Zurich Classic Betting Preview and Tournament Odds April 21-24

2022 Zurich Classic Prediction and Odds

The PGA Tour will enjoy a break from the norm this week as the world’s best golfers will participate in a team competition at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. WagerTalk golf handicappers Nick Borrman and Andy Lang share their thoughts on this week’s one-a-year team golf tournament.

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2022 Zurich Classic	PGA Tour Betting Notes
When:	April 21 – April 24, 2022
Where:	TPC Louisiana in New Orleans
Defending Champ:	Cam Smith and Marc Leishman
Current Favorite:	Viktor Hovland / Collin Morikawa (+650 at DraftKings)
TV:	Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday; CBS on Saturday and Sunday

Zurich Classic Odds Board

With any team sport, sometimes finding the right fit is more important than the data, but we must start somewhere, so let’s look at the numbers. Below are the combined numbers of the top-10 teams in the field.

Top-10 Total Strokes Gained over the last six months (betting odds via FanDuel or DraftKings)
Viktor Hovland / Collin Morikawa +3.69 (+750) FD
Cam Smith / Marc Leishman +3.15 (+1000) DK
Patrick Cantlay / Xander Schauffele +3.11 (+800) DK
Billy Horschel / Sam Burns +2.88 (+1300) FD
Scottie Scheffler / Ryan Palmer +2.39 (+1100) FD
Tommy Fleetwood / Sergio Garcia +2.30 (+1700) FD
Shane Lowry / Ian Poulter +2.17 (+2200) DK
Harold Varner III / Bubba Watson +2.11 (+2800) FD
Talor Gooch / Max Homa +2.09 (+2800) FD
Joaquin Niemann / Mito Pereira +1.89 (+2500) DK

Zurich Classic Course, Field and Format | TPC Louisiana

From Nick Borrman: First thing’s first this week and that’s understanding the format. As the only official team event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic features 80 two-man teams representing the largest field of any event all year. The teams will play fourball (better ball) on Thursday and Saturday while switching to the much tougher format of foursomes (alternate shot) on Friday and Sunday with the top 33 teams making the weekend cut.

In a team event, especially in better ball, most of these teams of professionals will be able to post a low score and we will most likely see some surprising names of the leaderboard after round one. But when it comes to foursomes, there is no hiding and only a team of two players currently in good form are likely to put together a solid round.

TPC Louisiana is a Pete Dye design, stock par-72 featuring four par 5s and four par 3s. The course features 100 bunkers with a decent amount of water around the property. It is not overseeded and reports have stated it hasn’t been the best growing season thus far so the rough is barely reaching 2” in most locations. Guys who can smash the driver will most likely be doing so, assuming their partner can get it in play ahead of them.

Nick’s Betting Favorites

My strategy this week is to first stick with the top pairings as I believe we will see a big-name pairing win this week thanks to the foursomes format, and second, determine which pairings will complement each other in that format. Pairings that have played this event together before or are close friends will tend to have better chemistry than those that have been paired together for the first time.

Avoiding the top three teams this week as I can make an argument against them all, Morikawa/Hovland first time together, Smith/Leishman very hard to repeat and Cantlay/Schauffele just can’t seem to win, leads me to this pairing.

Billy Horschel & Sam Burns +1300 (FD) | Top-10 +125 (DK)
Horschel has won this event before, both when it was a regular stroke play event in 2013, as well as the current format in 2018 with Scott Piercy. Horschel has six finishes of 21st or better in his last eight starts including a runner-up among three Top-10s. He ranks No. 12 in Scoring Average and No. 26 in Birdie Average.

Burns has already won twice on Tour this season, part of his seven Top-25 finishes in 12 starts and ranks No. 17 on Tour in Scoring Average. Also, very important is he ranks No. 7 in Birdie Average which is the key to Better Ball as teams will be aggressive as it’s rare both players make a bogey on the same hole.

My favorite part of this pairing is Horschel ranks No. 29 Strokes Gained Off the Tee, as well as No. 10 Strokes Gained Putting and No. 28 Strokes Gained Approach. His only weakness has been Approach where he ranks No. 112. Enter Sam Burns who ranks No. 10 in that category while also a solid No. 32 in Strokes Gained Putting.

Two skillsets that complement each other and both players can roll the rock, I’ll take that all day. Oh, and add in the fact that, although the event is unofficial, these two did just finish Runner-up in the QBE Shootout in December.

Danny Willett & Tyrrell Hatton Top-10 +275 or Top-20 +120 (DK)
The thing I like most about these guys is that both have fantastic short games. Willett ranks No. 2 on Tour in Strokes Gained Around the Green while Hatton ranks No. 1 in Strokes Gained Putting. We know most of the teams in this field can make a bunch of birdies and go low on the Better Ball rounds, but being able to scramble and save par is a huge advantage during Alternate Shot as simply not shooting over par is important.

Hatton also ranks 32nd in scoring average and No. 11 in Total Strokes Gained while Willett has made the cut in five of his last six starts including a T12 at the Masters. These two played together last year and finished T8.

Todd / Kirk +100 over McDowell / Power
Todd is a name we haven’t heard much from this year but he has been a steady grinder with ten cuts made in 15 events including finishing T8 at the Valero and T26 last week at the RBC Heritage in his last two starts. He is very accurate off the tee and is always one of the best putters on Tour, currently ranking No. 5 Strokes Gained Putting.

Kirk on the other hand is a tee to green specialist ranking No. 9 Strokes Gained Tee to Green this year with his only weakness, you guessed it, putting. Obviously two skillsets that complement each other and these two could do much of their damage in the Alternate Shot format.

McDowell has been hot or cold in 2022, literally alternating a made cut with a missed cut every other tournament which has been eight events. Of course, he is coming off a made cut last week at the RBC Heritage. His best statistic this year is ranking No. 37 in Driving Accuracy while his best category is ranking No. 87 Strokes Gained Putting.

Power was red hot in the beginning of 2022 then the wheels fell off with three straight missed
cuts in February and March. He has since rebounded with some good results at the Players, Match Play and the Masters. But what I don’t like about this pairing is that both players have poor short games and that worries me for the Alternate Shot format. Making just a couple bogeys could be the difference for them making the weekend or not.

Interested in placing a bet on this week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans? BetMGM is offering a $1,000 Risk-Free Bet for first-time bettors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Tennessee, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia, Washington DC, Wyoming, Mississippi, Arizona and Louisiana.

Tee Time from Vegas | Zurich Classic Betting Preview

Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman captured last year’s tournament at TPC Louisiana. On this episode of WagerTalk’s Tee Time from Vegas, golf handicappers Andy Lang and Nick Borrman share their thoughts on the format and the teams that they expect to perform well this week.

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