Lahiri and Shubhankar team up for Zurich Classic New Orleans

India's Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma are all set to team up for the USD 7.3 million Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which tees off here Thursday.

The unique event is played on a team format with alternating rounds of Foursomes and four-ball format. The starting field will have 80 teams (160 players).

In the tournament, the top available players from the PGA TOUR Priority Rankings get to choose his partner and Lahiri picked Sharma which is how the 22-year-old came in to play at TPC Louisiana.

The winner of the event get FedEx points players plus a two-year exemption on the Tour.

For Foursomes play, the players will be rotating tee shots, one player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes while the other will hit on even-numbered holes.

For Four-Ball play, players on each team will play his own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole being recorded.

Lahiri, who is a regular on the PGA Tour, said he is looking forward to his partnership with Shubhankar.

"We could be playing World Cups together, the Olympics together and the Presidents Cup together. There could be a partnership in team golf between the two of us and I'm very excited. It takes work to build a good partnership and I see the potential between us over a longer period of time," he said.

"We are very similar in how we play, he's very consistent. It's always fun to play with someone so young as you're fearless. He goes for pins and straight at every flag. That's his nature. He believes he can pull off the shots and he's got the confidence and ability to back up his shots," he added.

Sharma, who holds two European Tour wins, said: "He (Lahiri) has influenced me a lot. I feel it can be a great partnership. We communicate really well and there are no egos. We're great friends and we always share things. If we get into the Presidents Cup, that would be the dream but we have to both play well to get there."