2025 Zurich Classic Betting Preview: Picks, Predictions, Odds and a Prop for TPC Louisiana

Brian Giuffra | Apr 22, 2025

Nick Taylor (right) and Adam Hadwin (left) are one of the betting picks this week. / Andrew Wevers-Imagn Images

The Zurich Classic is one of the hardest events to handicap on the PGA Tour for bettors because of its unique format. We’re here to help those of you looking to place a wager to hopefully make it a profitable week. 

This is the only team competition on the PGA Tour schedule. Players compete in fourballs (best ball) in Round 1 and 3 and play foursomes (alternate shot) in Round 2 and 4. As one would expect when two outstanding golfers play together, there are a lot of low scores in this tournament, but there’s also a lot of variance, hence what makes it so hard to bet on. 

Last year, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry finished at 25 under in regulation and defeated Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer with a par on the first playoff hole to win. The friends and countrymen are back to defend their title with plenty of other big names in the field. 

The more interesting note from above is the fact that Ramey and Trainer were in the playoff. They’re pretty much unknowns outside of the hardcore golf fan, yet they were in a playoff against two of the best players in the world at this event. That should emphasize the variance found this week. 

Only the top 33 teams and ties make the cut here, so you need to get off to a hot start to have a chance. Combine that with needing to make a lot of birdies and having a good dynamic between teammates and you create a picture of the teams you want to back. History between teammates at this event also matters. 

Let’s get into who we like this week starting with the odds. 

Zurich Classic odds

Top 15 odds via FanDuel Sportsbook 

• Shane Lowry / Rory McIlroy +360
• Kurt Kitayama / Collin Morikawa +1200
• Thomas Detry / Robert MacIntyre +1800
• J.T. Poston / Keith Mitchell +1800
• Taylor Moore / Wyndham Clark +2200
• Andrew Novak / Ben Griffin +2200
• Aaron Rai / Sahith Theegala +2500
• Rasmus Højgaard / Nicolai Højgaard +2800
• Billy Horschel / Tom Hoge +2800
• Brice Garnett / Sepp Straka +3300
• Max Greyserman / Nico Echavarria +3300
• Akshay Bhatia / Carson Young +3500
• Nick Taylor / Adam Hadwin +3500
• Jesper Svensson / Niklas Norgaard +3500
• Michael Thorbjornsen / Karl Vilips +4000
• Thorbjørn Olesen / Matt Wallace +4000

Zurich Classic how to watch

• Thursday: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
• Friday: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
• Sunday: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)

Zurich Classic location and purse

• Date: Thursday, April 24–Sunday, April 27
• Where: TPC Louisiana
• Purse: $9.2 million ($1.33 million to each member of winning team)
• 2024 champions: Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry

Zurich Classic notable teams

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry 

The defending champions—and for McIlroy coming off his Masters win—have short odds for a reason. Not only are both playing incredible golf right now, but they also have a long history of playing together at the Ryder Cup in this same format. Last year was McIlroy’s debut in this event. He’s already won three times on Tour this year. Lowry has three top 10s this season. They are the team to beat and the odds reflect it, though I'm fading them at these odds.

Kurt Kitayama and Collin Morikawa

It’s easy to pick the top two teams on the oddsboard and say they’re notable, but Morikawa is playing arguably the best golf of any player who hasn’t won this season, and yes, that includes Scottie Scheffler. He has two runner-up finishes this season and three more top-20 finishes. Kitayama hasn’t fared nearly as well (his best finish is a T33), but last year they finished T23 at this event at 18 under. Consistency helps in this format. 

RBC Heritage best bets

Keith Mitchell/J.T. Poston (+1900, Bet365)

We talked about starting fast, and Mitchell is on the Mount Rushmore of first-round leaders in PGA Tour history. The challenge has been finishing. That’s where I think Poston comes in. He shot a Sunday 67 at last week’s RBC Heritage and finished T11. He’s only missed one cut this year. That was back in January at the Sony Open. Other than that, Poston has been the model of consistency. While this is Poston’s first time back here since 2022, Mitchell has a six-place finish here in 2023 and was T28 last year with Joel Dahmen. Poston is a step up and I believe they can ride each other to an outright win. 

Nick Taylor/Adam Hadwin (+3500, FanDuel) 

If best friends won it last year, why not a repeat? Hadwin and Taylor played the Masters Par 3 Contest together and are both Canadian. If you remember, Taylor got tackled by a security guard trying to celebrate with Hadwin when the latter won the RBC Canadian Open. They finished 10th last year and were second the year before. Clearly, they like this format and are close. Taylor won the Sony Open earlier this year and is 20th on Tour in strokes-gained approach. Hadwin hasn’t had nearly as strong of a season, but did finish T9 at another TPC course, TPC Scottsdale. Teams that have performed well in this event previously tend to keep playing well. Teammed together at a course they know and have a history of success at, I think Taylor and Hadwin compete once again. 

Beau Hossler/Andrew Putnam Top 20 (+190, DraftKings)

There are always a few unheralded teams that make a run at this event and Hossler was among those two years ago, finishing third outright alongside Wyndham Clark. He and Clark were amazing in fourball, shooting 21 under in two rounds, but struggled in foursomes, shooting 6 under. What I like about this duo is that Putnam is 28th on Tour in strokes-gained approach and 48th in putting. Hossler is 31st in putting and long off the tee. Their games should complement each other. Both also played in the event last year, missing the cut. I think they make the cut this year and could even contend. 

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