Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Zurich Classic of New Orleans

TPC Louisiana
Avondale, LA

The PGA Tour heads to the bayou for another edition of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

I like to consider myself at the forefront of the anti-national chants at the regular PGA tournament stops, and I think this movement is growing after what we witnessed this past Sunday at the RBC Heritage.

In case you didn't watch on Sunday, the tournament ended in a playoff between American Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick, who is from England. Normally, you'd have three groups of fans at this point, one for Scheffler, one for Fitzpatrick and one neutral just hoping for some quality golf. These groups are generally based on the player, you know, how he performs, his personality, stuff like that, yet for some reason, and this isn't new, this devolved into a USA vs. the UK situation…at a regular tour stop.

There are a couple things wrong with this, actually there are probably more reasons, but I can see two clearly. First, the PGA Tour is made up of players from all over the world. It's simply the best group of golfers in the world, not just in the United States, in the world. If it were only the best from the United States, well, that would be pretty boring. Think LIV golf, a tour with only a small slice of the best players in the world. The PGA Tour is based in the United States, anyone that chooses to play here is then the guest of our country. We don't make guests feel like outsiders by chanting "USA" every time their opponent makes a good shot. Quite frankly, national origin has nothing to do with what goes on during a regular tour stop. I feel like I should continue writing on this part, because it's really the most important piece to this, but if you don't understand by now why it's just flat out wrong to chant "USA" during a regular PGA Tour event, then I'm afraid you're never going to understand.

The second part of this is the watering down of the Ryder Cup. When at the Ryder Cup, it is more than okay to root for your country's players, in fact, it's encouraged. It's what makes the Ryder Cup entertaining. Now, if we make every PGA Tour event a USA vs. the UK type thing, then it's no longer unique when the USA is actually facing the UK in a golf event. If we spend two years making every event about where the player is from, then the Ryder Cup is just a continuation of that, it's no longer something we wait to see every two years because we see it every week.

Long story short, to those that act like a fool at PGA Tour events, be better. Know that when you do this, you look like a fool and those that are joining you in this act are just a bunch of clowns as well. You're the next evolution of "get in the hole" and "mashed potatoes". Perhaps entertaining at one time, but tired now.

Okay, onto this week. Speaking of the Ryder Cup, we've got a team event this week! Yeah, it's a hard sell. This event has never really caught on like we thought it might years ago, but hey, it's something different, so let's enjoy the fact that we get some variety.

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LAST YEAR

Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak shot a final-round 70 on their way to victory over Nicolai Hojgaard and Rasmus Hojgaard.

FAVORITES

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 10:30 AM ET Wednesday.

Matt Fitzpatrick / Alex Fitzpatrick (10-1) 

The Fitzpatrick bothers are the favorites, but they stand little chance to win if they're up against the "USA" chants, so I'll be avoiding this pair. Seriously, Matt is obviously in top form right now, but we aren't sure how Alex will play as he's not someone we see on the PGA Tour very often. This is a unique event in that we'll see some of these guys just once a year and that's likely the case for Alex. As for their history here, it's not that bad. Three starts and two top-20s. They did miss the cut this past year however. Matt is the best player in the field this week, but Alex is a wildcard, so there's not enough value here for my money.  

Brooks Koepka / Shane Lowry (12-1)

This is certainly an interesting pairing. I'm not sure how these two got together, but it should be fun to watch. Lowry is a former champ here, he won this event with Rory McIlroy in 2024 and finished T12 the following year, again with McIlroy. Koepka is no slouch, but he's not at McIlroy's level and I dare say that the chemistry will be quite different with Koepka. Koepka has played this event three times with a top finish of T5 in 2017. As far as talent goes, this pair is probably the most well-balanced team of the bunch, but I wonder how well they'll gel throughout the week. Like the Fitzpatrick's, I think this team will fare well, but I don't like the short odds.

Ben Griffin / Andrew Novak (18-1)

The defending champs round out the top-3 favorites this week. The reason this team is intriguing is that both players had played this event several times with other teammates, but this past year was the first time they paired together and it resulted in a win. Novak had played this event three times previously, with little success, only one made cut. Griffin had never made the cut here prior to this past year, so there was something about this pairing that just worked. As for form, Novak is not having a great season, but he does have top-20s in two of his past three starts. Griffin has struggled this season, he had a stretch of three consecutive missed cuts in March, but he's come out of that to post three straight made cuts. The form isn't great for either, but perhaps getting back to Louisiana will spark them.

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THE NEXT TIER

Aaron Rai / Sahith Theegala (20-1)

This is an interesting pair as each of these players have won on the PGA Tour, surprisingly, Rai has more wins than Theegala, but Theegala has had more overall success. These two paired up for the first time at this event this past year and the result was a T18. Theegala is in the midst of a nice comeback season and appears to have some momentum. Rai is off to a slow start this season, but perhaps the team format will be the spark he needs. This play is more based on potential, than what I've seen this season, at least from Rai. The upside is high with this pair, but I could see it going off the tracks if things don't go well early. Not a OAD play for certain, but a win ticket makes some sense.

Wyndham Clark / Taylor Moore (22-1)

Each of these players have had success at this even, but not when paired with each other. Clark had a solo-3rd in 2023 when paired with Beau Hossler and Moore had a pair of T4s when paired with Matthew NeSmith. This past year however, when they played together, they missed the cut. I don't think that had as much to do with the pairing as the form of each heading into the week. Clark has been off of his game for a while, but he's shown signs lately that things are coming around. Moore hasn't had much success this season, but like many others, perhaps the team format will get him going.

Kristoffer Reitan / Kris Ventura (30-1)

I'm going to be honest, there aren't a lot of appealing options in the mid-range this week. I'd much rather go with some of the longshots than play most of the mid-range teams, but this one caught my eye. Perhaps it was Reitan's top-10 at the Valero and solid start at the Masters a week later that has me thinking this team could do some damage this week. This will be his first start here, so it could be really good, or it could go the other way. As for Ventura, he's played this event twice and made the cut both times, so he at least has a feel for the environment. It's not a lot to go on, but there just aren't many options that look good.

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LONG SHOTS

Rico Hoey / David Lipsky (35-1)             

If you're a mid-range play this week, you've got some issues. If you're a long shot, you have several issues. With this team, the issues mostly reside with Hoey, who has only one top-25 this season and has yet to make a cut at this event. However, Lipsky might just be able to carry the load this week as his track record here is solid and his form is pretty good as well. Lipsky was runner-up at the Valspar just over a month ago and even though he's had a couple different teammates here, he's managed some high end finishes with both. He finished T4 with Aaron Rai in 2022 and T4 with Dylan Wu this past year.  

Davis Riley / Nick Hardy (100-1)

Starting at the top of the odds chart, there are strong reasons to dislike every team in the field this week. This isn't a week where you're going to find the perfect pair. With that in, you need to expand your horizons to find the right play. Based on form this season, this is not a good play. Neither player is off to a good start, but that might not matter as the format for this week will likely change the fortunes of a few players. This pair won this event in 2023 and made the cut in the two subsequent seasons. It's not a lot to go on, but again, every team has some sort of blemish this week.

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

Highly-Chosen Pick: Alex Fitzpatrick – If you're OAD pool is like mine, then you get to pick one of the players on a team without burning the other one. In this case, you take Alex and you get Matt. There's really no downside to this play as you won't need to use Alex anywhere else. The only question is, how will this team fare? Considering they posted top-20s in two of three starts, I'd say their chances are pretty good.

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Andrew Novak – Same theory here with using the lesser player to get the better player. Griffin is not off to a great start this season, but he'll probably come around at some point and be useful in this format. As for Novak, he's probably not someone you'd use in the OAD otherwise, so why not use him when he's got a pretty strong partner? These are the defending champs however, so that complicates things a little, but defending at the Zurich is not like defending at the Masters.       

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Rico Hoey – You probably won't be using Hoey or Lispky anywhere else down the stretch, so you could go with either this week, but Lipsky is having the better season, so there's a chance he could be useful elsewhere. As for this pair, it's mostly on Lipsky this week as he's the one with most of the success here, and he showed this past month that he's capable of a high finish, so if you're looking to gain some ground, this might be the route this week.     

Buyer Beware: Shane Lowry / Brooks Koepka – Unlike the other top pairs, there's no weak point on this team, which means you're burning a good option with either player. It doesn't make a lot of sense to use a good option this week as this event is tough to predict in general. Throw in the fact that this pairing as the potential to be disastrous, and it makes for a poor selection overall.

My Pick: Rico Hoey – I went big with Scheffler this past week and even though he finished runner-up, I still dropped four spots. That's because there were plenty of OAD players on Fitzpatrick, so now I feel like I'm already in a position where I need to make up some ground. I'm not going to do that by taking the other Fitzpatrick as most of the top teams will be going that route. I'm going to trust in Lipsky's track record here and hope that he can get Hoey going and maybe, just maybe I can get a surprise win out of this.

Previous Results

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SURVIVOR LEAGUES

My Pick: Rico Hoey – I'm going to double-up and stick with the Hoey/Lipsky combination. There aren't many guys in the field this week with long and consistent track records here, but Lipsky is one of them. The new partner could throw things off a bit, but Lipsky has managed to get a couple different partners into the top-10, so I think he can get Hoey across the cut line this week. 

Previous Results