In 2006 Hurricane Katrina impacted this event, like so many others in the New Orleans area. The Zurich Classic had to move to the English Turn Golf and Country Club, where the event had been held from 1989 to 2004, before returning to the TPC of Louisiana in 2007. Because of that many of the players committed their earnings from the tournament in 2006 to Hurricane relief. Given the difficulties of that area, the $30 million the tournament generates for the local economy is a boost that has benefited the region. With the recent flooding, fires and tornadoes that have been causing so much trouble across the country, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone reading this article to consider making a donation to the American Red Cross relief efforts at redcross.org. While we won’t all get to walk away with big checks this Sunday, remember that every little bit helps. Thank you.
Tournament: Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Date: April 28th to May 1st
Location: TPC of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana
Defending Champion: Jason Bohn (-13)
About the course: The course, designed by Pete Dye, is open to the public. While many of the PGA tournaments have taken place in the south, the Zurich Classic is the only one played in Louisiana. When going through the course, players need to be weary of the “triangle of doom”. The four, five and six holes are three par 4s that form an auspicious triangle where players consistently shoot over par. In particular, the sixth hole makes very few friends, with a tee shot that has players shooting for a fairway that sits next to a large body of water, and the second shot is a dogleg left that will take anything from a fairway wood to a long iron depending on the wind. Given that players have averaged 4.27 strokes on the sixth hole over the last four years, it is doubtful that even the addition of alligators to the water hazard could make this hole any more dreaded than it is already.
Golfers to watch: Luke Donald would have won the Heritage had he not had three bogies on Sunday, the most he had all week. Given the fact that he hasn’t finished worse than 10th since winning the WGC-Match Play back in February, look for him to again be a factor on Sunday. Other than the Masters, Nick Watney has finished 13th or better at every tournament he’s entered. With the lack of A-list names at this week’s tournament and the fact that he won here in 2007, he should definitely be in your fantasy golf line-up. Having three top 10 finishes in 2011 and averaging 4.36 birdies per round, Steve Stricker should recapture some of his 2009 performance when he managed to finish 7th at this event. Other than his 42nd place finish at the WGC Championship, Justin Rose has not finished worse than 25th this year. Given that he hasn’t missed a cut all year, you know you’ll have something to root for on Sunday. David Toms has been playing sneaky good of late, with both his driving accuracy and his greens in regulation well over 70 percent. Chris Couch, a former winner at this event in 2006, has looked strong overall this year and is a good sleeper this week to be in the chase on Sunday. After missing the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Brandt Snedeker has finished 15th, 4th and 1st at the Masters, Texas and Heritage respectively. After shooting a 64 to tie Luke Donald on Sunday and then beat him in a playoff, he’s definitely a good example of going with the hot hand, or club in this case.