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Tournament Stats:
Zurich Classic of New Orleans
April 23 - 26, 2009
TPC Louisiana
Avondale, Louisiana
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,341
Purse: $6.2 million with $1,116,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Andres Romero
Results & Scores 2008 Zurich Classic
Box Score of 2008 Zurich Classic
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:262 (Chip Beck in 1988)
Low score at TPC Louisiana (275 Tim Petrovic & James Driscoll in 2005, Andres Romero in 2008)
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 60th 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. In 2007 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 three 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 43 months.
The big news will be Danny Lee making his professional debut this week in New Orleans. Lee won the U.S. Amateur last year at Pinehurst and then in February won the Johnnie Walker Classic. He played his last event as an amateur and missed the cut.
A lot is happening on the PGA Tour these days. First was Rory McIlroy earning a temporary membership onto the PGA Tour and not taking it. In a way it was shocking until you realized that he has in his mind a schedule worked out and having to play in four or five more PGA Tour events just wouldn't work. Right he has earned $588,691 so if you figure he needs about $800,000 to get into the top-125 at the end of the year I think that in the remaining PGA Tour events on his schedule (Players, U.S. Open, British Open, WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship) he will be a shoe-in for membership in 2010.
With us almost halfway finished with the FedEx Cup schedule it's interesting to see who is doing well and who isn't doing well. First thing that strikes me funny is how you have to look down to 10th to find Tiger Woods name. Even with his victory at Bay Hill Woods is barely in the top-ten and will probably drop out after this week. Another shocking element is Vijay Singh, who was the leading money winner last year with $6.6 million but is 105th this year with just $260,155 in earnings. We all know of the problems that Singh had which forced surgery in January, but he still can't figure things out and in eight starts has missed three cuts and is in the top-25 just once, at the Match Player were he lost in the second round.
Also what is the deal with Sergio Garcia, after finishing with winnings of $4.8 million placing him fourth on the money list last year, Garcia is 111th this year with earnings of $247,267. Last year at this time he had a lot of confidence and spunk, this year he is playing around with a long putter and has gone back to his crybaby act in which nobody is buying into. Another fall comes from Anthony Kim, who last excited us all but after finishing T2nd at the Mercedes missed the cut at FBR, was T17th at the Match Play, 58th at the CA Championship, T26th at Houston and T20th at the Masters. Many in citing Rory McIlroy not taking membership and trying to play both tours are saying that being a member of both the PGA and the European Tour could be a problem for Kim. Another disappointment comes from Jim Furyk, yes he has three top-tens to his credit this year including a 3rd at the CA Championship, but he has really been inconsistent this year, a trait that we aren't use to seeing in Furyk.
On the other end of the spectrum we are seeing great seasons by Nick Watney, Sean O'Hair and Brian Gay. An how about Kenny Perry, how close he came at the Masters he now returns to action this week in New Orleans with a lot riding on him. He is the main focus of the media down there and is going to make it tough for him having a good week. Another pleasant surprise comes from Luke Donald, who hurt his hand at the U.S. Open last year and after surgery and taking the rest of '08 off returned this year but many were scared of what happened to him at the Match Play. But after finishing runner-up at the Verizon last week it's looking like a promising season for him.
One thing that the PGA Tour has been blessed with the last couple of weeks is good weather. That trend will continue this week in New Orleans as each day will be perfect, 80 degrees, very little win and nice fluffy clouds. Look for a great looking course, last year since the event was played in March, it was a bit raw in which trees had no leaves on them and the grass not as green as it will be this week.
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:
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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.
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Key stat for the winner:
The TPC Louisiana has hosted three Zurich Classics, 2005, '07 & '08. In looking at the 34 players that were in the top-ten, one common trend shows, of the 34 only 8 were in the top-ten of driving accuracy giving the tail that you don't have to be a straight driver to do well at TPC Louisiana. Here is how the three champions did in that stat:
2008 - Andres Romero 30 of 54 hit - ranked T73rd
2007 - Nick Watney 37 of 54 hit - ranked T32nd
2005 - Tim Petrovic 23 of 54 hit - ranked 81stOne thing all three of the TPC Louisiana champions had in common were putting well on greens hit. Here are those averages:
2008 - Andres Romero hit 54 greens and took 90 putts for a 1.667 average - ranked 11th
2007 - Nick Watney hit 51 greens and took 85 putts for a 1.667 avearge - ranked 13th
2005 - Tim Petrovic hit 50 greens and took 83 putts for 1.660 average - ranked T5th - 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 third year in a row for this course being used, 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. Nine of the last 13 Zurich Classic winners and 17 overall have not won on the PGA Tour, including six of the last seven. Eight of the last 17 winners, including 2008 champion Andres Romero, 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 four winners -- Tim Petrovic, Chris Couch, Nick Watney and Andres Romero -- they weren't favorites to win coming in so the odds are pretty good that another long shot could rule this week.