AVONDALE, LOUISIANA – APRIL 26: Alex Fitzpatrick (L) of England and Matt Fitzpatrick of England pose with the trophy on the 18th green after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans 2026 at TPC Louisiana on April 26, 2026 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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The Zurich Classic has become a unique stop for the PGA Tour in its unique format. It isn’t an individual event, but a team event where players have a playing partner with specific formats throughout the weekend.
While most top-ranked golfers take this week off before the lead up to the PGA Championship in May, the Zurich Classic has provided some fun moments over the years. Two years ago it was Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry winning and partying into the early morning in New Orleans. Last year it was Andrew Novak getting his first PGA win with Ben Griffin as Griffin continued his tremendous 2025 season.
In 2026 the Zurich provided not just drama, but a feel-good story everyone can get behind.
Matt Fitzpatrick and his younger brother Alex Fitzpatrick were teammates during this event, and they stormed to a big lead heading into Sunday at the TPC Louisiana. When they approached the Par 5 18th hole, they were tied with two other teams at -30. After their approach shot from Alex put them in a greenside bunker, older brother Matt decided to help out by hitting a fantastic bunker shot to just outside a foot.
Alex tapped in for birdie, which gave them the victory, but it also meant more to the younger of the Fitzpatrick brothers. The victory gave Alex his PGA Tour card through the 2028 season.
The tournament was fantastic from start-to-finish, but was also brutal for bettors who were trying their hand at winning some money. However, in terms of outright winners, this tournament was considered “chalk” with the odd-son favorites, the Fitzpatrick brothers, pulling out the victory.
Let’s go back to look at the Top 5 odds heading into this tournament:
- Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick (+1175)
- Lowry/Koepka (+1550)
- Yellamaraju/Gerard (+1750)
- Novak/Griffin (+1850)
- Thorbjornsen/Vilips (+1950)
Picking winners in this event is never easy, so let’s go back and take a look at the picks we got right, wrong, and why.
2026 Zurich Classic Plays
Favorite: Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick (+1175)
That’s right, the pick of the Fitzpatrick brothers was spot-on, and gave us an outright winner. If you put some money down, you got some great odds, as well as a great payout, on this play.
Long Shot: Rai/Theegala (+2150)
A long shot play is never easy to predict. I always take anyone with +2000 odds or greater, and in this case Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala finished with a T24 finish. Not bad, but also not close to winning.
Top 5
Novak/Griffin (+305)
Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick (+210)
Doubling down on the Fitzpatrick brothers also cashed out at +210 odds. Hedging your bet is never a bad thing, but the Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin duo finished T10, so we only hit one of the two Top 5 picks.
Top 10
Koepka/Lowry (+126)
Rai/Theegala (+158)
I should have known there was no chance the Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry combination wouldn’t work out, but I thought there was too much talent to keep them off the leaderboard on Sunday. At +126, a Top 10 pick didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. Nonetheless, the two big-name players missed the cut and didn’t even make it to the weekend.
As for Rai and Theegala, they played well, much better than many might have thought, but the T24 finish placed them outside the predicted Top 10.
Top 20
Horschel/Hoge (+142)
Smotherman/Putnam (+106)
Austin Smotherman’s season has been a roller coaster, and that continued in this team event with Andrew Putnam. The two, like Koepka and Lowry, didn’t even make the weekend.
Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge were a Top 20 play based on nothing but gut instinct. Horschel has played well at times this season, but is coming off an injury. Hoge hasn’t had much success the past two seasons, but together I thought they might be able to put something together. And they did. The tandem finished T6 and cashed the +142 play in Top 20.
As for bonus plays, with this being such a unique event we didn’t have any bonus plays for the Zurich Classic. They will return next week for the Cadillac Championship, a signature event.
To recap my picks for this event:
Favorite: Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick (+1175) HIT
Long Shot: Rai/Theegala (+2150) MISS
Top 5
Novak/Griffin (+305) MISS
Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick (+210) HIT
Top 10
Koepka/Lowry (+126) MISS
Rai/Theegala (+158) MISS
Top 20
Horschel/Hoge (+142) HIT
Smotherman/Putnam (+106) MISS