2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Top 10 Power Rankings

The defending champs are back for more.

Teaming at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the first time in 2021, the pair fired a pair of 63s on Thursday and Saturday in best ball and 72-70 on Friday and Sunday in alternate shot.

The 20-under total was good enough to get into a playoff with Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. The Aussies got the better of the South Africans on the first extra hole.

“I work with some stats guys that help me out. They have pretty much told me what tees work for me, so Cam can tee off the other ones,” Leishman was quoted in an ASAP Sports transcript prior to the 2021 Zurich Classic. “So I’m going to tee off the 1st and Cam will take the evens, so I think that should work pretty well for us and it will let Cam hit more drivers, I’ll hit more iron shots and I feel like that will play into both of our strengths.”

Smith also won this event with Jonas Blixt in 2017 after surviving a four-hole playoff against Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown. Two missed cuts in a row with Blixt has led to Smith moving on from that pairing to an even more comfortable one with Big Leish.

Leishman’s only tournament appearance since it switched to a team event was with Smith last year. However, the 38-year-old came to TPC Louisiana three times prior with top-30s in 2015 and 2016.

These two have paired together before, just at a different event.

They finished in second place out of 28 teams at the 2018 World Cup of Golf in their home country.

Ironically, they did not team up at the 2019 Presidents Cup, also in Australia.

Smith is coming off a missed cut last week at the RBC Heritage. It feels like an aberration considering a number of factors. For one, it was the week after what had to be a draining week at the Masters where he was Scottie Scheffler’s closest competitor for most of the weekend until settling for T-3rd.

Not only that, but it was Smith’s first MC since January and second since June. The 28-year-old won his third individual event last month at the Players Championship for his career-defining win thus far.

Leishman also played the weekend at the Masters, finishing T-30th. That was his 10th made cut in his last 11 stroke-play events. He played well early in 2022 but hasn’t had a top-10 in his last eight outings.

There are better ball striking teams in the field, but this could be the best putting duo.

Smith is third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting (.922) and Leishman is 18th (.571).