And now for something completely different.

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is the only official event featuring two-man teams on the 2026 PGA TOUR schedule. Since 2017, TPC Louisiana has hosted the 72-hole, multi-format tournament in the New Orleans suburb of Avondale.

Team composition takes on many angles this week, but none are thicker than blood. Brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick (+1100) are the team to beat at the top of FanDuel Sportsbook. Matt, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season, including last week at the RBC Heritage, teams with Alex, who recently won the Hero Indian Open on the DP World Tour during the final weekend of March. Playing together for the first time in the 2023 event, the Englishmen earned T19, and backed it up with T11 in 2024. Posting 9-under-par after 36 holes in the 2025 edition, they fell one shot short of qualifying for the weekend.

No other pair arrives with both players victorious in their previous event.

Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka (+1500) left the animosity of previous Ryder Cups behind to pair up for the first time in The Big Easy. Lowry, who won this event with Rory McIlroy (not entered) in 2024, is accustomed to having different partners, including Ryder Cup players Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter. Koepka, who cashed T5 with brother Chase in the inaugural edition in 2017, returns for the first time since T22 in 2019. Recently, the major champions have been drifting in opposite directions on the leaderboard. Koepka racked up three T18 or better paydays on the Florida Swing and shared 12th-place at the Masters. Lowry, who started the season brightly on the West Coast, does not own a top-25 payday from his last five outings on TOUR. Together, I would expect both of their games to rise to the occasion.

Reigning champions Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak (+1800) both won for the first time on the PGA TOUR at TPC Louisiana in 2025. The pair produced the third-lowest winning total (28-under) in tournament history, which included rounds of 61 and 62 in Four-ball, to win by a shot. Although they did not threaten the record in either format, they posted 27-under-par after three rounds and led by three shots before hanging on to win on Sunday. Both players qualified for the 2025 TOUR Championship at East Lake. This season, Griffin, who has made the cut in eight of 11 events, has not cracked the top 15. Novak, the hotter of the two players, earned T15 at the Valero Texas Open and T16 last week at the RBC Heritage on either side of a missed cut at his first Masters. Joining forces again might be the tonic to kick-start their respective seasons. The champions will not have to worry about analytics, golf balls or any other logistics, which come with a new partner.

Unable to chase down Griffin and Novak, Stanford men Michael Thorbjorsen and Karl Vilips (+2100) settled for a share of fourth place on their debut in 2025. Running it back for 2026, Vilips possesses the hot putter while Thorbjornsen handles the heavy lifting tee-to-green. Vilips, the winner at the 2025 Puerto Rico Open, has the only PGA TOUR victory in the pairing. Thorbjornsen went close with T3 at the WM Phoenix Open in February, but that is the only top-10 payday for the group in 2026. Vilips, the Australian, arrives on four rounds of 70 or better (T33) at the RBC Heritage, while his partner closed with 65 to match him (T33).

Sahith Theegala and Aaron Rai (+2200) will run it back after cashing T18 in the 2025 event. Rai has never missed the weekend at TPC Louisiana and owns four paydays of T23 or better, including T4 in 2022 with David Lipsky. Making his fifth start, Theegala earned his best payday with T18 last season, but this will be the first year he plays with the same partner in consecutive events. Rai and his lights-out ball-striking, combined with Theegala's short game, make for a sturdy pairing.

The first two rounds feature Four-ball on Thursday (best ball) and Foursomes on Friday (alternate shot). After 36 holes, the top 33 teams and ties (74 entered) qualify for the weekend, and two more rounds of Four-ball (Saturday) and Foursomes (Sunday) will determine the winning pairing.

Englishmen Marco Penge and Matt Wallace (+2200) team up for the first time. Penge’s power will devour the four par-5 holes. Wallace is more than capable of handling chipping and pitching around the small-ish greens. … Playing together for the first time in 2025, Wyndham Clark and Taylor Moore (+2200) fell victim to the cut. When paired with others, they earned four top-10 results, including Moore cashing T4 on his first two visits. Clark, who missed the cut on debut in 2021, peeled off a stretch of T17-T10-T3 before skipping the event in 2024. … Haotong Li and Jordan Smith (+2200) join the party for the first time as partners. Li, who is making his event debut, missed the weekend in four straight events before earning T38 at the Masters. Smith, who missed the cut in 2025 on debut, ran third at the Valspar Championship and earned T16 last week at the RBC Heritage, his fifth T27 or better in 11 events of 2026. Davis Riley and Nick Hardy (+11000), who won here in 2024, are also in the field.

Here's a look at the odds for other notable players, with odds via FanDuel:

• +2400: Davis Thompson/Austin Eckroat
• +2500: Matt McCarty/Mac Meissner
• +2800: Taylor Pendrith/Mackenzie Hughes; Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer; Kristoffer Reitan/Kris Ventura
• +3000: Michael Brennan/Johnny Keefer; Zach Bauchou/Sam Stevens; Kevin Yu/Tom Kim
• +3300: Keith Mitchell/Brandt Snedeker
• +3500: Max Greyserman/Tony Finau; Kevin Roy/Max McGreevy
• +3600: Seamus Power/Matti Schmid
• +3700: Rico Hoey/David Lipsky
• +4100: Jacob Skov Olesen/Rasmus Neergaard Petersen
• +4400: Jackson Suber/Stephan Jaeger
• +4500: Austin Smotherman/Andrew Putnam
• +4600: Erik van Rooyen/Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• +4900: Casey Jarvis/A.J. Ewart

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