2021 Zurich Classic Champions!
Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman return to defend their title.
Pair of South African Major winners partner again for 2021 Zurich Classic
Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel took third place in the 2018 Zurich Classic
NEW ORLEANS, LA (April 12, 2021)—Two South African players, both winners of a major each and both with 13 international titles each, will enter as a team again in the 2021 Zurich Classic, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.
“Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have both won major championships and they have both enjoyed great success internationally,” said Worthy. “Their first partnership here in 2018 resulted in a third place finish, and they have great history from numerous Presidents Cup appearances together,” added Worthy.
Charl Schwartzel won the Masters in 2011 and Louis Oosthuizen took The Open Championship in 2010.
They placed third as a team in the 2018 Zurich Classic, one of three teams of major champions that year in the field (Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson, Jim Furyk/David Duval).
Schwartzel won his Masters title 50 years after fellow South African Gary Player became the first international winner of the green jacket. Schwartzel tied for 25th in this year’s Masters.
In his career, Schwartzel has placed in the top 25 a total of 83 times on his PGA TOUR since 2005. In addition to his 2011 Masters title, he won the 2016 Valspar Championship. He has won another 13 tournaments on the European, Asian and South African tours.
His appearances since 2019 have been limited due to a wrist injury. He is currently playing the Tour this season still on a Major Medical Exemption.
Schwartzel has made four Presidents Cup teams and the 2011 World Cup team with Oosthuizen. In the 2011 Presidents Cup matches, he was one of four rookies on the International the team and went 3-1-1 in a losing cause against the Americans.
Oosthuizen, ranked 31st in the world, has won a single major title, The Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews. But he has lost two playoffs for other major titles, to Bubba Watson in the 2012 Masters and to Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman in The 2015 Open Championship.
During his career, he has demonstrated a particular affinity for major championships. This season he finished third in the September U.S. Open, his fourth top-10 finish in that event.
He also tied for second in the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2017 PGA Championship, becoming one of only seven players in PGA TOUR history to be a runner-up in all four majors. The others include Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Greg Norman and Craig Wood. Norman and Wood lost playoffs in each of the four major tournaments.
So far this season, his best finishes have been a tie for sixth in the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship to go along with his third at the U.S. Open. He also finished tied for 11th at the Waste Management Open.
Oosthuizen has played on the last four International Presidents Cup teams, compiling a 7-4-3 record overall. He ranks seventh among international players for points won in the President Cup competitions.
The Zurich Classic field so far includes half of the top 10 ranked players in the world.
Oosthuizen and Schwartzel join several high profile teams previously announced to play the 2021 Zurich Classic including:
- Defending champion Jon Rahm, ranked 3rd in the world, with Ryan Palmer, ranked 28th.
- Collin Morikawa, ranked 4th in the world, with Matthew Wolff, ranked 25th.
- Xander Schauffele, ranked 5th in the world, with Patrick Cantlay, ranked 10th.
- Tyrrell Hatton, ranked 8th in the world, with fellow Englishman and former Master winner Danny Willett.
- Billy Horschel, ranked 18th in the world, with former LSU All-American Sam Burns.
- Tony Finau, ranked 12th in the world with Cameron Champ.
The Zurich Classic is the only team tournament on the PGA TOUR season. Since launching the team format in 2017, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has drawn some of the highest ranking fields for any regular-season tournament on the PGA TOUR.
Aussie duo Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman will team up
Cameron Smith was on the first Zurich Classic winning team in 2017 and Marc Leishman has won five times on PGA Tour
NEW ORLEANS, LA (April 8, 2021)—Australian duo Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman will team up to play the 2021 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.
“Cameron is a past team champion in New Orleans and will partner with his Presidents Cup teammate Marc Leishman in this year’s event,” said Worthy. “They know each other’s game well, as they partnered on the 2018 Australian World Cup team,” Worthy added.
Smith, playing with Jonas Blixt, won the first Zurich Classic team event in 2017 in a playoff against Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner.
That was Smith’s first win on the PGA Tour. He went on to win the Australian PGA Championship the same year and then again in 2018, when he beat now-teammate Leishman by two shots. He won his second PGA Tour title at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii.
So far this season, Smith has been close to winning again three times, including a tie for second in last fall’s Masters. He also finished fourth in the Genesis Invitational and tied for fourth in the Zozo Championship.
Since becoming a full member of the PGA Tour in 2016, he has scored 21 top-10 finishes in 128 starts.
He partnered with Leishman in the 2018 ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf and brought his team within two strokes of the win when he holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-5 14th hole of the match.
He also played on the 2019 Presidents Cup team that lost to the U.S. on the last day in Melbourne.
Leishman has won five times on the PGA Tour to go with one European Tour victory and four wins in Australia. In 2015, he lost a playoff to Zach Johnson for The Open Championship.
His best finish this season was a tie for fourth in the Sony Open in Hawaii when teammate Smith was defending champion.
Leishman was voted Rookie of the Year in 2009 to become the first Australian to win that honor on the PGA Tour.
In 2015, he withdrew from the Masters to be with his wife, who made what was called a “miraculous” recovery from a series of infections that put her into a coma. He returned to the PGA Tour at the Zurich Classic that year, finishing tied for 28th.
This will be the first time he has played in the team format of the Zurich Classic. After his tie for 28th in 2015, he finished 20th in the 2016 tournament.
He has played on the last four International Presidents Cup teams and competed on two World Cup teams in 2016 and 2018.
The Zurich Classic field so far includes half of the top 10 ranked players in the world.
Smith and Leishman join several other high profile teams previously announced to play the 2021 Zurich Classic including:
- Defending champion Jon Rahm, ranked 3rd in the world, with Ryan Palmer, ranked 26th.
- Collin Morikawa, ranked 4th in the world, with Matthew Wolff, ranked 23rd.
- Xander Schauffele, ranked 6th in the world, with Patrick Cantlay, ranked 10th.
- Tyrrell Hatton, ranked 8th in the world, with fellow Englishman and former Master winner Danny Willett.
- Billy Horschel, ranked 17th in the world, with former LSU All-American Sam Burns.
- Tony Finau, ranked 13th in the world with Cameron Champ.
The Zurich Classic is the only team tournament on the PGA TOUR season. Since launching the team format in 2017, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has drawn some of the highest ranking fields for any regular-season tournament on the PGA TOUR.
BRITISH DUO WILL TEAM UP FOR 2021 ZURICH CLASSIC
TWO-TIME MASTERS CHAMP & 2011 ZURICH CLASSIC WINNER BUBBA WATSON TEAMS WITH 2020 PGA TOUR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER
TWO-TIME ZURICH CLASSIC WINNER BILLY HORSCHEL WILL TEAM WITH FORMER LSU PLAYER SAM BURNS FOR 2021 TOURNAMENT
Collin Morikawa will make his debut in New Orleans this year
Collin Morikawa, who became only the second player to win a major and a WGC title before the age of 25, will team with fellow golf prodigy Matthew Wolff in their debut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.
“These two players are some of the brightest stars among the newest generation on the PGA Tour,” said Worthy. “Both won tournament titles in their first year on Tour, and both have electrified fans since they turned pro,” Worthy added.
Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship in August after the PGA Tour resumed play last summer. Then he went on to win the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship in February, becoming only the second player to win both a major and a WGC title before turning 25. The other player to accomplish that feat was Tiger Woods.
He is currently ranked fourth in the world.
Morikawa won his first PGA Tour title as a Special Temporary Member in his eighth career start, which qualified him for the FedExCup Playoffs that year. Prior to that, he finished tied for second in only his fourth PGA Tour start at the 3M Open, where he played with eventual champion Matthew Wolff in the final round.
His first victory of the current season came at the Workday Charity Open in a playoff over Justin Thomas. He lost to Daniel Berger in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first event back from the suspension of the season.
He was a three-time first team All-American at University of California where he was named 2018 Golfweek Men’s National Player of the Year and earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors in 2019. He also reached the number one position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
He was named to the 2017 Walker Cup team, the 2017 and 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup squads and won the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy.
Wolff won the 3M Open in only his fourth start on the PGA Tour, becoming a winner at 20 years, two months old. He went on to be named the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year on the Tour.
The next season, he scored a solo second in the Rocket Mortgage Classic He later tied for fourth in the 2020 PGA Championship won by Morikawa.
This season he took sole second at the U.S. Open in September, after holding a two-stroke lead going into the fourth round. The next week, he tied for second after a playoff in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
He is currently ranked 23rd in the world.
He played two seasons for Oklahoma State where he was a two-time first-team All-American and two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection. He won the individual title at the 2019 NCAA Championships and the Fred Haskins Award as the nation’s most outstanding player as a sophomore.
The Zurich Classic is the only team tournament on the PGA TOUR season. Since launching the team format in 2017, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has drawn some of the highest ranking fields for any regular-season tournament on the PGA TOUR.
About Fore!Kids Foundation:
Since 1958, the Fore!Kids Foundation has raised money to fund children’s service organizations through golf events like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, The Holiday Auction Fore!Kids and several charitable golf tournaments. As a 501(c)(3) corporation, Fore!Kids has helped to raise more than $40 million to date for children’s charities in metro New Orleans and Baton Rouge. More information at http://www.forekidsfoundation.com.
Despite the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, Zurich Insurance donated funds to the Fore!Kids Foundation to make $1.5 million in contributions to area non-profits, the same amount as the year before.
About the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:
Televised in more than 224 countries and territories, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans generates a significant economic impact on the city of New Orleans and the entire state of Louisiana. Independent research has shown that the tournament generates spending of more than $40 million within the local economy and garners $33 million in positive national and international media exposure for both the city and state throughout the year beyond the four days of competition.
The tournament will be played April 19-25, 2021 at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Purse for 2021 totals $7.4 million, with each member of the winning team earning $1,069,300.
Day-specific grounds tickets are only $35. In addition, the Best of the Zurich Class Pass offers a variety of dishes from some of New Orleans most famous restaurants at four locations across the TPC course. Additional ticket options are available by calling the Tournament Office at 504-342-3000 or online at www.zurichgolfclassic.com
80 two-man PGA TOUR Professional teams will compete in New Orleans for a $7.4 Million purse
ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS WILL BE PLAYED IN 2021 WITH UP TO 10,000 FANS A DAY AND INNOVATIVE TICKET OPTIONS
NEW ORLEANS, LA (MARCH 22, 2021)—PGA Tour golf is returning to New Orleans April 22-25, 2021 with as many as 10,000 fans per day in attendance and an innovative ticket option as unique as the tournament itself, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
“Our event has been approved by the State of Louisiana and Jefferson Parish to be in conformance with the standards of the State’s OpenSafely guidelines,” said Worthy.
“After countless hours of internal planning and numerous meetings with local and state authorities, we have devised a plan to allow as many as 10,000 fans to spread responsibly across our 250-acre course with the highest priority given to the safety of spectators, volunteers, staff, and of course players,” he added.
After last year’s cancellation caused by the pandemic, the tournament this year will feature an innovative ticket option titled the Best of the Zurich Classic Pass.
The new Best of the Zurich Classic Pass is available to anyone. The ticket will afford access to four different exclusive food and beverage venues spread across the TPC of Louisiana course.
For safety reasons, there will be a limited number of Best of the Zurich Classic Passes sold, and each venue will have capacity limitations. Each venue will offer shaded open-air seating and dishes from some of New Orleans most famous restaurants, plus an open bar.
“With social distancing and proper safety protocols in place, we have a safe space for everyone to spread out and watch the best golfers in the world compete in our unique team play format” said Worthy.
Players will compete April 22-25 for a $7.4 million purse, with each member of the winning team taking home $1,069,300 and 400 FedEx Cup points.
The Zurich Classic is the only team tournament on the PGA TOUR season. Since launching the team format in 2017, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has drawn some of the highest ranking fields for any regular-season tournament on the PGA TOUR.
About Fore!Kids Foundation: Since 1958, the Fore!Kids Foundation has raised money to fund children’s service organizations through golf events like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, The Holiday Auction Fore!Kids and several charitable golf tournaments. As a 501(c)(3) corporation, Fore!Kids has helped to raise more than $40 million to date for children’s charities in metro New Orleans and Baton Rouge. More information at http://www.forekidsfoundation.com.
Despite the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, Zurich Insurance donated funds to the Fore!Kids Foundation to make $1.5 million in contributions to area non-profits, the same amount as the year before.
About the Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Televised in more than 224 countries and territories, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans generates a significant economic impact on the city of New Orleans and the entire state of Louisiana. Independent research has shown that the tournament generates spending of more than $40 million within the local economy and garners $33 million in positive national and international media exposure for both the city and state throughout the year beyond the four days of competition.
The tournament will be played April 19-25, 2021 at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Purse for 2021 totals $7.8 million, with each member of the winning team earning $1,127,100.
Single-day grounds tickets are only $35. In addition to grounds tickets and the Best of the Zurich Classic Passes, other ticket packages are available at www.zurichgolfclassic.com.
Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer win the 2019 Zurich Classic
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