Zurich Classic of New Orleans PGA DFS Picks: Back NeSmith & Moore

The PGA Tour heads to TPC Louisiana (par 72, 7,425 yards, poa trivialis greens) this week for the Zurich Classic. TPC Louisiana has been the only course to host a Zurich Classic since 2005. This tournament was converted from a standard stroke play event to a team-based tournament in 2017. That means we must take a different approach with our top PGA DFS picks for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. We’ll use Stokastic’s Top Golfers Tool to find the best leverage plays for GPPs.

A year ago, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele won by two shots and finished at a tournament-best -29. This year’s tournament features 80 two-man teams. They’ll play the first and third rounds best-ball style, while the second and fourth rounds will feature alternate-shot play. Do note that only DraftKings is offering DFS contests for the Zurich Classic. Their scoring means that golfers will receive the same amount of fantasy points as their teammates based on how they score as a team.

PGA DFS Picks & Leverage: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

TPC Louisiana is a Pete Dye-designed track that features small putting surfaces, 106 bunkers and water in play on eight of the 18 holes. While there are plenty of hazards, TPC Louisiana is an easy course by PGA Tour standards, and golfers must be in strong form with their irons and as par five scorers to contend at this venue.

Before the Zurich Classic was converted to the team format in 2017, three of the previous five individual winners at TPC Louisiana ranked top-20 in strokes gained on approach during their victories. Furthermore, of those five victors, three finished the tournament top 5 in par-5 efficiency.

Leverage scores are a product of comparing a player’s ownership versus their salary-weighted odds to finish in the top 6 of the tournament.

Matthew NeSmith & Taylor Moore

Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Score Rank: 1st at DraftKings

Slated for low ownership according to Stokastic’s projections, the duo of NeSmith and Moore is arguably the best GPP play on the board for the Zurich Classic. This tandem finished fourth at TPC Louisiana last season and has the potential to contend again this week, mostly thanks to Moore’s incredible form. He has produced five top-15 finishes in his last nine starts, including his breakthrough win at the Valspar Championship. He currently sits at a career-best No. 42 in the world golf rankings. For the season, Moore ranks fourth in par-5 performance and 11th in strokes gained from putting, setting him perfectly for a return to TPC Louisiana.

NeSmith has struggled this season but showed some signs of life at the RBC Heritage last week with a 59th-place finish in which he managed to gain strokes with both his irons and putter. If NeSmith can build off this showing and have a solid performance at TPC Louisiana to combine with Moore’s elite form, they should be able to expose this weak field for a top-10 finish.

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Aaron Rai & David Lipsky

Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Score Rank 20th at DraftKings

Rai and Lipsky carded a fourth-place finish at last year’s Zurich Classic and are poised for another high finish this week. Rai arrives in New Orleans riding a streak of four made cuts, with two of those performances leading to top-30 results. Lipsky has advanced to the weekend at three of his past five tournaments.

Both Rai and Lipsky rank top 30 in strokes gained on approach when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds, and their team is an elite GPP option this week, with Stokastic’s tools slating them for minimal ownership on DraftKings.

Scott Piercy & Ryan Palmer

Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Score Rank: 6th at DraftKings

This will be Piercy and Palmer’s first start as a unit, but both players have been extremely successful at the Zurich Classic since its conversion to a team event. Palmer has made four of five cuts at TPC Louisiana since the format change. He posted top-20 results each of those times, including a victory with Jon Rahm in 2018. Piercy has recorded three top-25 finishes in four appearances at the team-based Zurich Classic, most notably with a win in 2018 alongside Billy Horschel.

While Piercy and Palmer have both missed multiple cuts individually coming into this week, their resumes at the Zurich Classic are undeniable, and their savviness for this rare format should help them at least make the cut this week. According to Stokastic’s projections, this pairing of Piercy and Palmer is expected to be less than 3% owned on DraftKings.