Players ‘letting it rip’ this week at Zurich Classic

Best-ball format on first, third days allow big swings

AVONDALE, La. — Tony Finau is among the PGA Tour players primed to take some unusual risks and big swings this week.

The tour is back in New Orleans with the Zurich Classic’s two-man team format being held for the first time since 2019.

While the second and final rounds call for players on each team to alternate shots, it’s a best-ball format in the first round Thursday and third round Saturday. That’s when spectators could see some of the world’s topranked players try to pull off some all-ornothing shots.

Finau is among the longer hitters on tour. So is his teammate, Cameron Champ.

“There’s no reason for me to hold back on certain holes where Cameron has got it out there in the middle of the fairway,” Finau said. “So, I’ll definitely crank up my ball speed on a few shots this week.”

Finau mentioned the 403-yard 13th hole specifically, which he called “a drivable par 4.” “I can see myself letting it rip,” he said. While heavy-hitting Bryson DeChambeau isn’t in the field, five players ranked in the world’s top 10 are. They include No. 5 Xander Schauffele and No. 10 Patrick Cantlay, who are on the same team.

They are friends who know one another’s game well.

“We play almost every week at least once and we figured it was a bit of a no-brainer,” said Schauffele, who tied for third at the Masters. “We usually are competing against each other week-to-week, especially in our little nine-hole matches. So, we know our games inside out..”

The par-72, Pete Dye-designed TPC Louisiana course is 7,425 yards long and carved out of a cypress swamp just southwest of New Orleans. It’s an exotic-looking course with Spanish moss dangling from soaring, oldgrowth cypress trees whose unusual root system, known as cypress knees, sometimes protrude up through the fairway a couple yards from the base of the tree trunks. There’s also a large, semi-famous alligator — called Tripod because he’s missing a leg — who often makes appearances in the water lining the par-3 17th.

Tickets have been limited to 10,000 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused the cancellation of the Zurich Classic in 2020. But the familiar garlic-and-butter aroma of charbroiled oysters — one of Finau’s favorite local dishes — again hangs in the air.

The defending champions are 44-year-old Texan Ryan Palmer and 26-year-old Spaniard Jon Rahm, a seemingly odd pairing.