Rory McIlroy ready for Zurich Classic of New Orleans debut: Format and key questions about PGA Tour's team event

Rory McIlroy will partner Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, live on Sky Sports, with a “drunken lunch” leading to the former world No 1 making his debut at the PGA Tour team event.

McIlroy is the highest-ranked player in action at TPC Louisiana, where the top 80 available in the PGA Tour standings getting to pick their playing partner for four days of team competition.

The Northern Irishman's appearance is his seventh start in nine weeks and fourth consecutive event, with McIlroy looking to bounce back from a slow start to the PGA Tour season and a disappointing finish to the RBC Heritage.

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McIlroy and Lowry have both been part of the last two Ryder Cup teams, playing together during one session of the 2021 defeat at Whistling Straits, while a conversation after Europe's victory in Rome last September resulted in them teaming up together this week.

"Very excited," McIlroy told Golf.com last month. "I asked him [Lowry]. We had this really drunken lunch the week after the Ryder Cup last year. I said to him, 'Do you want to play Zurich together?' We're like, 'Yeah'.

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"His former partner is now on the Champions Tour, Pádraig Harrington. I've never played before so I'm looking forward to it."

Who else is playing this week?

Ryder Cup team-mates Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele look to win the event for a second time, having claimed a two-shot victory in 2022, while Matt Fitzpatrick partners brother Alex and the Hojgaard brothers - Rasmus and Nicolai - also form to make a team.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald teams up with Francesco Molinari, who served as a vice-captain in Rome and retains his role for next year's contest, with two-time major champion Collin Morikawa pairs up with Kurt Kitayama.

Former winner Billy Horschel - who won the Corales Puntacana Championship on Sunday - partners Tyson Alexander, as Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala join forces and defending champions Nick Hardy and Davis Riley return.

How does the event work and what is the format?

The 80 two-man teams feature in fourballs during the opening round, where players each play their own ball and the best score on each hole from the pair goes towards the team total, then the format switches to foursomes play for the second round.

Foursomes sees each team use one ball, with one player hitting tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes and the other on the even-numbered ones. The players then hit alternate shots, with the total strokes taken resulting in the team's score for that hole.

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The top 33 teams and ties progress to the weekend, where the teams revert to fourballs for the third round and foursomes for Sunday's final round. Should the tournament end in a tie after 72 holes, the formats will switch between the two different formats for each hole required for the sudden-death playoff.

What is the prize?

The players in the winning team will both receive a two-year winner's exemption on the PGA Tour and will be eligible for next month's PGA Championship, plus increase their hopes of qualifying for PGA Tour Signature Events.

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FedExCup points and prize money will be awarded to teams making the cut, with each team member receiving an equal share for their final position, although no world ranking points are on offer.

Each player in the winning team will earn 400 FedExCup points and a record $1,286,050 prize money, with the rest of the $8,900,000 purse awarded to teams based on combining every two positions from the distribution table for a standard PGA Tour event.

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When is the tournament on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports will show over 30 hours of live action across the four tournament days, with early coverage from 1pm on Thursday and 2.15pm on Friday ahead of full coverage from 8.30pm.

Weekend coverage begins at 4pm on both days on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of the main coverage getting under way at 6pm and offering five hours of live action from each of the final two rounds.

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The PGA Tour action is part of a quadruple-header of live golf to enjoy this week, with the DP World Tour's ISPS Handa Championship, the Ladies European Tour's South African Women's Open and the LPGA Tour's JM Eagle LA Championship all live on Sky Sports Golf.

Who will win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins with Featured Groups on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 8.30pm.

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