Brooks Koepka knows a little something about team golf.
Granted, he did not play much four-ball or foursomes while with LIV Golf, where team scores are simply cumulative stroke-play totals.
But in his first season back on the PGA Tour, Koepka decided to play the tour’s only team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and joined Shane Lowry to create the most fascinating pairing of the week. Seventy-four teams will tee off Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La.
Lowry played the past two Zurich Classics alongside Rory McIlroy, the longtime LIV critic. They won the tournament in 2024, but McIlroy is skipping the event this year amid a stretch of majors and other signature events.
Enter Koepka, who’s grinding to qualify for those signature events. He and his brother Chase tied for fifth at the Zurich in 2017. He’s also played on four U.S. Ryder Cup teams opposite Lowry’s Team Europe.
“I’ve known Brooks a long time, back from his European days playing the European Tour,” the Irishman said, revealing he texted Koepka’s caddie with the idea at first. “… I said, ‘Are we going to tee it up in New Orleans?’ He said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’
“We’re here. To the outside, it might not look like it makes sense, but you know, to us it does. … We do have a good relationship. We’re going to have a good bit of fun out there.”
Koepka was enthusiastic about the team-up.
“I think the way Shane drives the ball, the way my iron play has been lately, and then Shane’s short game, I mean, I think it’s a pretty good combination,” Koepka said. “I like the way we’re going with him hitting off certain holes and me hitting off the other holes.”
The field will play four-ball (best ball) on Thursday and Saturday and switch to foursomes (alternate shot) on Friday and Sunday. A 36-hole cut will whittle the field down to the top 33 teams and ties.
Lowry and McIlroy winning in 2024 was an exception at a tournament where rank-and-file players have a better chance to break through, like Nick Hardy and Davis Riley in 2023. Last year, Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak pulled off a one-stroke win; it was both players’ first win on tour, but Griffin catapulted into the top 10 in the world with two more victories and made the Ryder Cup team.
“Everyone has their breakthrough moments,” Griffin said. “Fortunately for me, it was here last year. Now look at me now. I was a (nominee) for the Player of the Year last year. Going into this tournament last year I wasn’t talking to any media. … Every single week can change your career.”
Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick rose to a career-best No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking by winning last week’s RBC Heritage, his second trophy of 2026. For the fourth straight year, he will play with his brother, Alex Fitzpatrick.
They have yet to finish better than T11 and missed the cut last year. But there’s one major difference now: After years of grinding away, Alex Fitzpatrick won his first European Tour title last month at the Hero Indian Open.
“I think it’s changed over time,” Matt Fitzpatrick said of their expectations for this event. “I think the first year we played, I’d also won the Heritage the week before. You come in feeling good about your game and in a more relaxed way. Then the last two years it’s been probably a bit more of, well, we’re playing OK, nothing great, but also trying to enjoy it, but maybe a little bit more pressure.
“I feel like this year, yeah, our expectations are higher given the form that we had shown this year, but if anything, I think because of that form, we’re probably allowed to enjoy it a little bit more.”
