The format at the Zurich Classic always produces some wild swings throughout the week, as the two-man teams playing best ball (Thursday and Saturday) and alternate shot (Friday and Sunday) create serious volatility on the leaderboard.
The favorites coming into the week will hope to be the ones producing those kinds of swings going forward, as the marquee teams — Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick — got off to solid but unspectacular starts in the first round. Those two teams are playing together across the first 36 holes, and while neither played poorly on Thursday, they were unable to keep pace with the torrid scoring pace set by some of the morning groups.
The Fitzpatrick brothers, with Matt fresh off a signature event win at the RBC Heritage, posted a first-round 64 to finish the day T26, six shots back of the leaders Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer, who tied the event record with a 14-under 58 to open play.
Normally, an opening 64 is great work, but in the best-ball format, it wasn’t the Fitzpatricks’ best, and the brothers will especially be frustrated with how they finished. They arrived at the 18th at 9 under after a solid run in the middle of their back nine; however, both found the water with their second shots and walked off with a rather disastrous bogey on a par 5.
Meanwhile, the Koepka and Lowry pairing really struggled to ham and egg it as needed, with Koepka in particular struggling. Koepka had a rough day off the tee, preventing him from getting into a good position to attack flags, and he accounted for just one birdie on the day — their last of the afternoon on the 10th. Lowry, a past champion with Rory McIlroy, came out on fire with five birdies on the front nine to pick up Koepka, but he stalled out from there and couldn’t make a single birdie on the back side.
With a stagnant opening-round 66, Lowry and Koepka are eight shots off the lead in T49 and have serious work to do on Friday in alternate shot to get into contention.
Leaders
1. Alex Smalley & Hayden Springer (-14): Smalley and Springer were part of the morning wave that took advantage of calmer winds to tear up TPC Louisiana. The duo made 12 birdies and an eagle in their opening round to post a 58 that matches the tournament record. The challenge of Zurich is that you have to maintain that kind of scoring pace all week, and they’ll have to navigate alternate shot on Friday to try and head into the weekend in front.
Contenders
2. Davis Thompson & Austin Eckroat (-13)
T3. Sam Stevens & Zach Bouchou, Eric Cole & Hank Lebioda (-12)
T5. Ben Martin & Trace Crowe, Michael Brennan & John Keefer, Billy Horschel & Tom Hoge, Pontus Nyholm & Jesper Svensson, Matt McCarty & Mac Meissner, Stephan Jaeger & Jackson Suber (-11)
T11. Sahith Theegala & Aaron Rai, Taylor Pendrith & Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Dunlap & Gordon Sargent, William Mouw & Takumi Kanaya (-10)
Any team that makes the cut this week will have a chance to win because you can go out and shoot a 58 on Saturday in the second best-ball round to make a huge move up the leaderboard. That said, taking advantage of Thursday is always helpful on a week where the winning score will be deep under par, and 14 teams were able to get it to double figures under par on Thursday alone.
Among them were Brennan & Keefer. Two of the young rising stars on the PGA Tour partnered for a successful round despite Brennan taking an ill-advised hack out of a pond with his shirt off.
The team in that group of 14 at 10 under or better that had the best odds entering the week is the Rai & Theegala duo, who got some help from an extremely friendly bounce on Rai’s approach at the 13th to make eagle and jump to 10 under.
Friday will be when we find out who can maintain their quality in alternate shot, but everyone at 10 under or better coming out of Thursday will feel confident in their position moving forward.
Updated Zurich Classic odds, picks
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- Hayden Springer & Alex Smalley (41/10)
- Davis Thompson & Austin Eckroat (11/2)
- Zach Bouchou & Sam Stevens (19/2)
- Matt McCarty & Mac Meissner (12-1)
- Johnny Keefer & Michael Brennan (12-1)
- Hank Lebioda & Eric Cole (15-1)
- Sahith Theegala & Aaron Rai (18-1)
- Jackson Suber & Stephan Jaeger (20-1)
Of the teams at the very top, Thompson & Eckroat seem like a pair that could stay hot and take this tournament deep. From further back, the Theegala & Rai pairing played together last year and should be comfortable with the alternate shot format, while Suber & Jaeger are another team capable of really piling up birdies and staying in the hunt on a low-scoring week.