Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo set a new 18-hole Zurich Classic of New Orleans record in Four-ball with a 14-under 58 on Thursday. The previous record of 59 was held by Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (2022/R1) and Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard (2025/R1).

“He played great,” said Velo. “He made a ton of putts. He one-putted damn near every green it seemed like. Very easy to play when golf when you have a partner that’s stacking it and making a lot of putts. A few really clutch par saves that he had on the back nine, and it was a very, very solid day, but overall we kind of fed off each other, and I kind of sprinkled in some birdies when we needed to, but pretty much I was on his back the whole day.”

The American duo, both PGA Tour rookies, started their round by setting the tournament’s nine-hole scoring record with a 10-under 26 (previously: 28).

Salinda is making his 10th start of the season, with a third-place finish at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld his career-best finish in 20 starts. He earned his Tour membership by finishing No. 18 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

Velo is making his 11th start of the season, with two made cuts and a season-best T40 at the Puerto Rico Open. He enters the week with three straight missed cuts. He earned membership by finishing No. 15 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

“I honestly think it’s more important to play with someone you like and someone you enjoy playing with, one of your friends,” said Salinda. “It’s really cool. We only get to play this format really once a year, and we’ve known each other since we were young junior golfers. We’ve stayed incredibly close friends since, and we’ve been looking forward to this event for a while.”

Salinda (Panama Championship) and Velo (Astara Golf Championship) won in back-to-back weeks on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour.

Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard briefly tied Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (2022/R1) for the 18-hole Four-ball record at the event until Salinda and Velo carded the new record 90 minutes later.

They are partnering for the second time (MC/2024) but for the first with both as Tour members. Rasmus finished No. 1 in the DP World Tour Top 10 to earn his card for 2025, while Nicolai finished No. 108 in the 2024 FedExCup Fall standings to retain his card.

Rasmus is making his ninth start of the season, with a T12 at the WM Phoenix Open his best outing. Nicolai is making his eighth start of the season, with his best finish coming at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld (8th). He enters the week with four straight missed cuts.

World No. 4 and Zurich ambassador Collin Morikawa and fellow American Kurt Kitayama opened with an 11-under 61 and are tied in third place at 11-under.

Australian Cam Davis and Canadian Adam Svensson share third place with Paul Peterson (USA) and Thomas Rosenmueller (Germany) as well as Kris Ventura (Norway) and Antoine Rozner (France).

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry of Ireland opened with a 64 in a bid to become the first team to successfully defend their title and are currently T28 at 8-under.

More scores of 62 or better were made in a single round on Thursday than since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans became a team event in 2017: 12 (2025/R1), 9 (2019/R1), 8 (2018/R1, 2022/R1).

Format

This is the eighth year the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played in a two-man team format. It was 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.

Related: Former World No.1 encourages golfers to go the distance in Prostate Cancer UK’s Big Golf Race

Support comes as survey of 2,000 golfers reveals more than half would take on epic fundraising challenge.