2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Top 10 Power Rankings

How does Ryan Palmer keep finding himself paired with current or former world No. 1 players?

He and Jon Rahm teamed for a Zurich Classic of New Orleans win in 2019. The tournament was canceled in 2020 and they defended their title a year later with a solid seventh-place finish.

Rahm’s not playing this year, yet Palmer is somehow still moving upward to pair with current top-ranked man and fellow Texan, Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler is on a heater we haven’t seen since Jason Day’s torrid stretch in 2013. Scheffler has won four out of his last six starts, which includes his major championship breakthrough at the Masters.

He was already world No. 1 before arriving at Augusta National, but now he appears to be firmly entrenched for a while.

His dominating performance on the way to a green jacket is most notable, but perhaps more important to this week are his successes at the Ryder Cup and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

Scheffler was 2-0-1 for the Americans at Whistling Straits. Speaking of Rahm, that’s who Scheffler blitzed 4&3 in singles. The former Texas Longhorn won the match play and only needed to go to the 18th hole once in bracket play.

Scheffler also had a nice showing last year at the Zurich where he and Bubba Watson took T-8th.

A guy like Scheffler teams well with anyone.

He’s got a good, calm demeanor to him and also has all facets of his game in order. His driver can occasionally go wayward, but he’s eighth on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained (1.532) and third in scoring average (69.676).

Palmer, 45, began 2022 with a pair of top-20s that kept him in or around a top 50 world ranking. He’s sputtered to two made cuts in his last six events and is on the verge of dropping out of the top 100.  He may need to lean on Scheffler and past Zurich Classic team experience to get by.

Palmer also has three career PGA Tour wins and is a good wind player, which could be in play this week.

The two will be able to get it out there far. The key will be keeping it in the fairway. Palmer is 40th in driving distance (305.3) and 159th in driving accuracy (54.75%). Scheffler is 23rd (308) and 120th (58.91%), respectively.

Palmer is third in approach proximity from 200-225 yards (31’9”), so perhaps his long iron play can give the team good eagle looks.