The two best friends that anyone could have!
Zurich Classic of New Orleans
TPC Louisiana
Avondale, Louisiana
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Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele (4/1): Teammates too many times to count in international competitions, the California duo makes their fourth consecutive appearance in New Orleans. The buddies have cashed T4-WIN-T11 and are more than comfortable on this course and at this event. Both players rank in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings, the only team who can claim that. Cantlay picked up his annual podium at Harbor Town last week and Schauffele has cashed in the top 10 in eight of his last 11 starts.
Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry (15/2): Making their Zurich Classic debut, the international Ryder Cup teammates pair up for the first time on TOUR. The Florida neighbors are looking for the spark this spring to shift them into gear for the PGA Championship next month in Louisville. They won’t miss many fairways and greens, but two-putting every green won’t work in this cut-throat birdie-fest.
Sahith Theegala & Will Zalatoris (15/2): Running second to Scheffler last week, Theegala added another big finish to his last eight months on TOUR. The winner at Fortinet last fall has five top-10 paydays in 11 starts this season. Zalatoris, who cashed T4 with Nick Hardy in 2022 before missing last season with back surgery, has also been hot on TOUR. Picking up three paydays in his last six starts, the best of the bunch is T2 at The Genesis Invitational at Riviera. First appearance together.
Collin Morikawa & Kurt Kitayama (12/1): Back-to-back top-10 paychecks the last two weeks have turned the spotlight back on the two-time major champion. Partnerships with Hovland and Homa haven’t cracked the code so he’s trying his neighbor in Las Vegas. Kitayama has only missed one cut this season but has never missed the weekend in two trips to the Big Easy. Another pair that will need at least one putter to get Creole hot!
Nicolai Hojgaard & Rasmus Hojgaard (20/1): TWINS! After cashing T16 on his first visit to the Masters, the higher-rated Dane missed the cut at Corales. Playing four weeks in a row, he will be energized with his brother joining the action. Rasmus is playing for the first time since WD at the Hero Indian Open four weeks ago. There’s no time to be rusty when the cut usually requires 7-under or better to see the weekend.
Tom Hoge & Maverick McNealy (25/1): Too bad this event isn’t at Pebble Beach! Feasting on small greens, TPC Louisiana will provide slightly bigger targets than the famous coastal links. Hoge has never missed a start here since his 2015 debut. Missing the cut in two of the last three editions, this is the fourth consecutive year he’s used a different partner. McNealy, who missed twice with Joseph Bramlett, is the next man up. Cashing in eight straight, he navigated TPC Sawgrass for T9. Dating back to last fall, Hoge has rattled off 12-straight weekends and would have had another top 10 save for a NINE on the final hole at Harbour Town. Super ball-striker meets super short-gamer.
Nick Taylor & Adam Hadwin (25/1): Beginning the week 33/1, the Canadian duo has moved up the board the last two days. Already a winner this season at TPC Scottsdale, Taylor knows he’s auditioning with Hadwin this week for International Captain Mike Weir and the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal this September. Cashing in five straight events, Hadwin has produced three top-10 paydays in his last eight tournaments. Cashing T13 on debut in 2022, the runners-up from 2023 posted 63 in Foursomes in the final round, tying the record in that format. I’m expecting another big week.
Billy Horschel & Tyson Alexander (33/1): Teacher and pupil. The University of Florida Gators should be comfortable in the swamp. Winning last week in the Dominican Republic will just add to the fire for Horschel. Alexander has quietly cashed in his last three and six of eight.
Taylor Moore & Matt NeSmith (45/1): The first two times they partnered up, they shared fourth place each time. Opening with 60 in 2022, they returned last year to post 26-under, a score that would have won four of the six previous editions.
Davis Thompson & Andrew Novak (45/1): The birdie machine, Thompson, pairs up with the SG: Approach machine, Novak. The Sea Island pals have been piling up the top-25 results individually in early 2024.
Kevin Yu & C.T. Pan (70/1): Trying to prove to Mike Weir that they should be included in the Presidents Cup, the duo from Taiwan will rely on tight ball-striking to give the putters plenty of chances to heat up. The top 10 results have dried up since the calendar changed to March. Countrymen coming together should inspire.
Pierceson Coody & Parker Coody (80/1): The twins from Texas both found the top 20 last week in the Dominican Republic. Pierceson signed for T18, and Parker cashed his best finish on TOUR with T6. Pushing each other, they won’t need any impetus to get it going in the bayou this week.
Charley Hoffman & Nick Watney (300/1): One of only two teams to play in the previous six events, the veteran duo will rely on the recent form of Hoffman. The Southern California native ran second in Phoenix and shared fourth last week at Corales. Watney’s best days are possibly behind him, but if there’s one final charge, this tournament may provide it.
NOW PLAYING:
| Host Course | TPC Louisiana |
| Yards (per official scorecard): | 7,425. |
| Par: | 72 (36-36). |
| Greens: | Poa Trivialis overseed (TifEagle Bermuda); 5,225 square feet. |
| Stimpmeter: | 12.5 feet. |
| Second Cut: | Ryegrass Overseed at 2 inches. |
| Bunkers/Water Hazards/In-Play | 106/7/8. |
| Architect(s): | Pete Dye (2004). |
| Defending Champion (event): | Nick Hardy & Davis Riley (-30) |
| Multiple Champion(s) Entered: | No team has won twice. |
| Course Record (latest): | 59; Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele (2022, Round 1). |
| 72 Hole Tournament Record (April): | 258; Nick Hardy and Davis Riley. |
| Fact of the Week: | All six winning totals have been 20-under par or better. |
TPC Louisiana
The fourth Pete Dye design of the season and second course in back-to-back weeks, TPC Louisiana opened in 2004.
Hosting the Zurich Classic of New Orleans every year save two since 2005, no other course has hosted the team event since the 2017 inception. Every edition of the team game has played at Par-72 and 7,425 yards.
Carved through the swamps of the bayou, 106 bunkers, eight holes with water penalty areas, and two inches of TifSport Bermuda rough complement the risk-reward concept.
Fairways are not generous and the putting surfaces rank inside the top five of smallest on TOUR, averaging just 5,225 square feet.
Poa Trivialis putting surfaces, common this time of year before the TifEagle takes over, will run at 12 feet.
Registering 30-under and 29-under to win in the last two editions, four of the six winning totals have been 26-under or better. The best way to factor in a shootout is pummel fairways and greens and convert those attempts into birdies. Making birdies and avoiding bogeys is the formula for success.
The stock Par-72 comes with four Par-5 holes that measure less than 590 yards. Cutting corners and doglegs plus handling forced carries will provide the temptations and reward the bold who execute.
The pressure of performing for the teammate will enter all decisions made.
Set in 2023 by Nick Hardy and Davis Riley, the tournament scoring record is 30-under-par.
The Four-balls (Best Ball) record is 59, produced by Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele in Round 1 of 2022.
The Foursomes (Alternate Shot) record is 63, last accomplished by Nick Taylor & Adam Hadwin in Round 4 in 2023. Cantlay & Schauffele also matched this mark in 2023 in Round 2.
Recent Winners
2023 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| Sentry Tournament of Champions | Jon Rahm |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Si Woo Kim |
| The AMERICAN EXPRESS | Jon Rahm (2) |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Max Homa (2) |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Justin Rose |
| WM Phoenix Open | Scottie Scheffler |
| The Genesis Invitational | Jon Rahm (3) |
| The Honda Classic | Chris Kirk |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Kurt Kitayama (first TOUR win) |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Scottie Scheffler (2) |
| Valspar Championship | Taylor Moore (first TOUR win) |
| Corales Puntacana | Matt Wallace (first TOUR win) |
| WGC – Dell Technologies MP | Sam Burns |
| Valero Texas Open | Corey Conners |
| Masters | Jon Rahm (4) |
| RBC Heritage | Matt Fitzpatrick |
| Zurich Classic of New Orleans | Davis Riley & Nick Hardy (first TOUR win for each) |
| Mexico Open at Vidanta | Tony Finau (2) |
| Wells Fargo Championship | Wyndham Clark (first TOUR win) |
| AT&T Byron Nelson | Jason Day |
| PGA Championship | Brooks Koepka |
| Charles Schwab Challenge | Emiliano Grillo |
| Memorial | Viktor Hovland |
| RBC Canadian Open | Nick Taylor |
| U.S. Open | Wyndham Clark (2) |
| Travelers Championship | Keegan Bradley (2) |
| Rocket Mortgage Classic | Rickie Fowler |
| John Deere Classic | Sepp Straka |
| Genesis Scottish Open | Rory McIlroy (2) |
| The Open Championship | Brian Harman |
| 3M Open | Lee Hodges (first TOUR win) |
| Wyndham Championship | Lucas Glover |
| FedEx St. Jude Championship | Lucas Glover (2) |
| BMW Championship | Viktor Hovland (2) |
| TOUR Championship | Viktor Hovland (3) |
| Fortinet Championship | Sahith Theegala |
| Sanderson Farms Championship | Luke List |
| Shriners Children’s Open | Tom Kim |
| ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP | Collin Morikawa |
| World Wide Technology | Erik van Rooyen |
| Butterfield Bermuda | Camilo Villegas |
| The RSM Classic | Ludvig Aberg |
2024 Season Winners
| Event | Winner |
| The Sentry | Chris Kirk |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Grayson Murray |
| The American Express | Nick Dunlap (a) |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Matthieu Pavon (rookie) |
| AT&T Pebble Beach | Wyndham Clark (54 holes) |
| WM Phoenix Open | Nick Taylor |
| The Genesis Invitational | Hideki Matsuyama |
| Mexico Open at Vidanta | Jake Knapp (rookie) |
| Cognizant Classic | Austin Eckroat (first time) |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Scottie Scheffler |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Scottie Scheffler (2) |
| Valspar Championship | Peter Malnati |
| Texas Children’s Houston Open | Stephan Jaeger (first time) |
| Valero Texas Open | Akshay Bhatia |
| 88th Masters Tournament | Scottie Scheffler (3) |
| RBC Heritage | Scottie Scheffler (4) |
Zurich Classic
After a major championship and a Signature Event, the partner’s game makes it three weeks in a row with a completely different vibe.
The field of 160 players divided into two-man teams includes 15 of the top 50 from the Official World Golf Rankings and 27 players who teed it up last week at Harbour Town, another Pete Dye track.
Defending champions Hardy & Riley join Cantlay & Schauffele as the only previous team champions in the field.
Billy Horschel, paired with Tyson Alexander this week, is the only player in the field to win the team title (2018 with Scott Piercy) and the individual stroke play title (2013), his first victory on TOUR.
Nick Watney (2007), playing with Charley Hoffman, and Jason Dufner (2012), playing with Kevin Chappell, are the only other players in the field to win the individual title.
Scott Piercy (2018), playing with Harry Hall, and Ryan Palmer (2019), playing with Zach Johnson have won the team titles with different partners. Winning by three shots in 2019, Palmer has the record for margin of victory.
After one round of Four-balls (Best Ball) and one round of Foursomes (Alternate Shot), the field will be cut to the top 33 teams and ties.
The final two rounds will be Four-balls followed by Foursomes.
The winners will each take home 400 FedExCup points and $1.268 million of the $8.9 million purse.
This is the second of three events (Corales, Zurich, and CJ Cup) that will count towards the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 for the Wells Fargo Championship in two weeks.
Recent Winners – Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Italics – not entered this week.
| Year | Winner | Notes |
| 2023 | Nick Hardy & Davis Riley (-30) | First win on TOUR for both players in their first partnership. Defeated Canadians Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin by two shots. |
| 2022 | Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele (-29) | Posted 29-under thru 54 holes to win comfortably. |
| 2021 | Marc Leishman & Cameron Smith (-20) | Needed a playoff to defeat South African duo Schwartzel and Oosthuizen. Highest winning total. |
| 2020 | No Event | |
| 2019 | Ryan Palmer & Jon Rahm (-26) | Winning by three shots over Tommy Fleewtood & Sergio Garcia set the event record for margin of victory. |
| 2018 | Billy Horschel & Scott Piercy (-22) | Not even two double bogeys, the most by a winning team to date, could slow down this pair. Horschel has won both the team and stroke play events here. |
| 2017 | Jonas Blixt & Cam Smith (-27) | Defeated Kevin Kisner & Scott Brown in a playoff to win the first edition. |
One and Done
I’ll be joining Spotter’s game again this season. Now, where did I put my checkbook…
35 events.
1 player per event (plus a backup pick if your guy gets kidnapped on Wednesday night and doesn’t make it to the first tee Thursday).
1 use per year.
Add up the total money and Spotter is yer uncle!
| Event | Selection | Earnings |
| The Sentry | Collin Morikawa | 690,500 |
| Sony Open in Hawaii | Corey Conners | 18,592 |
| The American Express | Adam Hadwin | 310,800 |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Jason Day | 0 |
| AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am | Jordan Spieth | 70,125 |
| WM Phoenix Open | Matt Fitzpatrick | 156,200 |
| The Genesis Invitational | Max Homa | 329,000 |
| Mexico Open at Vidanta | Tony Finau | 145,125 |
| Cognizant Classic | Russell Henley | 32,850 |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | Scottie Scheffler | 4,000,000 |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Will Zalatoris | 0 |
| Valspar Championship | Sam Burns | 0 |
| Texas Children’s Houston Open | Wyndham Clark | 54,418 |
| Valero Texas Open | C Bezuidenhout | 67,735 |
| 88th Masters Tournament | Rory McIlroy | 175,500 |
| RBC Heritage | Patrick Cantlay | 1,160,000 |
| Total Winnings: | 7,210,845 |
His game has more fun stuff to it. Reach out @A340Spotter on Twitter or A340Spotter@frontier.com for more details and to join.
Recapping Last Week – RBC Heritage
MY CHOICE: Patrick Cantlay – T3
I love it when a plan goes according to, well the plan.
Moving forward, I might have to shift him to AUTO PICK for this event, especially if it remains a Signature Event. Always nice to catch a million plus without having to win.
Onward!
Others to Consider:
Matt Fitzpatrick: Other than what I wrote above, this is his spiritual home on TOUR. T28 as the spirit did not move him this time around, sadly.
Scottie Scheffler: Save your money for the majors or Augusta North (Muirfield Village Golf Club). Those of you who didn’t listen, congratulations. Those of you who have just not timed this correctly, be patient, I think he’ll win again. Let’s just hope it’s another BIG BOI event!
Jordan Spieth: Colonial instead. He suggested at the Masters that his wrist will need looking after at some point. T39.
Shane Lowry: Please, fire away. It was Cantlay or bust for me. Literally whiffed on everything else on Hilton Head. T64 in a 69-person field.
Cameron Davis: I cannot get off him this week so fade accordingly. Tried to save you from me. T49.
This Week – Zurich Classic of New Orleans
MY CHOICE: Nick Taylor
The NHL Playoffs are here. The Presidents Cup is coming soon. Whoa, Canada!
Taylor and partner Adam Hadwin ran second in 2023 and are playing well on TOUR.
This format does not require the best player to win. It requires the best team. I’m relying on the countrymen from the Great White North to get it over the finish line.
Others to Consider:
Sahith Theegala: Shit-hot fire for months, I don’t believe Zalatoris will be the cooler to his heat. I’m not using him this week because I’m saving him for a bigger purse.
Shane Lowry: I’m getting that feeling we missed the Florida window to play him. BUT, you get a free double shot of McIlroy if you go this route. Now, who’s gonna make some putts?
Rasmus Hojgaard: The DP World Tour member won’t play many over here so this is a free roll if you believe in TWINS.
Alex Fitzpatrick: See above minus TWINS.
Joel Dahmen: Comes with Keith Mitchell, batteries not included. They might hit every fairway and every green, but Dahmen is 181st in SG: Putting and Mitchell is 142nd.
Matt NeSmith: Comes with Taylor Moore, who has made a million cuts in a row, and they have finished T4 the last two years. In the last two years, NeSmith has not played this poorly leading into the event. I’d prefer a top-20 ticket over OAD.
Tyson Alexander: Comes with Billy Horschel, a two-time winner here since 2013 and victor last week at Puntacana.
Good luck! You’ll need it!
Glass Houses 