Now that the 2022 RBC Heritage is over, it’s time to look forward to the next one: the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which is scheduled to kick off this Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana. With that said, it’s time to check out some of the favorites, sleepers, and long shots expected to tee off this week.
Hovland and Morikawa have not been partners before in this event, but this won’t be their first time teeing off in the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Hovland finished 25th with his partner at TPC Louisiana last year, while Morikawa was cut. While those aren’t impressive finishes, the fact that both these players are inside the top 5 in the world simply makes them easy favorites.
Cantlay and Schauffele are good friends, so gelling with each other will not be a problem for them. Cantlay has five top 10s, including a pair of runner-up places this season, while Schauffele has only a top 10 to show thus far, which was a T3 in the WM Phoenix Open. The two finished 11th in the 2021 edition of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
This tandem of Australians is among the favorites to win this weekend, and it’s not hard to see why. After all, Leishman and Smith won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2021. This season, Leishman has three top 10s in 12 starts, including a T4 in the Fortinet Championship. As for Smith, he’s already got two wins this season, topping the field in the Sentry Tournament of Champions back in January and the THE PLAYERS Championship last month.
From our 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans sleepers article:
Mitchell is 7 of 14 this season with four top 10s. He has yet to win a tournament in the 2021-22 PGA TOUR campaign, but he has been consistently making it to the weekend. He opened the season with back-to-back cuts but has missed the cut just once since. As for Snedeker, he also had a rough start to the season with three consecutive missed cuts. And unlike Mitchell, Snedeker doesn’t seem to have turned a corner yet, as he has 10 missed cuts overall in 15 starts. But with a teammate on a roll like Mitchell, maybe some of that magic will rub off on Snedeker. Last year, the duo finished fourth in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
From our 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans sleepers article:
Rose went off with six made cuts in a row to start this 2021-22 PGA TOUR campaign, but has cooled off since, After placing 62nd in the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Rose has gone just 3 of 4, with a T26 in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play giving him something to feel good about during that stretch. Stenson, meanwhile, is 3 of 8 this season, with all three made cuts coming in his last three starts. But forget about all that. Perhaps what matters more is the fact that they finished with a T11 in the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
A notable thing to note here is that Dufner has won this event in a solo performance back in 2012. He was also with Pat Perez in 2018 when they placed runner-up in 2018. As for Cook, he is just 2 of 6 this season, but maybe Dufner can make enough noise for the both of them this week.
