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Who are the teams for the Zurich Classic, and who are the favorites?

Who are the teams for the Zurich Classic, and who are the favorites?

Golf PGA Tour Rail

Updated:

By: Zach Thompson

The PGA TOUR heads to the Bayou this week for the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This week’s tournament is the only event on the PGA TOUR that utilizes a team format. So who are the teams and who could contend for the title? Let’s take a look at this unique field.

Zurich Classic Teams

While this event lands at a tough spot in the schedule right after the Masters and the Signature Event at the RBC Heritage, it still draws some pretty big names.

We’ll get our first look at Rory McIlroy since he won the Masters, and he’ll be teaming up with Shane Lowry, with whom he won the title at this event last year. Rory is one of six OWGR top-20 players in the field while some other big names include Collin Morikawa with Kurt Kitayama, Wyndham Clark with Taylor Moore, JT Poston and Keith Mitchell, international winners Robert MacIntyre and Thomas Detry, and Canadian pairing Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor. 

The unique format of the team event

For the first and third rounds, the teams will play “fourballs,” meaning each player will play the hole individually, with the lowest score counting for the team. In those rounds, scores are usually incredibly low with double-digits under par not uncommon and bogeys very rare, since both players would have to bogey or worse for that to be the team’s score.

In the second and fourth rounds, the format is “foursomes” or “alternate shot,” where teammates will take turns playing shots. According to the PGA TOUR official description, “players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes, and the other will hit the tee shot on even-numbered holes. On the first hole, Player A tees off; Player B plays the second shot; Player A plays the third shot; and so on until the ball is holed. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for that hole.” The scores for these rounds is typically more in line with what we see in a traditional format.

The favorites at the Zurich Classic

Even with the unique format, DraftKings Sportsbook still has plenty of ways for you to bet the tournament.

Here are the favorites to win the event as of 2:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

We’ll be back throughout the week with fantasy advice and different ways to bet the Zurich Classic, so stay tuned to the DK Network golf page for all the coverage you need for what should be a fun week!

Zach Thompson

I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.