2026 Zurich Classic Preview | TPC Louisiana Course Guide, Format, Player Profiles

The Course

The next stop on the calendar is New Orleans as the PGA Tour heads to TPC Louisiana for the only team event of the season, the Zurich Classic. A Pete Dye design which sits out in the wetlands outside of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana is a strategical course with water, bunkers and tree-lined fairways in play, forcing players to be sharp.

The Par 5's are where the best scoring opportunities are, with all likely playing as reachable in two for the field this week. They come with a risk vs reward aspect to them, with all protected by bunkers around the green and 18 playing along the water, asking players the go-for-it or lay-up question. The Par 4's vary in length, with both 8 and 16 providing opportunities for players to attack the green off the tee. The Par 3's will be where players run into difficulty, with all playing over 200 yards and most presenting as some of the hardest holes of the week with water in play.

With short rough and wider fairways, players will likely encounter little resistance off the tee this week and TPC Louisiana is what you would call a second-shot course. In saying that, players need to hit their landing zones on a number of the holes, which will quickly turn into managing from scoring if they do miss their spots off the tee. All in all, it will provide a challenge but you will see players go low here and be rewarded for precision.

Course Name: TPC Louisiana
Location: Avondale, Louisiana
Designer: Pete Dye
Opened: 2004
Par: 72
Length: 7,425 yards
Bunkers: 106
Water Holes: 7
Fairway: Bermuda
Greens: Poa Trivialis

The Format

The Zurich Classic uses both Four-Ball and Foursomes play over the week, alternating each round. The winners will both get credited with an official PGA Tour win and will receive a two-year winner's exemption and eligibility into THE PLAYERS Championship, PGA Championship and other Invitational events. FedExCup points and prize money will be awarded to teams making the cut based on combining every two positions from the distribution table for a standard TOUR event, with each player receiving an equal share.

The schedule of play is as follows:

Thursday: Four-Ball
Friday: Foursomes
Saturday: Four-Ball
Sunday: Foursomes

Four-Ball

Players on each team will each play their own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole recorded. Example: On the first hole, both golfers on each team tee off. Player A pars the hole and Player B birdies it. The team will be credited with a birdie.

Foursomes

Players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes, and the other will hit the tee shots on even-numbered holes. Example: Player A and Player B are partners. On the first hole, Player A tees off; Player B plays the second shot; Player A plays the third shot; and so on until the ball is holed. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for that hole.

Course Success

Due to the nature of this event typically being a team format, we don't really have recent data to apply to this course and event. With that said, when you look at the makeup of the course with the short rough, water in play, long Par 3's and Par 5's you can get at, for me this week I am fairly streamlined in what I am looking at, which is the following:

Strokes Gained: Approach
Proximity 200+
Par 5 Scoring

Players will need to be versatile off the tee, which I think brings the average drivers into play, and I think what I am worried about mostly is how players will navigate through these long and difficult Par 3's each day. In a tournament which goes low every year, scoring will be key so I need players who will take care of the Par 5's on offer.

With all this said, and I do kind of get into it below, I don't love a lot of the pricing for this event. As a result, I found myself taking one pairing at the top of the board and looking for some value deep down using the approach above and some stats which play to a similar nature of what the above do. As a whole, this is a tournament I am fairly happy to have minimal action on.

Player Profiles

Gerard/Yellamaraju

When it was Gerard/Ford as a pairing, it stood out as a pairing that I was going to like and that was without diving into the actual numbers. When Ford dropped out and Yellamaraju joined, I got more interested. From the top end of the board, this is my pairing and at this price I am happy to take a shot here.

Over the last 24 rounds, we are looking at the following ranks:

Gerard

SG: Approach - 4th
Eagle % - 11th
BoB Fairway - 8th

Gerard started the season on fire with back-to-back 2nds and a T11 at the Farmers and hasn't fired since then. One thing I really liked at The Masters was his approach and putting numbers in tough conditions, where he gained almost 3 strokes on approach and almost 4 putting. He was a mess off the tee but TPC Louisiana is not Augusta and I want someone who is going to score, and that is what we have here.

Yellamaraju

SG: Approach - 9th
SG: Par 5 - 13th
Proximity 200+ - 10th
SG: Putting - 7th

Yellamaraju has been a revelation in his rookie year on tour, all four of those stats just scream to me in a format like this where he is playing with a guy who has a good approach game and can score. I think these two complement each other so well and there is almost a safety element to what Yellamaraju brings, which I think sets them up well on these tricky Par 3 holes.

Neergaard-Petersen/Skov Olesen

I'll start with Neergaard-Petersen who hasn't been as impressive as Yellamaraju in his rookie season but is coming off a really strong season on the DP World Tour in which he had a T12 at the US Open and finished 15th in the Race to Dubai. What I liked with Neergaard-Petersen was his approach play from distance. With this, you are always going to be mindful of sample size but over the last 24 rounds, we are looking at the following ranks:

Proximity 200+ - 7th
Par 5 BoB% - 26th
SG: Par - 32nd

I am obviously digging here trying to find some value. With the quality of field at this tournament in this price range, you are not going to get the best-looking oil painting but one of the things I look for is for guys to tick 1-2 boxes and I hope that the rest falls into place. What we have here is a guy who is long and strong off the tee and has good numbers around scoring opportunities in the 200+ range, will take that at this price.

With Skov Olesen, you have a guy who is looking like he is taking the next step on the DP World Tour, with two Top 5's and a T16 in his last five starts. He's added 10 yards to his drive this season and ranks 14th in SG: Putting on the DP World Tour. You are looking for guys who can complement each other here, finding a guy who can putt and pairing him with a guy who has top-end scoring opportunities on tough holes to me looks like a good match. The field is bad, take a shot like this!

Brown/Clanton

I call this one the Temu Michael Thorbjornsen/Karl Vilips pairing. This one for me isn't really a numbers play because it is very tough to make much of an argument for Luke Clanton over this last season and a half. A part of this style of tournament you have to factor things like the relaxed nature and how that does make guys perform better having someone they usually are friends with or at least enjoy playing with, I think that really could be something that helps us see parts of Luke Clanton we saw in 2024 when he came on the scene.

With Blades Brown, this kid is simply just too much fun not to bet. Should've won in Puerto Rico last month and has a 2nd and a 3rd in his last three starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. He is only 18 years old, a tournament like this is absolutely the kind of event I want to take a shot like this. The reason why I call them the Temu Thor/Vilips is because I think this kind of event is where we see someone like Thorbjornsen, who is way too talented to not win on the PGA Tour, have a really good week with the pressure valve turned down a bit.

The one aspect of the board is, as you get down into these price ranges you are coming across some really difficult pairings to make any case for at all. For me, I'll take the bigger price and take the chance that one guy can find something in his game playing alongside someone who has three Top 5's in his last five starts across the PGA and Korn Ferry Tour.