The PGA Tour heads to Louisiana this week for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Read on to see my prediction for who will win the tournament, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and team to fade predictions.
Winner: Jon Rahm-Ryan Palmer- Rahm and Palmer have both been playing stellar golf this year, with Rahm finishing in the top 10 in 8 of his last 10 PGA Tour starts and Palmer finishing in the top 20 in 7 of his last 11 starts. Rahm and Palmer won this event in 2019 and sit as the defending champions* heading into the week. Their recent success as well as their success in this event show all signs as pointing to a second consecutive win for Rahm and Palmer in this event.
Top 10: Xander Schauffele-Patrick Cantlay- Xander Schauffele has played as well as you can this season without a win, with 6 top 5’s and 10 top 20 finishes in 12 starts, including a T-3 finish at the Masters and 3 other runner-up finishes. On the flip side, Cantlay has had an up and down season, with 8 top 20 finishes in 13 starts, including a win at the ZoZo Championship at Sherwood and 2 additional top 5’s, but has missed 3 of his last 4 cuts. Schauffele finished 11th in this event in 2017 and Cantlay has finished in the top 15 twice here in 3 career starts. I believe that Cantlay will be able to feed off of Schauffele’s great play this week and the team will bring home a top 10 finish.
Dark horse: Cameron Tringale-Roberto Castro- Tringale has had a quietly good season so far, with 7 top 20’s in 15 starts, including 3 top 10’s. Castro hasn’t had many starts this season, but has made the most of it, finishing in the top 40 in each of his last 2 starts to go along with 2 missed cuts. Tringale and Castro finished T-5 in this event in 2019 and Tringale has played well in this event throughout the years, including a runner up finish in 2015. I believe a top 20 result is certainly within reach for the pair this week.
Team to fade: Peter Manalti-Chris Baker- There hasn’t been much success for either player of late, with Malnati missing each of his last 7 cuts and Baker missing each of his last 5 cuts and missing 10 of 12 cuts this season. I don’t expect either of these guys to be able to turn things around this week and I predict another missed cut for the team of Peter Malnati and Chris Baker.
*The 2020 playing of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.