Editor's note: Billy Horschel withdrew from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon. Tom Hoge will now partner with first alternate Kevin Chappell.

The first and only event using two-man teams on the PGA TOUR returns to TPC Louisiana in the New Orleans suburb of Avondale for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Reigning champions Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy (+360) return to the Big Easy as clear betting favorites to defend their title, as McIlroy makes his first start since winning the Masters.

The Ryder Cup teammates needed an extra hole to lift the trophy on debut. The first names of the 80 teams on the tee sheet for 2025, the pair have excelled individually in 2025. McIlroy’s wins at Pebble Beach, THE PLAYERS Championship and completing the career Grand Slam in Augusta speak for themselves. Lowry, who finished second to his pal at Pebble Beach, owns six T20 or better results from nine tournaments.

Since 2017, the two-man format has brought players together from their home countries, colleges or neighborhoods. Kurt Kitayama and Collin Morikawa (+1200) both call Las Vegas home and will make their second appearance after finishing T23 in their debut last year. Ranking in the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, the duo will be in play whether the format is Four-ball (best ball for Rounds 1 and 3) or Foursomes (alternate shot in Rounds 2 and 4). A runner-up twice this season, Morikawa’s only finish outside T17 was T54 last week at RBC Heritage. Kitayama has played the weekend in half of his 10 starts but has not cracked the top 30.

The European pair of Thomas Detry and Robert MacIntyre (+1800) run it back after opening with 62 in 2024 and cashing T8. Detry blew away the field at the WM Phoenix Open in February for his first career victory. MacIntyre ran T6 at TPC Scottsdale before back-to-back weeks of T11 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and ninth at THE PLAYERS. The ball-striking of the Scot, twice a winner on TOUR, combined with the hot putter of the Belgian, produced 22-under in 2024, just three shots off the winning total.

St. Simons Island, Georgia, residents J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell (+1800) team up for the first time. Sharing second last week in Puntacana, his best finish of the season, Mitchell rolls into town on a heater of T18-T12-T2. Poston also collected his top finish of the year last week with a T11 at Harbour Town, another Pete Dye design, at the RBC Heritage. Both Southerners excel off the tee and make birdies for fun.

Individually, Taylor Moore and Wyndham Clark (+2200) have been knocking on the door here since 2022. Combining forces for 2025, they look to take the ultimate step. After back-to-back seasons of T4 in 2022 and 2023, Moore missed the cut last season with long-time partner Matt NeSmith. Clark makes his first start since hitting the podium in 2023 with Beau Hossler. Making his first start since missing the cut at Valspar, the site of his only TOUR victory, Moore was a pre-tournament W/D in Houston with a rib injury during the same week Clark, a three-time winner, earned his only top-10 (T5) result of 2025.

The other pair of St. Simons Island neighbors near the top of the odds board, Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin (+2200), are both looking for their first victory on TOUR. Novak had a chance at RBC Heritage to win from 8 feet on the 72nd hole before falling in a playoff to Justin Thomas. His solo second was his third podium finish of the season. Ranking second in Overall Putting Average, he is also 11th in Scrambling. Griffin, who ran T4-T4 in back-to-back appearances in late February and early March, sits 21st in Greens in Regulation and top 15 in Birdies.

Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala (+2500) will play the event for the fourth consecutive season but as partners for the first time. Rai, who shared fourth in 2022, never posted a total worse than 18-under in the two-man format. Theegala, the Californian, takes on his fourth partnership in four years and will look to improve on T23 from 2023. The birdie machine in the 2025 season includes 12 weekends from 13 starts, but T17 is the best payday for Theegala. Rai, the winner last year at Sedgefield Country Club, owns just one top-10 payday, a T-4 at VidantaWorld, in 2025. His strengths, pounding drives and racking up greens in regulations, will give both of their putters chances to pay off.

Recent winners in the field include the 2023 combo of Davis Riley and Nick Hardy (+9000), plus Ryan Palmer (2019) and Billy Horschel (2018), who were on winning teams but are each playing with new partners in 2025. Horschel is the only Zurich Classic winner in both individual stroke play and team formats.

The team of Ryan Fox and Garrick Higgo (+4000) features the winner at Corales Puntacana. Higgo earned his second victory on TOUR as he knocked off Joel Dahmen, Alejandro Tosti, Jeremy Paul and Michael Thorbjornsen, all entered this week, by a shot.

Here's a look at some other notable odds for the rest of the field via FanDuel, including a pair of Danish identical twins:

• +2800: Rasmus Højgaard/Nicolai Højgaard, Billy Horschel/Tom Hoge
• +3300: Max Greyserman/Nico Echavarria, Brice Garnett/Sepp Straka
• +3500: Akshay Bhatia/Carson Young, Nick Taylor/Adam Hadwin, Jesper Svensson/Nicklas Nørgaard
• +4000: Matt Wallace/Thorbjørn Olesen, Laurie Canter/Jordan Smith, Alejandro Tosti/Joe Highsmith
• +4500: Jhonattan Vegas/Kevin Yu, Matt Fitzpatrick/Alex Fitzpatrick, Rico Hoey/Sam Ryder, Joseph Bramlett/Alex Smalley, Max McGreevy/Sam Stevens
• +5000: Jacob Bridgeman/Chandler Phillips
• +5500: Doug Ghim/Chan Kim, Ryan Gerard/Danny Walker, Erik van Rooyen/Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• +6000: Cam Davis/Adam Svensson, Quade Cummins/Chris Gotterup, Beau Hossler/Adam Putnam
• +6500: Nate Lashley/Hayden Springer, Victor Perez/Matthieu Pavon
• +7000: Harry Higgs/Joel Dahmen, Bud Cauley/Kevin Tway
• +7500: Frankie Capan III/Jake Knapp, Jeremy Paul/Yannik Paul
• +8000: Ryo Hisatsune/Takumi Kanaya, Luke List/Henrik Norlander, Si Woo Kim/Sangmoon Bae, Justin Lower/Chad Ramey, William Mouw/Ricky Castillo, Patrick Fishburn/Zac Blair, Jackson Suber/Pierceson Coody
• +9000: Cameron Champ/Lanto Griffin

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