persisting, particularly since they arrive as heavy favorites with all eyes watching them.
The Winners: A pair of younger American stars
We just like the crew of Sahith Theegala and Will Zalatoris to prevail this week in Louisiana. They arrive with the third-lowest odds at +1100, a strong value for these younger stars.
Theegala, recent off a solo second end on the RBC Heritage, already has 5 prime 10s this season. He has an innate capacity to form no matter shot he wishes and ranks thirteenth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: placing. That, coupled with Zalatoris’ pedigree of being a terrific ball-striker, leads us to consider that Theegala and Zalatoris will triumph.
Plus, these two have an amazing camaraderie with each other, as emphasised by Theegala’s remarks after his strong week in Harbour City.
“I’m tremendous excited. I simply wish to win actually badly with Will. I’m pumped that he agreed to play with me and know he’s going to hold me a bit bit, however we’re simply going to have such a superb time, and I feel our video games mesh rather well,” Theegala stated Monday.
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“We’re going to provide one another some crap if we hit unhealthy photographs and provides one another loads of love for the nice photographs. It’s going to be quite a lot of enjoyable, and I feel actually simply going to attempt to take it down.”
Apparently, Theegala and Zalatoris have every received as soon as earlier than on the PGA Tour. Theegala’s maiden victory got here on the Fortinet Championship final September, whereas Zalatoris prevailed for the primary time in August 2022 on the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
They know what it takes to win. However the circumstances change considerably this week, as these gamers enter unfamiliar territory enjoying on a crew professionally. Neither has competed within the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup, however Zalatoris did compete within the 2017 Walker Cup as an newbie on the Los Angeles Nation Membership.
Nonetheless, these two entertaining People will depend on one another’s strengths to win the Zurich Traditional.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. Remember to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
