Zach Thompson details some of his Round 1 best bets for the Zurich Classic this week at TPC Louisiana.<\/p>\n
The PGA TOUR is in the middle of a very busy stretch of big tournaments, but this week\u2019s event is a break for many of the biggest names on the PGA TOUR. The players who are teeing it up get a chance to compete in the only team-up event on the official schedule as the field of 74 two-man teams takes on TPC Louisiana<\/a>. Round 1 tees off on Thursday, with the earliest tee times at 8:00 a.m. ET. Let\u2019s take a look at the wide variety of markets available on DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a> and pinpoint some of my best bets for Round 1 of the Zurich Classic.<\/p>\n The format for Round 1 (and Round 3) of this event is \u201cfour-ball,\u201d which means each of the members of the team plays separately, with the lower score counting as the team score. Since there are two teams in each group, it\u2019s quite literally four balls being played, with the lower score counting for each team. The format usually leads to extremely low scores, since players can choose to be very aggressive on the risk\/reward layout of this Pete Dye design. Last year\u2019s leaders at the end of Round 1 were -14, while 12 teams were at least -10, including two teams that actually missed the cut.<\/p>\n In this post, we\u2019ll focus on my three best bets for Round 1 of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Thursday, April 23. Let\u2019s tee it up!<\/p>\n Michael Thorbjornsen\/Karl Vilips (-116) over John Keefer\/Michael Brennan \u2013 Holes 10-12<\/a><\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with a quick-hitter right off the tee. These two teams contain some of the biggest names in the morning wave, and they start their round at 8:39 a.m. ET. They\u2019ll begin on the back nine, and this prop matchup is just for the first three holes of the round.<\/p>\n The three holes are a pair of par-4s sandwiched around the par-5 No. 11. As with most of the holes on this course, there are risk\/reward decisions throughout these three holes, but the four-ball format allows players to be aggressive, especially on the par-5. If the groups are tied at the end of these holes, this pick will be a push.<\/p>\n Thorbjornsen and Vilips have shorter odds (+1950) to win the tournament than Keefer and Brennan (+2200) and shorter odds to finish in the top 10 as well. Getting them at almost even money is a good value option in this three-hole sprint matchup.<\/p>\n Thorbjornsen and Vilips opened with an -8 last year and finished T4 in this event, while Keefer and Brennan are making their tournament and course debut.<\/p>\n Both pairs come in with some solid flashes of form, but Vilips finished T19 at the Texas Children\u2019s Houston Open and a T33 at the RBC Heritage in his last two starts, while Thorbjornsen finished T33 or better in four of his last five starts as well. Over the last three months, Villips ranks eighth in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting while Thorbjornsen ranks 13th in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 18th in Total Strokes Gained. His putter has been what has held him back, so the skill blend for this team should be strong.<\/p>\n Brennan has been playing well lately, but Keefer has five missed cuts in his last seven events. I\u2019m a big fan of both Keefer and Brennan\u2019s long-term upside, but they don\u2019t seem quite as ready to contend this week as Thorbjornsen and Vilips. If this is a push, win or loss, you can also spin this forward to three-hole sections throughout Round 2 as these teams duel it out.<\/p>\n Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge (+105) over Tony Finau and Max Greyserman<\/a><\/p>\n