The Zurich Classic | Tournament Preview
NEW ORLEANS – The Zurich Classic of New Orleans, first played in 1938, has featured its popular two-man team match play format since 2017 and is the only official FedEx Cup event on the PGA Tour schedule that uses a team format.
The field consists of 80 teams (160 players), with each team comprised of two professionals, featuring Four-ball (best ball) during the first and third rounds and Foursomes (alternate shot) during the second and final rounds.
The 2017 Zurich Classic was the first official team event on the PGA Tour since the 1981 Walt Disney World national team championship held at the Magnolia, Palm and Lake Buena Vista courses at Walt Disney World in Florida.
The reigning 2022 PLAYERS Championship winner Cameron Smith and fellow Australian Marc Leishman will return to defend their title. Smith, who won in the inaugural year of the team format (2017) with Jonas Blixt, is the only two-time winner in the team format. Smith leads the Presidents Cup International Team standings, while Leishman is currently No. 12.
Five of the Top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field, but only two of those players are teaming up with world No. 2 Collin Morikawa and partner world No. 5 Viktor Hovland will competing together. They will become the first pair of Top-five players in the OWGR to team up (highest-ranked team since the team format began in 2017, with an average ranking of 3.5).