I suspect that if you asked the man in the street to describe the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the word 'lottery' might come up along with 'hit-and-giggle' or 'exhibition' or 'why are you asking me about something I'm not interested in and have never heard of while I'm walking my dog?'

But a lottery, it is not. Last year it went to Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, the year before Marc Leishman and Cam Smith. In 2019, Jon Rahm captured this title along with his opportunistic partner, Ryan Palmer. Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy were no longshots in 2018, and we've not had one of those win it since the first edition in this format. Even then, there were strong recent form pointers towards Smith and Jonas Blixt.

With a small field which includes a handful of teams with absolutely no chance whatsoever, this ought to remain one of the more predictable events on the PGA Tour – which has barely thrown up a shock champion this year as it is.

The question is, do the defending champions merit prices as short as 11/4? To answer it, we first need to establish whether there are any negatives relating to Cantlay and Schauffele, who had this won a long way before the finish last year and know each other's games inside out.

I can't find a significant one, not after they each played so well at Harbour Town. It's tempting to suggest that this comes at the end of a busy three weeks for both of them, but Cantlay had lost a play-off for the Heritage before he was the dominant force in their runaway win at TPC Lousiana just days later. Why shouldn't he do the same?

Perhaps defending will catch them out but I doubt that, either. What I will say is that the price simply feels a bit short. They'd have been hard to ignore at 5/1 and more, but at less than 4/1 the line has been drawn for us.

Putt up or shut up...

As for establishing who might be capable of beating them, we have to acknowledge that winning teams have generally featured at least one good putter. Cantlay ranked inside the top 30 this time last year with Schauffele was 60th. Rahm and Palmer boasted remarkably similar statistics while Smith, when he won alongside Leishman, ranked 16th.

Rewind further and Horschel was a solid 51st and it says much about Blixt's capability on the greens that he out-ranked his partner, the aforementioned Smith, when they won here, beating Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown. Again, we're talking about players who can both hold up their end of the bargain on the greens.

There are never any certainties where putting is concerned but with Max Homa having gone a little quiet and Collin Morikawa likewise, I'll chance SUNGJAE IM and KEITH MITCHELL both coming good.

Im was my headline selection last week, finishing in a big share of seventh because he putted poorly and made two bad mistakes among a load of excellent play, before a costly bogey at the final hole.

The putter comes and goes with Im but he'd been solid throughout his previous four starts and made plenty over the first 15 holes on Sunday, which is enough for me to row in again despite what was an immensely frustrating performance. Anything like a good week on the greens and he might've won.

He was 14th last year alongside Ben An and therefore is upgrading partners here with Mitchell, who was sensational when carrying Brandt Snedeker to fourth place in the event in 2021.

Mitchell has been a little quiet lately which rates the main negative, but a top-10 putting display at Sawgrass, another Pete Dye layout where he played really well at the weekend, is a source of encouragement along with the way he began the season.

We know that he's another former Honda Classic winner who occasionally gets really hot on the greens and when he does, it's so often on bermuda grass, but it's his driver that's his main weapon. Mitchell's length and Im's relentless accuracy means we're backing the best driving team in the event for my money.

That platform should make it highly likely that they're in the mix here if their putters fire and I'm willing to take that chance at around the 12/1 mark, with 14s available in selected win-only markets as well as on the exchanges.

My view is that the pool of potential champions is not very big and that double-figure prices about one of the standout teams represents value.

I'll split stakes with TOM KIM and SI WOO KIM, who like the last couple of winners of this event have played team golf together previously.

That's a potentially significant edge and their experience is still fresh in the memory, after they in fact beat Cantlay and Schauffele to earn a precious point in last September's Presidents Cup. Many of you will remember Tom Kim's extraordinary finish to that match and the scenes that ensued.

It's easy to get carried away with such a vivid memory and we do have to accept that neither brings that deadly putting touch to the table, at least on recent form. However, both continue to stripe it, Tom Kim having done so on his Masters debut and then again at Harbour Town, and he definitely has the potential to light up the greens.