The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans for this week’s team event.
This unique tournament is the only team event on the schedule. While it brings a different scoring format compared to the weekly stroke-play grind, DFS sites have adjusted to allow us to follow along with the action.
Looking at the course, the first thing that stands out is the scoring environment. The course features very manageable rough and a handful of holes that yield a birdie rate of at least 30 percent. Let’s have a look to see what teams will like the easier setup.
Scoring with Ease
Some golfers like a tough, major-championship quality test while others like the rush of piling up birdie after birdie.
When it comes to playing TPC Louisiana, especially in the team format, the birdie-making skill is certainly preferred.
Let’s take a look at historical stats to see who does a good job of keeping up in a shootout.
Here are the top teams (average) in adjusted strokes gained per round on easy courses, over the last two years:
Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay
Sam Burns & Billy Horschel
Sungjae Im & Keith Mitchell
Collin Morikawa & Max Homa
Si Woo Kim & Tom Kim
Harris English & Tom Hoge
Taylor Moore & Matthew NeSmith
Matt Fitzpatrick & Alex Fitzpatrick
Joel Dahmen & Denny McCarthy
J.J. Spaun & Hayden Buckley
We can also look at performance versus baseline to see who shows the largest increase in performance compared to their typical scores:
Ryan Palmer & Scott Piercy
J.J. Spaun & Hayden Buckley
Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay
Taylor Moore & Matthew NeSmith
Trey Mullinax & Scott Stallings
Benjamin Griffin & Ryan Gerard
Callum Tarren & Ben Taylor
Taylor Pendrith & Michael Gligic
Sam Burns & Billy Horschel
Victor Perez & Thomas Detry
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns & Billy Horschel, Taylor Moore & Matthew NeSmith, and J.J. Spaun & Hayden Buckley.
Horschel to snap his slump in NOLA
The Florida Gator hasn’t landed anything better than a T30 in stroke-play events in 2023. It’s been a rough stretch by his lofty standards. TPC Louisiana would be a good spot to rebound, “This feels like a second home to me. It’s felt like that for quite a while now. I have a lot of really close friends that I met in my early years here, so to be able to see them, reconnect with them, see the same faces and the volunteers in this event that truly support this event tremendously, it’s a second home that I truly love to come back to every year.” Burns has found his groove lately and may have to shoulder a heavy load this week but I would expect Horschel to heat up at some point in the week, making them strong contenders yet again in this team format.
Buckley bagging birdies ahead of the Zurich
It’s been a hit-or-miss season for Buckley who posted a runner-up finish at the Sony Open and then proceeded to miss the cut in five of his next six starts. He’s found his game again with a T10 at the Masters where he got the job done by avoiding bogeys. He backed that up with a birdie barrage at the RBC Heritage (T5 with 22 birdies). He teams up with J.J. Spaun this week who is showing signs of life with his ball-striking again but had a rough time on the greens at Harbour Town. This duo brings a lot of upside to the table and they may get somewhat overlooked in the price range they find themselves in.
