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 we have had five different teams win the event with no team winning the event twice. Cameron Smith (2017 and 2021) has won twice in this team format but was with different partners each season and isn’t 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.
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) you will see 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 aforementioned Cantlay and Schauffele team joined by the likes of 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.
Below are some of the top players in the field to watch this week given their recent form and course history:
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.
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) you will see 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 aforementioned Cantlay and Schauffele team joined by the likes of 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. The 2022 US Open winner 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’s finished 7th 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-five finish up at Harbour Town last week. He hasn’t finished worse than 19th across his last five starts.
- Hayden Buckley: Buckley has bounced back into form in a big way. He’s gained over 2.0 strokes on approach, off the tee and around the greens his last two events.
- Aaron Rai: Rai has looked close of late. The Englishman 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.
