{"id":54467,"date":"2026-04-23T16:53:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54467\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:53:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:53:45","slug":"zurich-classic-of-new-orleans-format-explained-as-pga-tour-team-event-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54467\/","title":{"rendered":"Zurich Classic of New Orleans format explained as PGA Tour team event returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans brings a rare shakeup to the solo strokeplay action that dominates the PGA Tour season, with Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka among the duos competing for the title\"McIlroy<\/p>\n

Shane Lowry is among the stars on show at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but Rory McIlroy has skipped the event(Image: Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour’s only team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, returns this week, with Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka among the duos competing for the title.<\/p>\n

With the Masters in the rear-view mirror<\/a> and two signature events and the PGA Championship<\/a> coming up in quick succession, it is time for some fun and games on tour, with pairs vying for the crown. The event offers a break from the solo strokeplay format that dominates the rest of the season, and it has proven popular with fans over the years, not least when Lowry and Rory McIlroy performed karaoke after their 2024 win.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event…<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump taking severe action over ‘paranoid’ fear<\/a>READ MORE: Donald Trump amazed by college golfers handicaps after his own was questioned<\/a>What is the format for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans?<\/p>\n

The tournament employs a stroke-play format, with alternating rounds of four-ball and foursomes. The first and third rounds will be four-balls, where each player plays their own ball, and the best score from each team on each hole is counted.<\/p>\n

The second and fourth rounds will be foursomes, with team members playing the same ball and hitting alternate shots.<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

Lowry has teamed up with Brooks Koepka this year(Image: Krista Jasso\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The format means teams will be aggressive in the hope of maximizing their scoring opportunities in four-balls, while trying to keep big numbers off the card in alternate shot.<\/p>\n

If the tournament ends in a tie, there will be a sudden-death playoff, which is how Lowry and McIlroy edged out Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer in 2024.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and more<\/a><\/p>\n

How is the prize money distributed at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans?<\/p>\n

A purse of $9.5 million is up for grabs in the Bayou, with the winners splitting $1.37 million. The second-place team will share $560,500, while third will split $366,937.<\/p>\n

The prize money distribution is different from a standard PGA Tour event. This week, the percentages of prize money allocated to first and second place have been combined and will be shared with the winning team.<\/p>\n

The same method will be used for all teams that finish above the cut line, set at the top 33 teams and ties.<\/p>\n

The process is the same for FedEx Cup points, with the 500 and 300-point allocations for first and second place combined, meaning members of the winning team will take 400 FedEx Cup points apiece.<\/p>\n

Who are the teams participating in the 2026 Zurich Classic of New Orleans?<\/p>\n

For the past two years, Lorwy and McIlroy have been the star pairing in Louisiana, winning the event in 2024 before finishing tied for 12th a year ago.<\/p>\n

Fresh off his win at Augusta National, McIlroy is skipping this year’s event, but Lowry has found another big-name teammate in five-time major champion Koepka.<\/p>\n

Defending champions Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak return this year, as do the sibling duo of Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

Highly rated talents Luke Clanton and Blades Brown have joined forces, as have fellow youngsters Karl Vilips and Michael Thorbjornsen. Tony Finau will tee it up with Max Greyserman, and 2023 U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark will play with Taylor Moore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Zurich Classic of New Orleans brings a rare shakeup to the solo strokeplay action that dominates the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28385,24238,30568,3079,24530,24227,30567,28357,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-54467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-ben-griffin","9":"tag-brooks-koepka","10":"tag-luke-clanton","11":"tag-pga-tour","12":"tag-rory-mcilroy","13":"tag-shane-lowry","14":"tag-tony-finau","15":"tag-wyndham-clark","16":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116455067247189490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}