Experienced pairs sign up for Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Ryder Cup captains Stricker and Donald lead separate teams;
Hoffman & Watney have partnered for every Zurich team event

NEW ORLEANS – Three notable pairs with extensive team play experience have signed up to compete in the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.

The teams of Luke Donald and Francesco Molinari plus Steve Stricker with Matt Kuchar have played in two dozen Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup competitions in their careers. Combined, they have played 14 times in the Ryder Cup, and the Americans have competed 10 times in the Presidents Cup.

In addition, Charley Hoffman and Nick Watney will play together for the seventh consecutive time in the Zurich Classic. They have played together each year since the tournament adopted the team format in 2017.

“These three pairs are all experienced team players in both our tournament and international competition ,” said Worthy. “All of them know the four-ball and foursome formats as well as anyone in the world today, ” he added.

Steve Stricker & Matt Kuchar

Steve Stricker has won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including the World Match Play Championship, Memorial Tournament and Tournament of Champions. He appeared on five Presidents Cup teams (1996, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013) and played on the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Ryder Cup teams.

He has captained two winning American teams in international competition– the Presidents Cup in 2017 and the Ryder Cup in his home state of Wisconsin in 2020.

His most successful season on the PGA Tour came in 2009, with three victories and a runner-up finish on the money list. He spent more than 250 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, reaching a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in September 2009 at age 42.

He won the Payne Stewart Award in 2012.

He moved to the Champions Tour in 2017 and achieved near-immediate success. He has won 17 Champions events in 68 starts. In addition, he has finished in the top 10 an unprecedented 58 times. In his first season on the Champions Tour, he posted one second and three thirds in six starts.

Last season on the Champions Tour he won six times, finished runner-up five times and made top-25 in all 16 of the events he played. This season he has started five times with four top-10 finishes.

Previously in the Zurich Classic, Stricker partnered with Jerry Kelly in 2017 and 2018 with a best finish of a tie for 14th. He tied for fourth as an individual in New Orleans in 2000.

Matt Kuchar has posted nine PGA Tour wins and two international victories in his career that started in 2001.

Playing with Harris English, he won the Franklin Templeton Shootout twice and the QBE Shootout once, both of which are unofficial team events.

He made five consecutive Presidents Cup teams from 2011-2019 and four consecutive Ryder Cup teams from 2010-2016. He also played on three World Cup teams, two Arnold Palmer Cup squads and represented the U.S. in the Walker Cup while in college.

He won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first Olympic golf competition since 1904.

Luke Donald & Francesco Molinari
Luke Donald, captain of the victorious 2023 European Ryder Cup team, spent 56 weeks ranked number one in the world, seventh all-time. He has already been named European captain again for the 2025 Ryder Cup competition to be held at Bethpage Black in New York.

Born in England, he came to the U.S. to play collegiately for Northwestern University in Chicago, where he earned his degree in art theory and practice. He won the 1999 NCAA Division I Championship and made two Walker Cup teams for Great Britain and Ireland in 1999 and 2001, when he was 7-1 in the two events.

He earned his Tour card in 2002 and went on to win five times on the PGA Tour to go with eight victories on the European Tour. In addition to his five titles, he has posted a remarkable 16 runner-up finishes and 42 top-fives in 424 events he has played on the PGA Tour.

He played for the European Ryder Cup team in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012. His combined record is 10-4-1 in Ryder Cup matches, going undefeated in 2006. He also played on the World Cup team in 2004, 2005 and 2006, winning the 2004 event paired with fellow Englishman Paul Casey.

His best finishes at the Zurich Classic were a third in 2012 and a tie for eighth in 2011. He tied for 23rd in last year’s Zurich Classic, teamed with Edoardo Molinari, Francesco’s older brother.

Francesco Molinari has won five times internationally and three times on the PGA Tour, including the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie. He also won the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in 2009 teamed with his brother Edoardo, who served as Luke Donald’s vice-captain in last year’s Ryder Cup.

Francesco has made three European Ryder Cup teams and played in seven World Cup competitions. He became the first European to win all five of his matches in the 2018 Ryder Cup held outside Paris. That generated the phrase “Moliwood” referring his partnership with Tommy Fleetwood. The Molinari-Fleetwood team won all four of their matches against their American competitors.

Molinari then went on that season to become the first Italian to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, beating out—you guessed it—Tommy Fleetwood.

Francesco will be making his Zurich Classic debut this year.

Charley Hoffman & Nick Watney

Hoffman has won four times on the PGA Tour, and he recently played in his 500th Tour event at the Valero Texas Open. Earlier this season, he lost in a playoff to Nick Taylor in the 2024 WM Phoenix Open. He has played in the Zurich Classic 16 times since 2006 with three top-3 and seven top-25 finishes.

Watney himself has started 483 PGA Tour events, with five wins, including the 2007 Zurich Classic. He too has played the Zurich Classic 16 times with three top-10 and eight top-25 finishes.

The two have partnered every year since the tournament adopted its team format in 2017. That year they finished tied for fifth, which tied for Hoffman’s best at the Zurich Classic.

Both players have made Presidents Cup teams, Hoffman in 2017 and Watney in 2011.

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 and several charitable golf tournaments.

In 2023, the Fore!Kids Foundation generated a record $2.843 million in charitable giving for children’s charities in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas. Charitable contributions have been rising in recent years:
· Over $2.843 million to charities in 2023, a new record
· Over $20 million to charities in last 10 years
· Over $30 million to charities in the last 20 years since Zurich became title sponsor
· Over $48 million to charities since inception of the Fore!Kids Foundation and its predecessors

More information at http://www.forekidsfoundation.com.

About the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:

Zurich Insurance has sponsored the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for 20 years, one of the longest title sponsor relationships on the PGA Tour. 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.

The Zurich Classic has over a $40 million estimated annual economic impact to the regional economy. Since Zurich became title sponsor in 2005, the tournament has generated more than $645 million in estimated economic activity for the New Orleans community.

With 42 hours of total television coverage on Golf Channel and CBS, a total of 13 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament.

Internationally, PGA TOUR coverage of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is available across 148 countries and territories via local broadcast partners, and garners $33 million in positive national and international media exposure for both the city and state throughout the year beyond the days of professional competition.

The tournament will be played April 24-28, 2024, at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Purse for 2024 totals a record $8.9 million, with each member of the winning team earning $1,286,050 and 400 FedExCup points.

All tickets to the 2024 Zurich Classic will be mobile entry only. Day-specific grounds tickets are only $40. In addition, the Best of the Zurich Class Pass offers a variety of dishes from some of New Orleans most famous restaurants at three locations across the TPC course starting at $175 per day, and the Walk-On’s Stadium Club will offer close-up viewing at the 17th hole in the only two-story, air-conditioned tent on the course. Additional ticket options are available by calling the Tournament Office at 504-342-3000 or online at www.zurichgolfclassic.com

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