The world’s best golfers are in New Orleans for the 2025 Zurich Classic including No. 2 Rory McIlroy fresh off his career grand slam!

Welcome to TPC Louisiana, home of the 2025 Zurich Classic which is uniquely the only two-man team event on the PGA Tour. During Pro-Am pairings, I had the opportunity to ask some of the world’s best golfers why they enjoy this week.

 “I am eager to get back out there. I think this is the perfect atmosphere to do it in,” said Rory McIlroy. “I think that’s a part of the reason that I wanted to honor my commitment to be there is because it’s a fun event to be out there with Shane. Yeah, it’s just a perfect tournament to come back to with the good, positive vibes from last year.”

“I’m looking forward to the rest of the year,” said Shane Lowry. “I’m here and I’m happy we’re here. I wasn’t sure when obviously Rory did what he did a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how things would pan out, but I’m happy we’re here and looking forward to a great week.”

“You know, winning by yourself is really rewarding, but being with a partner makes it more fun,” said Wyndham Clark. “Your caddies are close, in our situation our caddies are close. Taylor and I are good buddies and winning together, you just think about how fun the week is and how celebrations would be, so yeah it’s definitely more fun to win with a partner.”

“It’s just really unique. You’re able to kind of pick each other up and cheer for somebody, which you normally don’t get to do that often. It’s a very unique format, but it’s fun to mix it into the season,” said Jake Knapp.

“It’s a super unique event because it’s team golf and we don’t get a taste of that much on the tour, and it’s a nice switch of pace,” said Hattiesburg native Davis Riley. “It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year, and to do it with a really good buddy just makes for another awesome week.”

“It’s amazing,” said Collin Morikawa. “This is my fifth year I believe, and I think what Zurich brings to the community and has done obviously in the city of New Orleans and the whole state of Louisiana. It’s just a lot of fun. We have a lot of fun around here. It’s a different vibe, but at the end of the day we still want to compete and win, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Now that the Pro-Am portion has wrapped up, all eyes are on the tournament Thursday which will officially tee off at approximately 7:00AM.