The PGA Tour heads to TPC Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the only team event on the calendar. Seventy-four two-man teams will rotate Four-Ball and Alternate Shot on Thursday and Friday, with the top 33 and ties doing the same format all over again on Saturday and Sunday.
While this event has the stigma that volatility runs high throughout, I don't know how true that is when we look at past iterations of the contest. All names over the last seven years have landed inside the top-15 of my model that season during their victory. We will see if that can continue, but I like the challenge the event brings from a modeling perspective.
Let's dive into my Zurich Classic of New Orleans predictions and PGA Tour picks from my model.
2026 Zurich Classic Predictions, Picks
Outright Winners
Sudarshan Yellamaraju / Ryan Gerard +1800
I knew this return was coming when I saw the pairing, given how bullish my model tends to be on Sudarshan Yellamaraju and Ryan Gerard.
The duo combined to post individual top-10 grades in Weighted Strokes Gained Total, as well as top-10 outputs in five of the six categories I used to combine the metrics for each tandem.
The market might view this as a vile spot to wager on at less than 20/1 odds, but I think the lack of overall appeal should be viewed as a benefit for those looking to take a shot on one of only four teams featuring both golfers inside the top-25 of my model. The other three were Smotherman/Putnam, Koepka/Lowry and Meissner/McCarty. I wouldn't talk anyone out of placing a bet on any of those combinations.
Alex Smalley / Hayden Springer +3500
We have gotten about a month's worth of aggressive returns on Alex Smalley in my model, which might be a sign that a breakthrough victory could be just around the corner. Think this year's Ben Griffin if he does manage to get himself across the finish line.
Springer is not necessarily the highest-end name in this tournament and has struggled at TPC courses in the past. However, his birdie-making potential and robust returns with the putter (ninth in his past 24 rounds, versus Smalley, who places 53rd) might be enough for this combination to catch fire across all formats, given that Springer's distance only creates more upside potential.
I highly considered going with McCarty/Meissner, and could regret not including them, but I will take the rebate on this duo.
Austin Smotherman / Andrew Putnam +5500
There are concerns that the recent Smotherman woes and Putnam's lack of birdie-making upside could stymie this duo's potential, although I've been banging the drum for Putnam these past few weeks as an underrated commodity who is playing better than some of his recent performances suggest. I know Kyle Murray has been equally talking about Smotherman during his Action Network articles.
These two pair nicer than most in the tournament if we are trying to put together contrasting profiles of golfers. Putnam is good with his short game (Smotherman is not). Smotherman is good off the tee (Putnam struggles). That may present the perfect alternate-shot pairing and freedom for Smotherman, given that Putnam is one of the safer players on tour.
Matchups
Max McGreevy / Kevin Roy -125 over Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen / Jacob Skov Olesen
One of my favorite angles to attack over the years has been opposing the second-tier Euro talent that everyone assumes will play well together.
That has proven profitable against Wallace/McDowell, Pavon/Perez and Hojgaard/Olesen during recent iterations. We typically get one pairing against those teams where my numbers are a lot higher than the consensus, which this year, appears to be McGreevy/Roy.
I was surprised by how well my math thought these two went together. They landed as the number-one pairing for 'Long Course' and found steady grades throughout, including a top-15 return for 'Birdie or Better' and 'TPC Scoring.'
I thought this -125 was too short given all factors. You can see where all teams ranked inside of my model.
