Headline Pair Of Shane Lowry And Brooks Koepka Miss Zurich Classic Of New Orleans Cut As Multiple Duos Scrape Into Weekend

As we head into the weekend of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, there will be some big names missing after they failed to make the cut.

The tournament, which sees golfers team up in pairs for the event at TPC Louisiana, has proven to be very tricky indeed through its first two rounds.

Most notably, Shane Lowry, who teamed up with Brooks Koepka for the first time this week, will not be playing the weekend.

Lowry and Koepka shot nine-under over two days, posting an opening round of 66 and a 69 in the second round.

However, the cut line this weekend ended up being a challenging 10-under and their blossoming partnership has been halted already.

Other prominent pairings to fall at the hurdle include Tony Finau and Max Greyserman (-9), Christo Lamprecht and Neal Shipley (-6), and Kevin Yu and Tom Kim (-4).

Only 35 pairings made it beyond this harsh cut line, meaning more than half the field has been sent packing ahead of round three.

It prompted Michael Kim, who was watching along at home, to tweet: "Can't tell if Zurich is the toughest tournament to win or the easiest. Sneaky hard cut to make."

That cut line was enough to have defending champions Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak sweating over their fate.

A birdie on the 15th helped their cause, with Griffin sending his tee shot close to the pin for Novak to wrap up the hole.

There were clutch moments for the likes of David Lipsky, who holed out from the bunker to send himself and Rico Hoey through by the skin of their teeth. Likewise, Ben Kohles sunk a 34-foot putt to help him and Lanto Griffin over the line.

We also saw Max McGreevy and Kevin Roy seal their place with a birdie on the 18th, while one of the youngest pairings in the field, 18-year-old Blades Brown and 22-year-old Luke Clanton, made it through in style with birdies on their final three holes.

Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer currently hold the solo lead at 16-under. The Fitzpatrick brothers (Matt and Alex) are T2nd alongside Davis Thompson/Austin Eckroat and Billy Horschel/Tom Hoge.

After Matt Fitzpatrick's win at the RBC Heritage, a victory alongside his brother would be twice as sweet as it would secure Alex his PGA Tour card for next season.