The 2026 Zurich New Orleans Classic begins Thursday, April 23, with the opening round at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La. You can find the full Zurich Classical band schedules for Thursday’s first round at the bottom of this post.
Separate training time for round 1
This week’s Zurich Classic is shaping up to be a fun game, with multiple star-studded teams at the top. Five times major winner Brooks Koepka is in the field as he continues his PGA Tour comeback. He is joining Shane Lowrywho won the 2024 Zurich Classic alongside Rory McIlroy.
They will be a tough team to beat but will also have their hands full with the team coming into the week as betting favourites. That would be it Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick. Matt has two wins on the season, while Alex took his first win on the DP World Tour earlier this year.
Both of these top teams have something to play foralso. A win for Fitzpatricks would see Alex earn his PGA Tour card for the first time. A win for Koepka would give him access to the remaining signature events this season.
Koepka and Lowry will play the opening round of the Zurich Classic alongside Fitzpatricks, with the foursome starting at 1:29 PM ET on Thursday.
You can watch Thursday’s first round at the 2026 Zurich Classic from 3-6pm ET on Golf Channel. PGA Tour live on ESPN+ will offer exclusive early broadcast coverage beginning Thursday at 8 a.m. ET, in addition to coverage of featured sets and holes.
See the full first-round bracket times and groupings for the Zurich Classic below.
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Zurich 2026 Classic Group Times for Thursday: Round 1 (ET)
Tea no. 1
08:00 –
Austin Cook/Jason Dufner
Sam Stevens/Zach Bauchou
08:13 –
Mark Hubbard/Ryan Brehm
Ben Martin/Trace Crowe
08:26 –
Lanto Griffin/Ben Kohles
Chad Ramey/Justin Lower
08:39 –
Kevin Yu/Tom Kim
Taylor Pendrith/Mackenzie Hughes
08:52 –
Davis Thompson/Austin Eckroat
Chris Kirk/Patton Kizzire
9:05 –
Rafael Campos/Alejandro Tosti
Max McGreevy/Kevin Roy
9:18 –
Jonathan Byrd/Chez Reavie
Alex Smalley / Hayden Springer
9:31 am –
James Hahn/Kyle Stanley
Zac Blair/Patrick Fishburne
9:44 am –
Frankie Capan III / Noah Goodwin
Pontus Nyholm/Jesper Svensson
12:50 pm –
Luke List/Henrik Norlander
Chandler Phillips/Carson Young
1:03 pm –
Joel Dahmen/Kevin Streelman
Andrew Putnam/Austin Smotherman
Hank Lebioda
1:16 pm –
Ryan Gerard/Sudarshan Yellamaraju
Matt Wallace/Marco Penge
1:29 pm –
Matt Fitzpatrick/Alex Fitzpatrick
Brooks Koepka/Shane Lowry
1:42 pm –
Aaron Rai/Sahith Theegala
Luke Clanton/Blades Brown
1:55 pm –
Cam Davis/Geoff Ogilvy
Keith Mitchell/Brandt Snedeker
2:08 pm –
Matthieu Pavon/Martin Couvrera
Ryan Palmer/Chan Kim
2:21 pm –
Nick Dunlap/Gordon Sargent
Christopher Reitan/Chris Ventura
2:34 pm –
Haotong Li/Jordan Smith
Adrien Dumont de Chassart/Davis Chatfield
