NEW ORLEANS – This is the sixth year that the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played with the two-man team format, the concept introduced in 2017 but interrupted/canceled in 2020 during pandemic. The tournament format calls for teams of two PGA Tour pros to play Four-ball in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes in the second and final rounds.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will defend their title after winning in wire-to-wire fashion in 2022.
Five of the top six players on the final leaderboard at last week’s RBC Heritage are in the this week’s field, including RBC champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who is competing with his brother, Alex. The younger Fitzpatrick is making his second career start on Tour and first since the 2022 Valspar Championship (MC). The defending champions finished third (Cantlay) and fourth (Schauffele), while the two players that tied for fifth are also making the trip to New Orleans: Hayden Buckley is paired with 2022 Valero Texas Open champion J.J. Spaun and Sahith Theegala is teaming up with 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Justin Suh.