Zurich Classic of New Orleans: English pair chanced at 74/1

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What happened last week? Long odds-on backers rescued in added time

The well backed and bang in-form pre-tournament 20.019/1 chance, Matthew Fitzpatrick, who had won the 2023 edition of last week's event, the RBC Heritage, opened with a six-under-par 66 to trail the first round leader, Ludvig Aberg, by two and he hit the front at halfway following an eight-under-par 64 on Friday.

He was trading at 2.3811/8 when he led Viktor Hovland by a stroke at the midway point, before shortening up to 1.910/11 with 18 to play when he led Scottie Scheffler by three strokes.

Fitzpatrick, who won the Valspar Championship last month, started round four nicely with birdies at one and three and he looked like he was going to coast to victory.

The 31-year-old Englishman was matched at as short as 1.081/12 to win his second RBC Heritage title and his second PGA Tour event in three starts, but Scheffler rallied late on with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 and when Fitzpatrick bogeyed the last after an iffy drive, we were into extra time.

Scheffler was made favourite to win the playoff, hitting a low of 1.664/6 but the odds soon changed after this brilliant approach shot on the first extra hole.

His best when he needed it most!

Matt Fitzpatrick hits it to 13 feet on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/fHEEyGZXap

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 19, 2026

With Scheffler struggling for par after a poor second shot, Fitzpatrick rolled in the birdie putt to close the deal and to silence the inane chants of 'USA USA' to claim his fourth PGA Tour title.

Now up to number three in the Official World Rankings, Fitzpatrick is now a 30.029/1 chance to win next month's US PGA Championship at Aronimink and he's currently trading at 28.027/1 to win a second US Open title in June at Shinnecock, having won his first at Brookline four years ago.

Playing alongside his brother, Alex, who won his first DP World Tour event in India last month, he's also very well fancied again this week, with the pairing currently heading the market at 12/113.00.

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Zurich Classic Tournament History

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans dates all the way back to 1938 and except for the 2020 edition, when it was one of the events lost to the pandemic, it's been an annual PGA Tour stop since 1958.

The likes of Byron Nelson, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson (twice) and Seve, to name but five former champions, have all won the title so it has plenty of history but after a number of years where the strength of the fields had been waning, there was a dramatic change to the format in 2017 when the event changed from being an ordinary stroke play tournament to a team event. 

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Format

The 72-hole stroke play tournament features four-ball (best ball) during the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) during the second and fourth rounds.

The starting field consists of 80 teams (160 players) with the low 33 teams and ties after 36 holes making the cut.

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Venue

TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana.

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Course Details

Par 72 -7,425 yards 

TPC Louisiana made its event debut in 2005 but just a year later the tournament returned to its old venue, English Turn, after Hurricane Katrina devastated this venue. The event returned in 2007, and it's been played here ever since. 

TPC Louisiana, like Hilton Head last week, is a Bermuda grass Pete Dye design. Built on 250 acres of former swamp land, the course has 71 bunkers and 20 acres of the site are covered in sand! Water is in play on eight holes and the average-sized greens usually run at around 12 on the stimpmeter.

It's an easy course for the pros and in rain-softened conditions in 2015, Justin Rose won with a 22-under-par total. Under the new format, the eight winning pairs have all reached at least 20-under-par (see below). 

The 2023 winners, Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, got it to -30, and the 2022 winners, Schauffele and Cantlay, opened the event with a 59 on Thursday!

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 13:00 on Thursday.

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Pairs Format Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2017 - Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith -27 (Playoff) 120.0119/1
2018 - Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy -22 65.064/1
2019 - Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer -26 19.018/1
2020 - Event Cancelled
2021 - Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith -20 (Playoff) 13.012/1
2022 - Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay -29 12.011/1
2023 - Nick Harding and David Riley -30 70.069/1
2024 - Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry -25 (Playoff) 9.89/1
2025 - Andrw Novak and Ben Griffin -28 30.029/1

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What Will it Take to Win the Zurich Classic?

There have been no stats produced since the format change, but we can look back to the old format for statistical clues.

What you do off the tee here is irrelevant. The fairways are generous but that doesn't immediately hand the initiative to the big hitters. Brian Stuard, who won the final individual edition 10 years ago, ranked only 79^th for Driving Distance and the average DD ranking for the previous ten course winners was 27.1.

The average Driving Accuracy ranking for the 11 course winners prior to the format change was 37.45.

Greens In Regulation was a fairly important stat, with seven of the 11 winners ranking inside the top-ten for GIR but Stuard managed to get the job done in 2016 ranking only 73^rd. He owed his success to a great short game and a red-hot putter.

Stuard ranked first for Scrambling, Sand Saves, Putting Average, Putts Per Green in Regulation and for Strokes Gained Putting and he made every single putt (more than 40) inside ten feet. The 2015 winner, Justin Rose, also ranked number one for Putting Average and six of the last seven winners before the format change ranked inside the top ten for that stat.

Prior to his move to LIV, Cameron Smith won the title with two different partners, and he was famed for his flat-stick prowess before he forgot how to play.

It's a low scoring event around a generous layout so it's all about holing plenty of putts.

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Austin Country Club form a big plus

Form at events staged at other Pete Dye courses is worth looking at. Last week's RBC Heritage venue, Hilton Head, is designed by Dye and Andrew Novak won here alongside Ben Griffin a week after trading at odds on to win the Heritage but one tournament in particular looks well worth considering - the now defunct WGC Match Play.

The final seven editions of the WGC Match Play were staged at the Pete Dye designed Austin Country Club and it's remarkable how many players have thrived at both events in such a short space of time.

Dustin Johnson, the 2017 winner of the Match Play, has only played here twice, missing the cut way back in 2008 and finishing only 43^rd in 2015, but the man he beat in the final, Jon Rahm, won here in 2019, alongside Ryan Palmer, and the other six Match Play winners at Austin all have strong course form here.

The 2016 Match Play winner, Jason Day, finished fourth and fifth in the last two individual events here, in 2015 and '16, the 2018 Match Play winner, Bubba Watson (who loves a Pete Dye design), won here in 2011.

The 2019 Match Play champ, Kevin Kisner, was beaten in a playoff in this event, alongside Scott Brown, in 2017, the 2021 WGC Match Play winner, Billy Horschel, has won here twice - once in the old format in 2013 and also alongside Scott Piercy in 2018, the 2022 Match Play winner, Scottie Scheffler, finished eighth alongside Bubba Watson in 2021, and the final Match Play winner, Sam Burns, has finished fourth, second and 11^th with Horschel as his partner.

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Look to Puerto Rico for longshots

The inaugural edition in this format was won by outsiders, Jonas Blixt and Cam Smith, but they're the only winning pairing to go off at a triple-figure price and t's not been a great event for outsiders.

If there is to be a longshot pairing taking the title though, one or both of them may well have form in either the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic or the Puerto Rico Open as form at both events appears to cross over well.

The 2013 Puerto Rico Open winner, Scott Brown, lost a playoff alongside Kevin Kisner on the first occasion that the Zurich Classic was played as a pairs event and Puerto Rico Open winners, Chesson Hadley, Martin Trainer, Ryan Brehm and Nico Echavarria all contended at the 2024 renewal.

Trainer's partner, Chad Ramey, won the Corales Puntacana Championship four years ago and the 2024 Corales winner, Billy Horschel, has won in New Orleans twice.

Horschel won on his own back in 2013 before winning the tournament as a pairs event alongside Scott Piercy in 2018.

The tournament tends to go to a well-fancied pair but 1000.0999/1 chances Patrick Fairburn and Zac Blair and 410.0409/1 chances, shots, Trainer and Ramey, traded at odds-on in-running two years ago so a long-shot pairing taking the title is perfectly possible.

Finding a pair with form in Puerto Rico and/or the Dominican Republic (where the Corales is staged) might be a good way to play the event if you want to swerve the more fancied pairings.

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Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2017 - Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith - led by four 1.68/13
2018 - Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy - tied fifth, trailing by three 16.015/1
2019 - Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer - tied for the lead 2.8615/8
2020 - Event Cancelled
2021 - Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith - tied second and one off the lead 4.47/2
2022 - Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay - led by five 1.21/5
2023 - Nick Harding and David Riley - tied third and two back 15.014/1
2024 - Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry - tied third and two back 3.7511/4
2025 - Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin - led by three 1.981/1

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In-Play Tactics

Stuard was the ninth winner in 11 years to be in front with a round to go in the old format and four of the eight winning pairs have been in front through 54 holes.

Horschel and Piercy won from three shots back and tied fifth with a round to go in 2018, but they were helped greatly by those ahead of them and that's the furthest any winning pairing has trailed by with 18 holes to play so this is not a place to play catch up on a Sunday.

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English pair chanced at a big price

The Jordan Smith/Haotong Li pairing makes for an interesting team.

Often flaky in-the-mix in an individual event, Smith is just the sort of player to benefit from playing in a team environment and Li has just played very nicely in the US Masters before a disastrous 80 in round four saw him tumble down the leaderboard.

The pair were both in-contention at this week's other event, the Volvo China Open, last year, with Li leading with 18 to play and Smith trading at as shorts as 1.75/7 when he led by a stroke with three holes to play.

I can see those two going well but the pairing I like at a bit bigger is the English duo of Dan Brown and John Parry, who like Smith and Li were plying their trade on the DP World Tour last season.

Parry has made a very solid start on the PGA Tour and although Dan Brown appears to be struggling to adapt to life in the States, he's a streaky type capable of low scores who can find form out of the blue.

Both men are fine links exponents and I suspect they'll take to this exposed layout.

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