Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – The Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Fantasy Preview

From a rank of 174th for SG: Putting last season, to 24th for the same metric this campaign.

Often when we play daily fantasy golf or bet on the sport, we look high and low for the clues of who will win the next PGA TOUR event… and yet, sometimes, the evidence is right there in front of our faces.

Justin Thomas, an elite ball striker with (as of last week) 15 PGA TOUR titles to his name, didn’t win last season, despite some close calls, because he was hopelessly bereft of confidence on the greens.

This season, as you can tell from the opening paragraph, something has changed – suddenly, one of the most prolific champions in contemporary golf has found his mojo again with the flatstick.

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And so J.T. took down the RBC Heritage on Sunday, despite losing strokes to the field for the week off the tee. How? Because he got them back on the greens, to some tune. He ranked fourth for SG: Putting, but most crucially putted much better than those at the top of the leaderboard – and that became the difference-maker during the final round and subsequent playoff victory over Andrew Novak.

It was his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship, and coincided with his 250th start on the PGA TOUR. If Thomas continues to putt like this, and Scottie Scheffler continues to give everyone else a chance of getting their hands on a trophy, you suspect more will follow in 2025.

There’s a considerable change in pace this week for the Zurich Classic, the pairs event hosted by TPC Louisiana.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Our golden goose last week was Daniel Berger who came through with a strong T3 finish.  

It’s good to see JT back in the winner’s circle and we’re exited to head into this week’s Zurich, an event where we’ve had strong success in the past.

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Zurich Classic of New Orleans Field

With a purse of $9.2 million and no world ranking points on offer, there’s not a lot to appeal to the players about the Zurich Classic… apart from one thing, that is: they get to play competitive golf with their best friend on TOUR.

That’s why Rory McIlroy, fresh from his emotional Masters success, has been tempted out to partner with his good mate, and fellow defending champion, Shane Lowry once more.

Collin Morikawa will be joined by Kurt Kitayama, while Wyndham Clark will team up with Taylor Moore. Sepp Straka and Thomas Detry, PGA TOUR event winners this year, will be joined by Brice Garnett and Robert MacIntyre respectively.

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Sahith Theegala and Aaron Rai, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell, and Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge are amongst the most eye-catching teams in terms of combined world ranking, while it will be a family affair for the Hojgaards (Rasmus and Nicolai) and the Fitzpatricks (Matt and Alex).

This Week’s Course Preview

The cream tends to rise to the top at the Zurich Classic, as we’ll explore in more detail later in this preview, and that should come as no surprise with Pete Dye on design duty at TPC Louisiana.

The layout features some of his trademarks – there’s some small overseeded Bermuda greens, more than 100 bunkers, and a slew of water hazards – on a property that exceeds 7,400 yards for its Par 72.

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But the emphasis is on low scoring at TPC Louisiana, which explains the wide-open fairways and a first cut of rough that is, shall we say, generous in its shortness.

The format of the tournament helps, but 14 of the 18 holes averaged under par – including the quartet of Par 5s, where not making birdie (at least) became an unmitigated disaster in 2024. 

Of the four holes that averaged over par last year, keep an eye on the 215-yard, Par 3 seventeenth – this is the only genuinely difficult hole on the real estate, with double the number of bogeys or worse to birdies in 2024.

Weather Forecast for Avondale, LA

There’s a stormy old start to the week in Avondale, with thunderstorms, heavy rains, and sultry temperatures expected.

That may well run in to the tournament proper too, with some rain expected – as per the early forecast – on Thursday and Saturday.

Friday and Sunday look set to be more generous, with the mercury expected to hit 84 degrees on Sunday. The wind, meanwhile, looks set to be a steady 7-11mph all week long. 

AVONDALE WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Having played their opening six holes on Sunday in +1, it looked as though the title charge of McIlroy and Lowry had been derailed.

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But in the spirit of great golfing champions, they were able to put that behind them and play outstanding, winning golf on the back nine – making five birdies to completely change their round around.

The Irish pair made birdie on the Par 5 last, after some outstanding ball striking set them up with an eagle look, to make it into a playoff with Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer. McIlroy and Lowry made par, their opponents didn’t, and the favorites went on to celebrate long into the night.

Others had their chances; not least the Canadian pair of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, who were right there through 54 holes. But they came unstuck in the alternate shot format on Sunday, shooting 71 and ending their hopes of getting their hands on the trophy.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for this Week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans

These team events aren’t ideal for DFS gaming, it has to be said, and so discretion is advised this week. But even so, we’ve got some appetizing contests to get involved in with lower entry fees.

• GOLF TOUR $25k Birdie: It’s $3 per entry for a chance to win a top prize of $2,500, with stacks of other payouts available. There’s fewer than 10,000 teams to beat, too.
• GOLF TOUR $150k Drive the Green: Here’s a $5 contest with a $25,000 top prize, and of course plenty of other wins to be had. The top 40 teams win a minimum of $100.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for Zurich Classic of New Orleans

As illogical as it sounds, the episode dedicated to the Zurich Classic as part of Netflix’s third season of Full Swing summed up the tournament best.

McIlroy and Lowry were desperate to win the 2024 edition; you could almost feel the desire McIlroy had to play his best golf and help his friend to a PGA TOUR title.

The conversations with Adam Hadwin were also illuminating. He exuded a sense of fear and trepidation, so keen was he not to let down teammate Nick Taylor. The prospect of a place in the Presidents Cup team only added to the Canadian’s anxiety.

It’s easy to brush aside the Zurich Classic as a fun exhibition, but plenty of the players in the field this week will be desperate to win – for them and their partner. And, in a Ryder Cup year, this event affords the relevant players an opportunity to showcase their skills in the four-ball and alternate shot formats.

There’s not a lot else to work with in an analytical sense, given that no strokes gained data is published, but consider the list of winners and runners up since 2020: amongst them, McIlroy and Lowry, Cantlay and Schauffele, Smith and Leishman, Rahm and Ryan Palmer, Burns and Horschel, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel, and Fleetwood and Garcia.

The cream tends to rise to the top at the Zurich Classic, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect if this was an easy, laidback birdie shootout. TPC Louisiana rewards the best technical golfers, and so it would be senseless to veer to far away from that in our roster picks this week.

We can consider the teams with the best contrast in styles, too. Half of the holes played will be four-balls, which sees the lowest score of the pair (playing their own ball) count, but the other half are alternate shot – which of the teams showcase a nice blend of ball-striking and putting prowess?

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win Zurich Classic of New Orleans   

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win Zurich Classic of New Orleans  

Top Tier Pick # 1

Thomas Detry (Odds: 18/1, FPPG: 67.3, Salary: $10,300) (with Robert MacIntyre)

The case for McIlroy and Lowry writes itself this week, but the emotional upheaval of the former’s Masters win – and the challenges of defending any title – suggests we can claw some money back off the table and leave the Irish pair be.

It’s very difficult to finish amongst the six automatic qualifiers for Europe’s Ryder Cup team, so for the likes of Thomas Detry and Robert MacIntyre, it’s likely that they’ll need to give captain Luke Donald, who’s in the field this week, a helpful nudge.

Thomas Detry has done exactly that by winning the Phoenix Open in February, but his form since then would suggest that the Belgian has work to do to convince Donald yet further.

Perhaps the Zurich Classic has come along at the tight time, then. He’ll partner up again with Robert MacIntyre, with whom he finished just three shots behind McIlroy and Lowry here 12 months ago. 

The Scot, whose career-defining moment so far came last summer in winning the Scottish Open on home soil, posted a solo ninth finish at the PLAYERS Championship just a few weeks ago.

Key Stats:

• Total Birdies – 26th
• SG: Putting – 35th
• SG: Off-the-Tee – 37th

Top Tier Pick #2

Tom Hoge (Odds: 25/1, FPPG: 72.6, Salary: $9,400) (with Billy Horschel)

Billy Horschel has won the Zurich Classic with Scott Piercy, and finished runner-up with Sam Burns; he evidently loves this tournament… whoever he plays it with.

This week, he benefits from the presence of Tom Hoge, who has turned into a one-man putting machine of late. Hoge gained +1.40 on the field putting at the RBC Heritage, making it five outings in a row in which he’s bested the field average with the flatstick – a run which includes The Masters and the PLAYERS.

Both of these players are more than capable of winning on the PGA TOUR, so there’s no reason why pairing them up won’t enhance their chances even further.

Key Stats:

• Total Birdies – 4th
• Putts Per Round – 12th
• SG: Approach – 14th

Mid-Tier Pick #1

Max McGreevy (Odds: 40/1, FPPG: 72.1, Salary: $7,800) (with Sam Stevens)

Sam Stevens finished two strokes behind McIlroy & Lowry with former partner Paul Barjon, so we can have confidence that he will perform at least as successfully with new buddy Max McGreevy.

McGreevy ascended to new heights in 2024, winning twice on the Korn Ferry Tour as well as the prestigious, and high quality, Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan. Although his PGA TOUR form has been a mixed bag in 2024, T4 at the Cognizant Classic and T20 at the PLAYERS suggests he’s heading in the right direction.

Sam Stevens has the profile of a potential PGA TOUR winner, which he showed when finishing solo second at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. At his best, the 28-year-old is strong in all departments, so perhaps the presence of McGreevy will enable him to convert that potential into success.

Key Stats:

• Driving Accuracy – 11th
• SG: Off-the-Tee – 34th
• SG: Approach – 42nd

Mid-Tier Pick #2

Victor Perez (Odds: 66/1, FPPG: 61.9, Salary: $7,400) (with Matthieu Pavon) 

A Ryder Cup year bring with it opportunities for both Victor Perez and Matthieu Pavon to shine.

Both would be outsiders to appear for Team Europe right now, but a strong showing this week would certainly help the respective cases of the Frenchmen.

Pavon, the Farmers Insurance Open champion in 2024, has shown signs of inconsistent brilliance since switching to the PGA TOUR, while Perez – who missed out on the medals at the Olympics last summer by a single shot – enjoyed a solid Florida Swing and subsequent T18 at the Houston Open.

Key Stats:

• Greens in Regulation – 43rd
• Scrambling – 43rd
• SG: Off-the-Tee – 48th

Low-Tier Pick

Joel Dahmen (Odds: 75/1, FPPG: 60.0, Salary: $7,300) (with Harry Higgs) 

The best way to get over a metaphorical fall from a horse? Get right back in the saddle.

There’s no doubt about it: in fact, he admitted it. Joel Dahmen choked at the Corales Puntacana. Three bogeys in his final three holes cost him the lead that he had held pretty much wire to wire.

This pairs environment, where he’ll team up with the similarly amiable Harry Higgs, might just be the best way to get over his disappointment. Higgs played some excellent golf in his penultimate start at the Texas Open, and there’ll be plenty of SG: Laughs between the pair.

Key Stats:

• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 18th
• SG: Off-the-Tee – 35th
• SG: Approach – 37th

Sleeper Pick for Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Davis Riley (Odds: 90/1, FPPG: 57.4, Salary: $7,200) (with Nick Hardy) 

Winners of this event in 2023, Riley and Hardy also fired rounds of 65 and 66 in last year’s edition too.

They evidently like this course and each others’ company, which helps, and in Riley they possess a player who continues to impress – he heads back to the Zurich Classic as a PGA TOUR champion, having prevailed in the Charles Schwab last summer, while T21 at The Masters the other week franked his ascendance.

Hardy will need to up his game, but he played some better golf at the Corales Puntacana last week, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he stepped up to the plate this week in a tournament and format that seems to suit him well.

Key Stats:

• SG: Putting – 60th
• Birdie Average – 60th
• SG: Around-the-Green – 63rd

Alternative Sleeper Pick for Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Antoine Rozner (Odds: 100/1, FPPG: 61.9, Salary: $6,800) (with Kris Ventura)

Here’s a pairing that ticks a few boxes, with Kris Ventura’s huge bombs off the tee and solid putting, alongside Antoine Rozner’s classy iron and wedge play.

They should be well set in the alternate shot format, while both players head to TPC Louisiana on the back of their best performances in a while last time out – Rozner, when gaining +1.47 on the field on approach at the Texas Open, particularly catching the eye.

Ventura played some better stuff than he has lately at the Corales Puntacana, so this long odds duo cannot be written off from making hay under the New Orleans sunshine this week.

Key Stats:

• Driving Distance – 45th
• SG: Approach – 48th
• Fairway Proximity – 62nd

This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match to best fit individual contests.

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Fantasy Golf Predictions – This Season 

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