The only teams event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic has continued to grow with recent Masters champion Rory McIlroy and former Open champion Shane Lowry winning last year.
At least one major winner has been part of the winning team in four of the last five stagings suggesting finding quality is key.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Scrambling
- Strokes Gained: Putting
- Putting Average
- Birdie or Better
- GIR
- Strokes Gained: Approach
The only path to victory in this tournament is putting and going extremely low.
Setting up with a good approach game and scrambling well is a huge asset.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
BEST BET
MORIKAWA/KITAYAMA
Two-time major winner Justin Thomas broke a long drought last week at the RBC Heritage and Collin Morikawa will be looking to do something similar here.
He is playing at an elite level this year with his approach game as good as anyone on Tour.
Kurt Kitayama is an Arnold Palmer Invitational winner.
These two finished T-23 last year and are a huge chance this time around.
BEST VALUE
POSTON/MITCHELL
If there is one thing certain this week it is that Keith Mitchell will get his team off to a fast start after being First Round Leader in five of his last seven tournaments.
Mitchell just missed out in the Corales Puntacana and JT Poston was not far behind him.
Both have Top 25 finishes in this event.
HOJGAARD/HOJGAARD
No team knows each other better than the Hojgaard twins and with both playing well they must be afforded a major chance.
Rasmus made the cut at The Masters and has finished Top 22 in two PGA Tour events this year.
Nicolai has seen his form tail a touch but he contended in last year’s Masters and at the Olympics so has the talent to thrive.
BEST ROUGHIES
CANTER/SMITH
Laurie Canter is one of the most underrated players on the planet right now and looks a huge shot this week.
He missed the cut at Augusta and TPC Sawgrass but prior won at Bahrain and had two more top three finishes in his last four regular events.
Jordan Smith was runner-up in China and has finished Top 25 in 13 of 19 events.
HARDY/RILEY
Nick Hardy and Davis Riley won this event two years ago so clearly play well together.
Hardy has been woefully out of form but making the cut last week at the Corales will give him confidence while Davis Riley has been playing very well with three Top 21 finishes in his last five starts including a T-21 at Augusta.
Big price this week.
WIRE TO WIRE WINNER
YES
To win the Zurich, you need to go low all four rounds. Scores of -25 or lower have won four of the last five stagings.
Going low in every round is critical, making this bet a quality one.