Worthy, Morikawa ready for food, great golf at 2021 Zurich Classic

After a one-year hiatus, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans returns to Avondale at the TPC of Louisiana April 19-25.

The first Pro-Am is set for Monday, April 19 while the second Pro-Am is Wednesday, April 21. The professionals will play practice rounds on Tuesday, April 20.

An excellent field of professional teams is expected for the tournament which runs April 22-25.

The total purse for the event is $7.4 million, with each member of the winning team earning $1,069,300.

The team format, the only such format on the PGA Tour, has turned out to be a big hit among professionals and has definitely enhanced the field for the event in its three previous events and should again this year.

The Golf Channel will have television coverage each day of the tournament while CBS will feature network coverage Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.

This year’s Zurich Classic falls two weeks after the Masters Tournament.

Among the 80 teams competing, John Rahm and Ryan Palmer will return to defend the title they captured in 2019, the last time the event was played.

Rahm is currently ranked third in the world and has six PGA tour wins while Palmer, a good friend of New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, has four PGA tour victories.

Collin Morikawa, the world’s fourth-ranked player, will team with Matthew Wolff, ranked 21st in the world, as a formidable pair. Morikawa is just the second player to win a major and a WGC title before the age of 25 and has four tour titles while Wolff has a PGA title to his credit.

Morikawa, a Zurich-sponsored player who is known for stamping food names on the back of his wedges, has never been to New Orleans previously and he is really looking forward to sampling the cuisine.

“Obviously, the beignets are going to be really good,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to be looking forward to having a lot of food. That’s all I’ve heard for the past year.”

Morikawa was scheduled to play with Wolff in the event a year ago before it was canceled.

“I’ve known him for a long time,” Morikawa said. “We played some high school golf together. We obviously made our strides in professional golf at the same time in that summer of 2019. Our games are different. We’ve had a lot of rounds together. It’s going to be really exciting to see how we put that together for four rounds this year. The format is exciting and produces a relaxed nature.”

Morikawa, 24, has ascended to the elite level of his sport very quickly, which is seldom seen in the very competitive world of golf. Morikawa has had the same coach since he was young in Rick Sessinghaus, whom he gives a ton of credit to for his success.

“There’s no recipe for everyone,” Morikawa said. “I think what I’ve realized and that everyone should realize is that everyone is different. Just because I have been trained the way I was trained doesn’t mean you can go find an 8-year-old and train them the same way Rick trains me. You have to find what drives you. For me, it’s a lot of self-motivation, along of self-driven.”

Another top player who will be here is another Zurich-sponsored player in Billy Horschel, the only person who has won the Zurich Classic as an individual event and as part of a team as well. Horschel won at the TPC of Louisiana in 2013 and then paired with Scott Piercy to win the team event in 2018.

Horschel just won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event in Austin, Texas. Horschel is a 6-time PGA tour champion.

The format of the event includes Four-Ball, the best ball competition during rounds one and three while the other two rounds will feature the alternate shot competition Friday and Sunday.

The cut will consist of the top 35 low teams and those tied for 35th.

Tournament chairman Steve Worthy of the Fore!KidsFoundation is excited to be back in business in 2021.

“I think our spectators are really looking forward to being back on the property,” Worthy said. “The announcement of having 10,000 spectators was a big deal. On a big Friday or Saturday, we would potentially have 30 to 35,000 thousand people. The players are happy to have spectators back. We’ve worked to make the event as touchless as possible.”

The tournament will feature what is called “The Best of the Zurich Classic,” with four different venues, including on the 17th and 18th holes, including a covered viewing deck with patrons standing with a bar table in front of them, watching the golf while eating and drinking. You can also sit under the Family tent to eat and drink. There will be umbrella tables as well.

“We feel like it offers something for everybody,” Worthy said. “It’s a way to spread people out over the two family clubs. There will be an oasis behind the 18th green as well with food and also behind No. 9, which Zurich will allow us to use with a wonderful view of the hole.”

While some big names are committed to the 2021 event, there are more to come.

“We’re a little later this year than we normally would be in announced the field,” Worthy said. “You will start to see two or three releases a week that will continue to roll things out. A lot of people can take guesses about what’s going on. Obviously, we were very happy to see Billy win, a Zurich ambassador. He’s 17th in the world now.”

Worthy believes it will be a very good field when finalized.

“I would expect our field to be very comparable to where we’ve been the last three playing years in the team format,” Worthy said. “There’s still some guys who are undecided. Commitments have been slower than usual. We look forward to getting those names out and driving interest. We feel like we’re in a great spot.”

Proceeds from the event will once again benefit the Fore!KidsFoundation, which raises substantial revenue to fund children’s service organizations throughout south Louisiana.

Even without an event last year, presenting corporate sponsor Zurich Insurance donated funds to the Fore!Kids Foundation to make $1.5 million in contributions to area non-profits, equaling the donations made in 2019.

A total of 10,000 spectators will be allowed for this year’s event at a cost of $35 each.

With a unique format, a unique culture and unique food, the Zurich Classic is now a hit among players on tour as compared to an afterthought, which it was previously.