The Zurich Classic of New Orleans reinvented itself last year introducing a two-man team format in which the players played two rounds of foursomes (alternate shot) on Thursday and Saturday and two rounds of fourballs (best ball) on Friday and Sunday. After a thrilling finish that required extra holes, the PGA Tour announced that the 2018 iteration would be contested slightly differently.
Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley. The team to beat?
Some of our experts think so.https://t.co/4JZor65sOC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 25, 2018
The format will be flipped with fourballs (best ball) being played on Thursday and Saturday and foursomes (alternate shot) being contested on Friday and in the final round. The reason for the change was to prevent leaders from running away from the pack by going low in the more scorable format on Sunday.
The Tour was lucky last year in that the 60 shot by Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown in the final round came from a team chasing the lead and not in it, but with alternate shot rounding things out with the trophy on the line, the thinking is that more teams will be kept around the lead down the stretch.
“There could be volatility,” Jim Furyk, who is teamed up with David Duval, told GolfChannel.com. “It just might come in a different fashion.”
“There’ll be a lot more hold-on as opposed to catch-up,” Duval echoed.
10 of the top-14 players in the world are in the field this week in New Orleans, which the format tweak will theoretically keep more big names around the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
The complete field tee times for the Zurich can be seen here.
Enter Sandman.
Thunderstruck.
Here I Go Again.Complete list of all of the walk-up songs by the teams at this week’s @Zurich_Classic. https://t.co/SnxN8WJKeK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 25, 2018
Who To Watch
Thursday / Friday Tee Times (All tee times are Central Time)
- 7:39 a.m. / 1:08 p.m. – Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley / Daniel Berger and Gary Woodland
- 7:52 a.m. / 1:19 p.m. – Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer / Wesley Bryan and Jon Rahm
- 8:05 a.m. / 1:30 p.m. – Sergio Garcia and Rafa Cabrera-Bello / Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy
- 12:31 p.m. / 8:42 a.m. – Jason Day and Ryan Ruffels / Brooks Koepka and Marc Turnesa
- 12:44 p.m. / 8:53 a.m. – Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay / Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith
- 12:57 p.m. / 9:04 a.m. – Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson / Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar
Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose.
Are they the team to beat?
Power Rankings: https://t.co/zxDPiDiDzW pic.twitter.com/jtyN2HmkEJ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 25, 2018
How To Watch
Television Broadcast
- Thursday: GOLF: 2:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EST
- Friday: GOLF: 2:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EST
- Saturday: GOLF: 1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. EST
- CBS: 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. EST
- Sunday: GOLF: 1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. EST
- CBS: 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. EST
Streaming Online
- Thursday: PGA TOUR LIVE: 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. EST
- Friday: PGA TOUR LIVE: 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. EST
- Saturday: PGA TOUR LIVE: 2:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. EST
- Sunday: PGA TOUR LIVE: 2:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. EST
Prize Money
- Purse: $7,200,000
- Winners: $1,036,800 / 400 FedEx Cup Points each
- 5th Place: $201,600 / 77.5 FEC Points each
- 10th Place: $97,200 / 46 FEC Points each
- 35th Place: $14,472 / 3.10 FEC Points each