Zurich Classic of New Orleans


The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, played in Avondale. Dating back to 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly played in early to mid-spring. Zurich Insurance Group is the main sponsor, and it is organized by the Fore!Kids Foundation.
The purse was $7.0 million in 2016, with a winner's share of $1.26 million. First prize reached five figures in 1965, six figures in and passed the million dollar mark in 2006.
In 2017, the Zurich Classic became a team event, with eighty teams of two. One member of each team is initially chosen via the Tour priority rankings, and his partner must be either a PGA Tour member or earn entry through a sponsor exemption. The stroke play format was alternate shot in the first and third rounds and better ball for the second and fourth rounds. The cut line is 35 teams, plus ties. The winners earn 400 FedEx Cup points and two-year exemptions, but will not receive Masters invitations and no world ranking points are awarded for the event. In 2018, the format switched to fourball for the first and third rounds and alternate shot for the second and fourth rounds.

Tournament names/corporate sponsors

From the event's inception through 2004, it was played at a series of courses in New Orleans, starting at the City Park Golf Courses, where it was played through 1962. From 1963 through 1988, the event had a lengthy relationship with Lakewood Country Club before shifting to English Turn Golf and Country Club in 1989 for sixteen editions through 2004.
TPC Louisiana in Avondale became the host in 2005, but damage to the course by Hurricane Katrina that August forced the event back to English Turn for a year in 2006. It returned to the TPC in 2007, its current home.

Course layout

TPC Louisiana in 2016
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards3995482214824384765613722073,7043905754924032164903552155853,7217,425
Par453444543364544344353672

Source:

Winners

;Team event
;Individual event
Main sources
^ Weather-shortened to 54 holes

Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records

Multiple winners

There is yet to be a three-time winner at New Orleans, but ten have won twice; the last was Carlos Franco in 2000. Four won in consecutive years: Byron Nelson, Bo Wininger, Tom Watson, and Franco.
2 wins