Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen will combine again as the Zurich Classic of New Orleans returns for a third year on the PGA TOUR schedule.
The pair finished third last year behind Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy (who return to defend their title), and Jason Dufner and Pat Perez, in an invite that sparked a resurgence for both players.
Schwartzel would go on to finish inside the top 10 at the Wells Fargo and attain second place at The Players after revealing that time spent in Oosthuizen’s company and being given a few tips on the range had done wonders for his game. Now, Schwartzel needs a repeat of last year after seeing his world ranking plummet from 43rd to 112nd within the space of a year.
He arrives on the back of two missed cuts, and perhaps with a little over-reliance on Oosthuizen, who fell out of contention at The Masters despite co-leading at the halfway mark.
Oosthuizen has regained his place just outside the top 20 in the world after a decent year which memorably included his first national championship at Randpark. Some time has passed since then as he looks to enjoy a fruitful week in the company of a player he knows so well.
There are two other all-South African teams, with Trevor Immelman joining Ernie Els, and Justin Harding partnering Branden Grace. Harding continues to enjoy his run in the States with his Masters debut the highlight. Missed cuts in Texas and again last week will add to the nerves this week, something Grace will easily be able to contend with, though.
Dylan Frittelli has linked up with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann for a week that sees round 1 and 2 being played on a better-ball basis, and round 3 and 4 with alternate shots around the playable TPC Louisiana track.
Zurich Classic teams
Jason Day – Adam Scott
Sergio Garcia – Tommy Fleetwood
Billy Horschel – Scott Piercy
Brooks Koepka – Chase Koepka
Bubba Watson – JB Holmes
Patrick Reed – Patrick Cantlay
Jon Rahm – Ryan Palmer
Tony Finau – Kyle Stanley
Henrik Stenson – Graeme Mc Dowell
Keegan Bradley – Jon Curran
Jim Furyk – David Duval
Davis Love III – Dru Love
Kevin Kisner – Scott Brown
Charley Hoffman – Nick Watney
Ernie Els – Trevor Immelman
Louis Oosthuizen – Charl Schwartzel
Ian Poulter – Sam Horsfield
Branden Grace – Justin Harding
Steve Stricker – Jerry Kelly
Padraig Harrington – Shane Lowry
Kevin Streelman – Vaughn Taylor
Chesson Hadley – Brice Garnett
Kenny Perry – Josh Teater
Alex Cejka – Alex Prugh
Boo Weekly – Colt Knost
Rod Pampling – John Senden
Chris Stroud – Jason Kokrak
Scott Stallings – Trey Mullinax
Whee Kim – Sungjae Im
Austin Cook – Andrew Landry
Tyler Duncan – Adam Schenk
Ted Potter, Jr – Nate Lashley
Si Woo Kim – Sangmoon Bae
Russell Knox – Brian Stuard
Jason Dufner – Pat Perez
Blixt, Jonas Smith, Cameron
Cameron Champ – Sam Burns
Corey Conners – Mackenzie Hughes
Cody Gribble – Joey Garber
Adam Hadwin – Aaron Baddeley
Brian Harman – Patton Kizzire
Russell Henley – Ryan Blaum
Michael Kim – CT Pan
Troy Merritt – Robert Streb
Putnam, Andrew Homa, Max
Brendan Steele – Luke Donald
Hudson Swafford – Wes Roach
Kevin Tway – Kelly Kraft
Jhonattan Vegas – Abraham Ancer
Shubhankar Sharma – Anirban Lahiri
Chez Reavie – Lucas Glover
Brian Gay – Rory Sabbatini
J.J. Spaun – Matt Jones
Peter Uihlein – Dominic Bozzelli
Chris Kirk – Sepp Straka
Joel Dahmen – Brandon Harkins
Tom Hoge – JJ Henry
Danny Lee – Sung Kang
Ollie Schniederjans – Sam Ryder
Harold Varner III – Tom Lovelady
Richy Werenski – Nicholas Lindheim
Seamus Power – David Hearn
Martin Laird – Nick Taylor
JT Poston – Stephan Jaeger
Harris English – Johnson Wagner
Joaquin Niemann – Dylan Frittelli
Freddie Jacobson – Chad Campbell
K J Choi – David Lingmerth
Denny McCarthy – Roberto Díaz
Wyndham Clark – Ben Crane
Kyoung-Hoon Lee – Matt Every
Scott Langley – Jonathan Byrd
Carlos Ortiz – Sebastián Muñoz
Peter Malnati – Billy Hurley III
Julián Etulain – Andres Romero
Chase Wright – Derek Fathauer
Anders Albertson – Seth Reeves
Roberto Castro – Cameron Tringale
Cameron Davis – Kyle Jones
