|
Tournament Stats:
Zurich Classic of New Orleans
March 27 - 30, 2008
TPC Louisiana
Avondale, Louisiana
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,341
Purse: $6.2 million with $1,116,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Nick Watney
Results & Scores 2007 Zurich Classic
Box Score of 2007 Zurich Classic
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:262 (Chip Beck in 1988)
Low score at TPC Louisiana (275 Tim Petrovic & James Driscoll)
54-Hole Record:
195 (Scott Verplank in 2003)
36-Hole Record:
128 (Scott Verplank in 2003)
Low round of tournament:
61 (Paul Stankowski in the 1st round in 2001)
Low round at the TPC Louisiana 64 (Kyle Reifers in 1st round in 2007)
Tournament information:
This will be the 59th edition of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which was formerly called the New Orleans Open, then the USF&G Classic,then the Freeport McDermott Classic followed by the Compaq Classic before Zurich became the sponsor in 2005. English Turn was the site of the tournament between 1989 and 2004. It moved to TPC Louisiana in 2005 but because of Hurricane Katrina it went back to English Turn in 2006. Last year it returned to TPC Louisiana and the course is back to normal again.The first New Orleans Open was played in 1938 and was won by Harry Cooper. Between 1949 and 1957 no tournaments were played, with the tournament starting back up in 1958.
Course information:
The course was designed and built by Pete Dye with player consultants Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson. The course opened in 2004 and held the Zurich Open the next year. The course is on 250 acres of former swamp land that Dye transformed into a course that can stretch up to 7,600 yards. The average green size at TPC Louisiana is 5,700 square feet, which is pretty much the average on the PGA Tour. It features 71 bunkers with 20 acres of area covered in sand. Water comes into play on eight of the 18 holes
For a more comprehensive look at the course, check out this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.com
The Buzz:
So two and a half years after Katrina decimated New Orleans, the Zurich Classic is set to tee off this week with no problems. This course was first used in 2005 and got a lot of favorable press from the the players. Many of them liked it better than English Turn, which some players felt was too tough. Hurricane Katrina almost wiped out English Turn. In fact, in the months after the storm a tough decision was made to rebuild the course, which lost 2,000 trees and was being reclaimed as the swamp that it originally was. But the owners invested $2 million to bring the course back to life. They shortened it and planted 500 trees. It was just about rebuilt and 31 months after Katrina almost wiped it off the face of the earth the course is back to the same level it was before the Hurricane. Incredibly, it is hard to tell that the havoc ever hit the course in 2005.For many playing this week, it's a love affair with the great city of New Orleans, which is still in a rebuilding mood. But the Cajun food is still great and the folks that run this event take good care of the players with a fishing trip, plenty of good food and the New Orleans spirit that hasn't gone away with all the hardship that has hit the region in the last 31 months.
This year the event has been moved up a month and there was some concern that the course could be a bit raw, but the course is in perfect shape. Even the trees have blossomed.
In the field this week is David Toms, who lives in Louisiana and loves playing this event. His back has been giving him problems, which caused him to withdraw last week and after winning in the first round of the Accenture Match Play he couldn't play in the second round. In between he missed the cut at the Honda and the PODS and hasn't been in contention in a event since the early summer. This is the 16th time he has played in this event, winning it in 2001. Since then it's been a different story as he has been out of the top-25 each year since. It's probably best to forget about Toms this week and wait to see when his back gets better.
One person returning who should be a contender this week is Retief Goosen, who had his first top-10 since the 2007 Masters last week. He has had a serious decline since playing in the Zurich Classic back in 2006. He was third in the world rankings and a serious contender each time he played, but he had problems with his eyes this winter in which there was some concern of him losing his eyesight. But that got fixed and in the last month he has risen from 40th in the rankings to 26th, thanks to his runner-up finish last week in Miami.
Lastly this is the second to last chance for players to get into the Masters. For those in the field like Davis Love III, who has played in the Masters the last 17 years, there are two ways to get a last-minute invite to Augusta. The best way is a win, which gives you an automatic exemption. But the second way is to get is to be in the top 50 of the World Rankings after this event. Love has been in this position before. In 1995 he didn't have a pass to the Masters, but won the Zurich Classic, which back then was the week before the Masters. With that he got the last invite and almost won a green jacket, finishing second, one back of Ben Crenshaw. To earn a spot at this year's Masters, Love is probably going to have to win this week because he is currently 99 in the rankings.
Here is a list of those not in the Masters, but on the bubble of getting in:
46th - John Senden - playing this week in New Orleans
58th - Rod Pampling - playing this week in New Orleans
61st - Graeme McDowell - not playing this week
62nd - Pat Perez - playing this week in New Orleans
63rd - Anthony Kim - playing this week in New Orleans
64th - Mark Brown - not playing this week
65th - Ryuji Imada - playing this week in New Orleans
For those that don't make it this week there is one more chance to win next week in Houston.
Here are some things to look for this week:
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:
|
The course has been changed since suffering all of the damage done to it by Hurricane Katrina. Not only has the yardage gone down, but some of the greens have been flattened and some pot bunkers by the greens have been removed. Changes have been made to the final three holes, which made them tougher last year.
-
Key stat for the winner:
In looking at the 2005 and last year, one thing that strikes you is the fact that in both years only four players in the Top-10 finished inside the Top-15 in driving distance. So driving it long isn't a key in this event. Scrambling and putting is the key on this course. - Silly fact: The course has been shortened, but length and accuracy doesn't seem to be a key
- Fitness around the greens will be needed. Miss a green and you will have to master the chip and roll. This venue will be a perfect preview for the greens of Pinehurst.
- The greens do not have as much undulation as the average TPC courses, so look for an average to below average putter to have a good week.
- Since this is the second year for this course, anything can happen and anybody can win.
- One major trait at this event is the fact that many of its champions don't have a lot of experience playing in this event. Eight of the last 12 Zurich Classic winners and 16 overall have not won on the PGA Tour, including five of the last six. Seven of them, including 2006 champion Chris Couch, had either missed the cut the year prior or were making their tournament debut.
- Lastly there is no rhyme or reason for why a player wins here. In the case of the last three winners -- Tim Petrovic, Chris Couch and Nick Watney -- they weren't favorites to win coming in so the odds are pretty good that another long shot could rule this week.
