Blake Davis
There aren’t many firsts left for Rory McIlroy to achieve in his PGA Tour career, but he ticked one off the list on Thursday at TPC Louisiana. Making his Zurich Classic debut, the 34-year-old looked like the seasoned veteran he is alongside Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry. The two shot an 11-under 61 in the four-ball format amid windy afternoon conditions to sit with the teams of Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard, Aaron Rai and David Lipsky, and Ben Kohles and Patton Kizzire at the top of the table. classification after the first round.
While this week marks McIlroy’s first attempt to conquer the PGA Tour’s annual team event, it also represents his 11th start of the year as he continues to play through some relative early-season difficulties. McIlroy had no problems in the first round as he drove the ball beautifully, hit iron shots and destroyed the par 72 layout in unison with Lowry.
“You know you have to get off to a good start, and luckily we did,” McIlroy said. “We were 4-4, which was really good to see, and from there you get momentum and you’re just trying to keep going. But for the most part today, we kept both balls in play. we were taking two looks at basically every hole at birdie, and that’s how you need to play a better ball. Everyone thinks maybe it’s a little more enthusiastic than that, but as long as you have two balls in play off the tee, two balls. in green, I think you will always do very well in that format.”
The two started their days with four birdies at the gate and added a few more to complete 6-under 30. A birdie at No. 10 was followed by a disappointing par at the par-5 11th, but that did nothing to dampen it. their spirits. McIlroy hit his best iron of the day on the 12th when he hit an 8-iron into the wind and hit it from distance.
Lowry caught it on the next hole with a birdie of his own to take the team to 9 under par and added another on the difficult par-3 14th to get to double digits under par. With four holes remaining, the two looked likely to overtake the clubhouse lead, but some middling pars to go along with a last-ditch birdie on the par-5 18th meant four teams would sleep on the lead tonight before the competition moved to foursomes on Friday.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the leaderboard after the first round in Louisiana.
The leaders
T1. Rory McIlroy/Shane Lowry, David Lipsky/Aaron Rai, Ryan Brehm/Mark Hubbard, Ben Kohles/Patton Kizzire (-11)
Outside of McIlroy and Lowry, the top of the table is surprising, to say the least. Hubbard has had a couple of top 20s, a top five and has yet to miss a cut this season, while Rai has been solid, but the rest of the group hasn’t seen the weekend with much consistency. Hubbard’s teammate Brehm missed seven cuts in 11 games. Rai’s teammate Lipsky has missed eight cuts in 11 matches and is without a top 40. Kizzire has six missed cuts and one DNF in nine matches, and Kohles has six missed cuts and one DNF in 11 matches. The four-ball may hide deficiencies, but the same cannot be said about the foursomes, which will be played on Friday and Sunday.
“As usual, we attacked everything,” Hubbard said. “I don’t think any of us were feeling very good going into the games, but we just fed really well. We relax each other out there, and the best ball is just a fun format. the putting was great last week, but he had a lot of holes where he holed up nice and close to par and that really freed me up. You kind of gain confidence that way, and I think even you watching me take a few shots did. you trust and you put them in the end.
Other contenders
T5. Davis Thompson/Andrew Novak, Thomas Detry/Robert MacIntyre, Cameron Champ/MJ Daffue (-10)
T8. Sam Stevens/Paul Barjon, Garrick Higgo/Ryan Fox, Luke List/Henrik Norlander, Corey Conners/Taylor Pendrith, Zac Blair/Patrick Fishburn, Marc Meissner/Austin Smotherman, Callium Tarren/David Skinns, Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen (-9 )
Detry and MacIntyre got off to a dream start by playing their first four holes in 4 under. After a break, the two turned it on and made six back-nine birdies to shoot a 10-under 62. MacIntyre has the experience of last fall’s Ryder Cup team, while Detry has enjoyed a very solid campaign in 2024. The stay of All these teams in this league table is interesting given the volatility of foursomes, but the two Europeans should be up to the task.
I think it’s about leaving each other alone,” MacIntyre said of Friday’s strategy. “We’re both good players, we both know what we’re doing with the golf ball. It’s just trusting each other. If I hit a good shot, you hit a good shot. If you hit a bad shot, don’t apologize, you have no intention of doing that. You just move forward and try to hit good shots and commit to them and see where we end up. I really can’t do anything about it. It’s difficult because you might not hit a 5-foot putt until the 17th hole. It’s completely different. All you can do is try your best.”
Updated Zurich Classic 2024 odds and picks
Odds via Sportsline Consensus
- Rory McIlroy/Shane Lowry: 13/5
- Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay: 10-1
- Aaron Rai/David Lipsky: 15-1
- Thomas Detry/Robert MacIntyre: 16-1
- Andrew Novak/David Thompson: 16-1
- Nick Taylor/Adam Hadwin: 18-1
- Corey Conners/Taylor Pendrith: 18-1
- Joel Dahmen/Keith Mitchell: 20-1
Let’s roll with the 2022 champion at 10-1. Schauffele and Cantlay burned a lot of edges on Thursday, but kept at it with a late flurry of birdies. They now transition to foursomes for two of the next three days, where they were dominant a year ago. In 2023, they both shot a 9-under 63 in Round 2 and a 6-under 66 in Round 4 in this format. If they can get something similar in the mid-60s tomorrow, they should be in business by the weekend.
