2026 Zurich Classic of New Orleans: PGA Tour Betting Odds

The only two-man team event on the PGA Tour schedule annually is up next with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans teeing off Thursday. The English brother duo of Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick is favoured on the golf odds.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is in one of the worst spots of any event on the PGA Tour slate because it follows the Masters and then last week’s RBC Heritage big-money, limited-field Signature Event. The next two tournaments on Tour also are Signature Events, so this is a natural rest spot for the likes of No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Rory McIlroy, the Masters winner. McIlroy and Ireland’s Shane Lowry won here in 2024 in a playoff. They were favourites to repeat last year but finished T12. Lowry is back with a new partner.

This event switched to a team format in 2017 in order to draw better fields and it also allows guys to pick their playing partners, so that’s enticing for many to play with their friend or in a few cases their brother. Each duo starts the week playing four-ball (best ball) before switching to foursomes (alternate shot) for the second round. Saturday’s third round is four-ball and then foursomes again on Sunday.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 at 7,425 yards with plenty of water hazards – but it’s still an easy track and should take at least 20 under par to win. The best-ball single-round record in the tournament is 58, and the alternate-shot mark is 63. The signature hole is the par-5 18th. The starting field consists of 80 teams with the low 33 and ties after 36 holes making the cut.

The defending champions are Americans Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak as they finished at 28-under 260 and a shot up on Danish brothers Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard. It was the first PGA Tour title for both Novak and Griffin, and Novak became the first golfer on Tour to lose in a playoff one week and go on to win the next since Patrick Cantlay in 2022. Cantlay strangely enough did the exact same double in 2022: losing at the RBC Heritage in a playoff and then going on to win at TPC Louisiana.

My 2025 pick was the European duo of Robert MacIntyre and Thomas Detry. The opened with a 64, but that was as good as it got and they finished T32. American Billy Horschel is the only player to win this event an individual (2013) and in the two-man team format (2018 with Scott Piercy).

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Odds

The English brothers of Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick are +1100 favourites with Matt having won the RBC Heritage on Sunday from Hilton Head in a playoff against world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. That was Matt Fitzpatrick’s second win in about a month on the PGA Tour (Valspar Championship during the Florida Swing). Alex got his first career DP World title last month.

American Brooks Koepka and Ireland’s Shane Lowry are +1500 – we mentioned above Lowry won here a couple of years ago with Rory McIlroy. Koepka returns to the Zurich Classic for the first time since 2019. Defending champions Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin are +1750. Last year, they became the second duo to get their first Tour wins at the event. Davis Riley and Nick Hardy claimed their first win at the event in 2023. But no team has repeated here. Riley and Hardy are at +11500.

No Canadian has won this tournament in either format, but the 2023 runner-up team was Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor. They played together again last year and finished T12. Adam Svensson played with Aussie Cam Davis, and they were T32. Ben Silverman was paired with Finland’s Sami Valimaki, and they missed the cut. Hadwin and Swensson are paired this week and +8200. Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith are +2900. Silverman and the USA’s Cameron Champ are +8200, while AJ Ewart and South Africa’s Casey Jarvis are +4900. Jarvis won in back-to-back weeks on the DP World Tour earlier this year.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Predictions

The pick is England’s Aaron Rai and the USA’s Sahith Theegala at +2000. This will be the fifth consecutive year that Theegala and Rai have competed at the event but second together. They were contending through three rounds last year but shot 71 on Sunday and finished T18.