2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans PGA DFS Preview: Justin Suh

This season will mark the sixth iteration of the Zurich Classic where players will compete against each other in teams, rather than regular single-player stroke play. Since 2017, five different teams have won the event, with no team event twice. Cameron Smith (2017 and 2021) has won twice in this team format but was with different partners each season and is not playing on the PGA Tour anymore. Billy Horschel, who is playing with Sam Burns this season, won this event in 2013 when it was still a regular stroke play event and again in 2018 with partner Scott Piercy.

Do not forget to check out the Stokastic PGA DFS projections, which has both scoring data and PGA DFS ownership projections. Stokastic PGA DFS projections come out on Monday and will be updated throughout the week.

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PGA DFS Picks: 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans DFS Preview

The format for this week will see teams play four rounds with a cut line that will have just the top 33 teams and ties make the weekend (the field is set at 80 teams). Pairs will start off playing Four-Ball (Best Ball) and then play Foursomes (Alternate Shot) on Friday. The weekend will see teams play Four-Ball (Best Ball) again on Saturday and Foursomes (Alternate Shot) on Sunday.

As Four-Ball allows both players to play their own ball (and take the best score), there will be some very low scores posted when Four-Ball is in play — last season Cantlay and Schauffele opened with a 59.

The field this week is also very top-heavy, with some marquee-named teams at the top board. As of writing, there are five players in the top 12 in the OWGR in the field, with the Cantlay-Schauffele team joined by Max Homa, Sam Burns, and Collin Morikawa. Sungjae Im, who is playing with Keith Mitchell is here as is last week’s winner Matthew Fitzpatrick who is playing with his brother Alex this week, who is a pro and plays in Europe.

Although the top of the board is strong, the 80-team field means there are also plenty of names/teams in the field this week who have next to no shot. John Daly and David Duval probably top that list, but teams like Derek Ernst – Robert Garrigus and Chad Collins – DJ Trahan may give them a serious run for the bottom of the leaderboard.

Zurich Classic DFS Picks: Recent Form and Betting Trends

In each of the last two seasons, at least one of the players on the winning team played at the RBC Heritage the week prior and finished inside the top 10.

Below are some of the top players in the field to watch this week given their recent form and course history:

Matthew Fitzpatrick: Top 20 at the Masters and a win last week at the RBC Heritage. He is healthy again and looks to be peaking for major season.
Sungjae Im: Im just keeps landing top finishes every third week or so. He has finished seventh or better four times over his last eight starts and gained over six strokes ball striking last week.
Patrick Cantlay: Cantlay put up his fourth career top-5 finish up at Harbour Town last week. He has not finished worse than 19th across his last five starts.
Hayden Buckley: Buckley has bounced back into form in a big way. He has gained over two strokes on approach, off the tee and around the greens his last two events.
Aaron Rai: Rai has looked close of late. He was the first-round leader at Harbour Town and gained 6.9 strokes ball striking for the week.

Field Notes: As mentioned above, there are a lot of eclectic teams involved this week. Harry Hall and Akshay Bhatia are two former Korn Ferry Tour players who have loads of talent and could go low in this format, making them decent top-20 targets… Byeong Hun An nearly won this event in 2016 when it was stroke play and will be played with talented putter S.H. Kim this week… Ben Martin and Chesson Hadley have experience around this venue and have hit it well of late, with Martin landing top-10s in three of his last six starts.

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2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Past Winners and Winners Stats

There are no strokes gained stats for the week, as it is a team event.

2022: Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele

Lead-in: 2nd/39th/MC + MC/12/MC
Cantlay and Schauffele were playing in this event for the second season in a row
Neither man had won in the year coming in although Cantlay was top 5 at the Heritage the week prior

2021: Cameron Smith/Marc Leishman

Lead in: 17/10/9 + 5/MC/MC
The two Aussies were playing together for the first time at this event
Both men had finished inside the top 10 at the Masters two weeks prior

2019: Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer

Lead-in: 12/6/9 + MC/MC/28
Palmer played well at the RBC the week prior finishing 28th
Rahm was coming off a top 10 at the Masters two weeks prior

Want to see who is trending as a strong play early? Check out Stokastic’s PGA DFS projections, which will be updated on Monday and throughout the week.

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2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Course Preview

TPC Louisiana — Avondale, Louisiana: Par 72, 7,300 – 7,400 yards

Greens: Bermuda (Poa overseed)

Designer: Pete Dye (1969)

Similar Courses: TPC River Highlands, TPC Stadium, TPC Sawgrass

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that stretches out to 7,400 on a good day. It is a Pete Dye-designed venue that is a little longer than many of his designs but does allow for some really low scoring if the weather cooperates. Most winning scores were in the high teens or better when this event was played as a singles stroke play event.

All of the par 5’s all rate as decent to great birdie opportunities. Only the par-5 18th hole comes in at over 580 yards in length. For most players, at least three of these longer holes are reachable in two shots. There are also some extremely short par 4’s on TPC Louisiana, with four of the par 4’s coming in at under 400 yards — including the drive-able 16th, which could play a role down the stretch.

There are a lot of bunkers on the course and water comes into play off the tee on five holes. With the shorter mix of holes, TPC Louisiana does carry some similarities to both TPC Sawgrass and TPC Scottsdale in that regard. One of the only two-time winners of this event in Cameron Smith also had a lot of success on TPC Sawgrass and 2019 winner Jon Rahm has also won on TPC Stadium, twice.

Driving accuracy is generally higher than the PGA Tour average, and the rough typically is not a huge factor. As long as golfers are not overly wild off the tee, off-tee play won’t be a massive factor this week. Several teams lacking in power off the tee (Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt in 2017, Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown) have had plenty of success on this venue.

Putting stats are also slightly elevated, and the last four winners of this event — before it turned into a team event — all gained +4.2 strokes or more putting for the week. This venue typically sees a larger-than-average number of birdie putts holed from 20 feet and in, per Fantasy National.

2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Recent Form Watch

Top Strokes Gained Approach (last 50 rounds):

Tom Hoge
Xander Schauffele
Collin Morikawa
Tom Kim
Patrick Cantlay

Top Strokes Gained Tee to Green (Last 50 rounds):

Patrick Cantlay
Xander Schauffele
Collin Morikawa
Sungjae Im
Tom Kim

Top Birdie or Better % (Last 50 Rounds):

Patrick Cantlay
Taylor Montgomery
Max Homa
Wyndham Clark
Tom Hoge
Sahith Theegala
Sungjae Im
Sam Ryder
Xander Schauffele
Collin Morikawa.

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2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Weather Forecast

Thursday morning: 65-75 F, winds 6-10 mph/0-20% chance of precipitation

Thursday afternoon: 75-80 F, winds 10-12 mph/10-20% chance of precipitation

Friday morning: 65-75 F, winds 6-10 mph/20-30% chance of precipitation

Friday afternoon: 75-80 F, winds 10-12 mph/30-40% chance of precipitation

This tournament often has poor weather (it was even shortened to 54 holes in 2016), but this year seems decent. The Friday afternoon wave could see some stoppages with thunderstorms and right now would be the one to avoid, but there is really nothing egregious enough to substantiate a wave stack this week.

2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans DFS Picks and Early Betting Targets

Sahith Theegala/Justin Suh | BetMGM Outright

With a funky format and a thin field, there is a solid window for Sahith Theegala and Justin Suh to make this week the week they truly arrive on the PGA Tour. Theegala has been on a tear most of the season, posting top-10 finishes at three elite events in the Masters, Heritage, and Genesis. Suh has been just as good, posting a sixth place against arguably the toughest field of the season in the PLAYERS. Suh has also now impressively made 13 cuts in a row in the PGA. Both men have also had success in team formats on the PGA Tour as well. Theegala won the QBE Shootout, an exhibition event that is played in pairings similar to this week in December 2022. Suh and teammate Doug Ghim finished 11th at this event in 2021 posting rounds of 65 and 63. There is little doubt both men have taken a step up in play over the last few months and look primed to give event favorites Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele a good run. The duo makes for a solid outright target this week and a team to build around in DFS.

Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler | BetMGM Outright

A little further down the board, the Hossler/Clark team has two high-end putters and plenty of power off the tee as well. Clark has been all over leaderboards this season and put in two top-10 finishes in a row prior to his 29th place at the Heritage. Hossler is not nearly as consistent but has found two cuts in a row and has seen his putter get hot of late, a club that can carry this team if needed. Clark has finished inside the top 15 at this event the last two seasons, each time with a different partner. Hossler hasn’t found much success at this event yet but gained multiple strokes putting last week and gained strokes on approach for the first time in seven starts at the Heritage as well. Both players have been extremely close to winning before in their careers (each has lost in a playoff on different occasions) and should be motivated to come in and give it a solid run this week against what can only be described as an eclectic field. As a top-20/10/5 ladder bet, the Clark-Hossler duo is worth looking at early Monday.