Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 83. Wind S 10-15 mph.

36-hole cut: 36 teams at 10-under 134 from a field of 80 teams

Second-Round Leaderboard

Isaiah Salinda/Kevin Velo (1^st/-17)

• After opening with a tournament-record 58 in Four-ball, post 69 in Foursomes; closed with a 4-under 32 after opening with 1-over 37
• First lead/co-lead after any round on TOUR for both players
• PGA TOUR rookies seek to join Puerto Rico Open winner Karl Vilips as the only rookie winner so far this season and one of five first-time winners in 2025 (most recent: Min Woo Lee/Texas Children’s Houston Open)
• No rookie has won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans since the inception of the team format in 2017
• Players to win their first career PGA TOUR title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans since 2017: Cameron Smith (2017 with Jonas Blixt), Nick Hardy/Davis Riley (2023)
• Salinda is making his 10^th start of the season, with a third-place finish at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld his career-best finish (20 starts); earned TOUR membership by finishing No. 18 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List

• Velo is making his 11^th start of the season, with two made cuts and a season-best T40 at the Puerto Rico Open; enters week with three straight missed cuts; earned membership by finishing No. 15 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• Salinda entered the week No. 73 in the FedExCup while Velo entered at No. 194
• Salinda (Panama Championship) and Velo (Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard) won in back-to-back weeks on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour

Andrew Novak/Ben Griffin (2^nd/-16)

• Post seven birdies to one bogey in Foursomes for a 66, tied for the low round of the day (Nick Taylor/Adam Hadwin)
• Novak is coming off a playoff loss to Justin Thomas at last week’s RBC Heritage, one of three top-three finishes in 13 starts this season; others: 3^rd/Farmers Insurance Open, T3/Valero Texas Open
• The last player to lose in a playoff and win the following week on TOUR: Patrick Cantlay/2022 RBC Heritage, 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
• Griffin owns three top-10s in 13 starts this season: T4/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, T4/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, T7/The American Express
• Griffin is making his third tournament appearance; missed the cut in his previous two appearances (2023/Ryan Gerard, 2024/Taylor Montgomery)

Additional Team Notes

• Players in the top four teams on the leaderboard through two rounds are in search of their first career PGA TOUR title: Salinda/Velo, Novak/Griffin, Højgaard/Højgaard, Bridgeman/Phillips
• Denmark twins Nicolai/Rasmus Højgaard (3^rd/-15) post 70 in Foursomes after carding 59 in Four-ball; partners for the second consecutive year after missing the cut in 2024; one of three sets of brothers competing as teams this week; others: Matt/Alex Fitzpatrick (MC/-9), Jeremy/Yannik Paul (MC/-7)
• Rory McIlroy/Shane Lowry (T16/-11) bogey three of their final six holes for a 69

Format

• This is the eighth year the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played in a two-man team format, which was introduced in 2017 (canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19)
• Teams play Four-ball in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds
• Each player on the winning team will receive 400 FedExCup points, $1,329,400, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR (through 2027) and entry into the three remaining Signature Events