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Zurich Classic of New Orleans

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Location
  
New Orleans, Louisiana

Course(s)
  
TPC of Louisiana

Length
  
7,399 yards (6,766 m)

Established
  
1938, 79 years ago

Par
  
72

Tour(s)
  
PGA Tour

Zurich Classic of New Orleans

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played annually in New Orleans, Louisiana. Its historic date has been in April, but was moved to March in 2008. Zurich Insurance Group is the main sponsor of the tournament. It is organized by the Fore!Kids Foundation.

Contents

The purse is $7.0 million in 2016, with a winner's share of $1.26 million. First prize reached six figures in 1988, and passed the million dollar mark in 2006.

Courses

From the event's inception through 2004, it was played at a series of courses in New Orleans, starting at the City Park Golf Courses, where it was played through 1962. From 1963 through 1988, the event had a lengthy relationship with Lakewood Country Club before shifting to English Turn Golf & Country Club in 1989 for sixteen editions.

TPC of Louisiana in Avondale became the host in 2005, but damage to the course by Hurricane Katrina that August forced the event back to English Turn for a year. It returned to the TPC in 2007, its current home.

Course layout

TPC Louisiana in 2016

Source:

Winners

^Weather-shortened to 54 holes
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Main sources

Multiple winners

Nine players have won this tournament twice, the last was Carlos Franco, seventeen years ago in 2000. Three have won in consecutive years: Byron Nelson, Bo Wininger, and Tom Watson. There have been no three-time winners.

2 wins

Highlights

  • 1966: Frank Beard wins his first New Orleans title by two shots over Gardner Dickinson. The win by Beard came two years after his being diagnosed with and almost dying of encephalitis shortly after playing in the 1964 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational.
  • 1972: PGA Tour rookie Rogelio Gonzales was disqualified after it was learned he had changed his scorecard earlier in the tournament. In addition to his disqualification, the PGA Tour lifted Gonzales playing privileges.
  • 1975: Billy Casper wins for the 51st and ultimately last time on the PGA Tour. He beats Peter Oosterhuis by two shots.
  • 1978: Lon Hinkle earns his first ever PGA Tour title by birdieing the 72nd hole to beat Fuzzy Zoeller and Gibby Gilbert by one shot. The win by Hinkle ends Gary Player's consecutive tournament winning streak at three.
  • 1984: Mac O'Grady gets into an altercation with a female tournament volunteer. He is later fined and suspended by Tour Commissioner Deane Beman for conduct unbecoming a professional golfer.
  • 1990: David Frost beats Greg Norman by one shot after holing out from a sand trap on the 72nd hole.
  • 1995: In need of a win to qualify for The Masters, Davis Love III defeats Mike Heinen in a sudden death playoff.
  • 1999: Carlos Franco becomes the first South American to win on the PGA Tour since Roberto De Vicenzo at the 1968 Houston Champions International. Franco wins by two shots over Steve Flesch and Harrison Frazar.
  • 2002: K. J. Choi becomes the first Korean born golfer to win on the PGA Tour. He beats Dudley Hart and Geoff Ogilvy by four shots.
  • 2004: Vijay Singh shoots a final round 63 to beat Phil Mickelson and Joe Ogilvie by one shot.
  • References

    Zurich Classic of New Orleans Wikipedia