Brennans Caddy Report -Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:13:43

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!! For all those readers who don't happen to speak French, this famous saying here in New Orleans means ï¿½let the good times roll!'. This is only the second time that Mike has played here at the Zurich Classic in the past ten years. We arrived on Monday and it has been a great experience already. This tournament has been greatly upgraded since the last time we were here, becoming one of the elite events on Tour. The tournament coordinator, Tommy Fonseca, has done a great job recruiting players and promoting the event. The purse this week is one of the larger on the PGA Tour, and a very good field has been attracted. I predict that The Zurich Classic event will get stronger and stronger over the next few years with golf's top names in the field. One of the added extras for caddies this year is to sponsor a $5,000 Blackjack Tournament hosted at Harrah's Casino.

The biggest perk of playing in New Orleans is the unique culture found here. Known best for its live jazz music and spicy Cajun foods, the city has unlimited things to do and see. Mike and I enjoyed our experience on Monday night when we went down to the French Quarter for dinner. There are several streets in the French Quarter full of restaurants and clubs that are closed off to traffic. As you walk down the street you can hear live music coming out of most of the clubs, adding to the amazing atmosphere.

The golf course this week is the newly redesigned TPC of Louisiana, a course that was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. The course itself, believe it or not, sits three feet below sea level so you can only imagine how flooded it was. I know that the first year the event was played on this course there were quite a few complaints about it, but with the changes, it is a much better golf course.

TPC of Louisiana is very unique and not like any other course I have seen. The greens are very small with runoff areas around all of them, and most greens are open in the front (by this I mean you can run the ball into the green if needed, which is rarely the case on PGA Tour courses nowadays). The rough is not going to be much of a factor, so approach shots to the green and putting will be key. The course will actually be a good tune up for the Masters in a few weeks. It is going to play very fast, and with no rain predicted, it will only get firmer as the week continues. Many of the holes have one side of their green protected by water, with the other side having some large run off areas. The conservative play is obviously to play away from the water, but it is going to make for some tough up and downs if the green is missed. I think it is a great risk/reward course.

With Monday's finish at Doral, Mike and I didn't get here until later in the day, so Mike decided to simply walk the course on Tuesday and work on his short game. Last week was probably the best his short game has been all year, and with the Masters quickly approaching it could not come at a better time. Mike has been focusing a lot of time and energy on his chipping and putting, so it was nice to see the effort pay off last week in his play. With the layout of the course and the weather conditions this week, I think the play around the greens is going to be the key to low scores and having a chance to win.

My prediction to win this week will be -13.

Thanks for reading!