Preview

Starts: 24th April 2025
Course: TPC Louisiana, Louisiana
Par: 72 (36-36)
Length: 7,425 yards
Defending Champions: Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry

PGA Tour Zurich Classic Picks 2025

Course Info

Designer: Pete Dye
Used Since: 2005 (2017 for pairs)
Fairways: Generous.
Rough: Bermuda
Greens: TifEagle Bermuda (New greens since last event hosted here in 2019.
Water Hazards: 3,4,6,9,16,17,18.
Par 5's: 2nd, 7th, 11th and 18th
Premium on: Approach play and putting.
 

Significant Info

It's the 8th time the Zurich Classic has been a pairs event. The event wasn't played in 2020 due to the pandemic. 

There are 80 teams of two. Top 35 and ties make the cut.

72-hole format featuring Four-Ball on Thursday and Saturday and Foursomes on Friday and Sunday.

2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Trends

We will analyse the winners of the previous five team events to find trends. Past winners include Nick Hardy/Davis Riley (2023), Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (2022), Cameron Smith/Marc Leishman (2021), Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer (2019), Billy Horschel/Scott Piercy (2018), and Cameron Smith/Jonas Blixt (2017). 

Winning Score
Winning scores have ranged between -20 and -29. Birdies are the name of the game and expect another winning score in the high 20's.

Course Form

2024
Rory McIlroy was making his tournament debut.  Shane Lowry had previously played several times before with a best finish of 13th in 2022.
2023
Davis Riley was 4th in his only previous appearance in 2022.  Nick Hardy was 21st in his only previous appearance in 2022.
2022
Cantlay and Schauffele were 11th in the year prior to winning. Cantlay also had a 7th place in 2018.
2021
Cameron Smith won this event in 2017 but missed the cut in 2018 and 2019.  Marc Leishman was playing the pairs event for the first time but did post a couple of top 30 finishes when the event was an individual strokeplay event.
2019
Rahm had missed the cut in his only previous attempt with Wesley Bryan. Palmer had a previous solo 4th here in 2012 and 4th here in 2017 with Jordan Spieth.
2018
Horschel had won at the course in 2013 but Piercy had missed both cuts here as an individual.
2017
Blixt or Smith had no form to speak of in the previous individual editions at the Zurich Classic.

Recent Form

2024
McIlroy 
2023
Riley and Hardy both missed the cut the week before they won here but had been showing signs of good form previously.
2022
Cantlay had finished 2nd at the Heritage the week prior whilst Schauffele had missed the cut on his last start at the Masters. 
2021
Smith finished 9th the week before at Heritage and Leishman was 5th at the Masters on his last start.
2019
Palmer finished 28th at the Heritage the week before and Rahm was 9th at the Masters in his previous start.
2018
Piercy had missed the cut in his last start in Texas but had finished 16th at the Heritage the week before that. Horschel had finished 11th in Texas and 5th at Heritage.
2017
Smith had finished 6th at Texas and 29th at Heritage. Blixt had finished 44th in his last start at the Heritage.

Solid recent form appears to be really important. 

Winners Profile
Neither of the winners in 2023, Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, had won on the PGA Tour previously.  However, last year's winners (McIlroy and Lowry), winners in 2022, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, and 2021 winners, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman already had multiple wins on tour.  Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer in 2019 were both past winners on tour (although Palmer hadn't won since 2010). Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy were already proven winners too, Horschel had even won the Zurich Classic before in 2013. In 2017, Jonas Blixt had won on tour before but it was Cameron Smith's first win on tour. Ideally though, we are looking for a team that have both won on tour.

Correlating Courses
There are trends with another Pete Dye designed courses, TPC Sawgrass. Home of The Players Championship, Sawgrass also demands accuracy off the tee and challenges players visually, as Dye likes to do. Harbour Town which was used last week is also a Dye design so recent form is an angle in at these courses. 

2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Stats Analysis

No stats available due to team event.

2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans In Play Tips

Fast or Slow Start
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry shared the first round lead and were always within two shots of the top of the leaderboard. Davis Riley and Nick Hardy were three shots off the pace after round one in 2023.  Cantlay and Xander led from start to finish in 2022. The first and second pairs in 2021 were 3rd after the opening 18 holes.  In 2019, Rahm/Palmer were 4 shots back after day one in 17th place but were leading from the halfway point onwards. Horschel/Piercy were 3 shots back after day one and 6 back at halfway before a 3rd round 61 put them 2 shots back heading into the final round. Smith and Blixt were 6 shots back after day one but led at halfway. 

You don't need to be leading after day one here but you want to be up with the pace after the second round is completed. 

Will The Weather Be A Factor at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans 2025?

There has been heavy rain in the lead up to the event so the course is expected to be soft.  The weather shouldn't have a significant impact otherwise.

PGA Tour Zurich Classic Picks 2025