Southwest Florida golf: Meet the 2021 QBE Shootout teams

Meet the 12 two-person teams for the 2021 QBE Shootout, from Wednesday through Sunday at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort:

Harris English — Matt Kuchar

English and Kuchar will partner for the seventh time. The most successful pairing in Shootout history, this team has also recorded two runner-up finishes (2014, 2015). Hank Kuehne-Jeff Sluman won in ’03 and ’04 while Brad Faxon-Scott McCarron won in ’00 and ’01 as the other multiple winners. The duo holds the tournament record for largest margin of victory, nine strokes last year. They also held the previous record when they won by seven in 2013.

Lexi Thompson — Bubba Watson

Watson will be making his seventh appearance. Thompson will be making her fifth start with her fourth different teammate. Thompson’s best finish was a T4 with Tony Finau in 2017 and Watson’s fifth place last year with Louis Oosthuizen is his best. Thompson has played on five Solheim Cup teams while Watson has been a member of six U.S. national teams — Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Jason Day — Marc Leishman

This Australian team will be partnered in the QBE Shootout for the first time. At the 2017 Presidents Cup, they were paired together for the first three matches and came up empty in a U.S. victory that year. Day won here in 2014 with Cameron Tringale. This will be Day’s first appearance since winning that year and Leishman returns for the second consecutive time.

Sam Burns — Billy Horschel

This SEC team, LSU and Florida, respectively, is one of the nine new teams. Horschel will be making his ninth consecutive start and Burns his first. Both players qualified for the TOUR Championship in September and finished in the top 20. Both also won this year. Burns won the Valspar Championship in the spring and Sanderson Farms Championship last month. Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup champion, won the WGC-Match Play in March. Between them, they accumulated 14 top-10 finishes in the 2020-2021 season.

Jason Kokrak — Kevin Na

Na, is making his third appearance. His best was a T2 in 2020 with Sean O’Hair. Kokrak and J.T. Poston were runners-up in 2019 in Jason’s only appearance prior to this year. Another new team and pairing that won as individuals during the 2020-21 season. Kokrak won the CJ Cup last October and Na won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

Charles Howell III — Ian Poulter

Poulter was scheduled to play with Lee Westwood, but Westwood withdrew due to an illness. Howell III will be making his 12th appearance in the Shootout, so Poulter is getting someone who is very accustomed to the formats. Poulter will be making his eighth start, and won with Dustin Johnson in 2010.

Max Homa — Kevin Kisner

Kisner will be playing in his fifth Shootout. He played four consecutive before missing last year and his best finish was 4th place with Kevin Chappell in 2016. Homa is a Shootout rookie. One of Kisner’s career titles is the 2019 WGC-Match Play and he was undefeated at the 2017 Presidents Cup with a 2-0-2 record. In September, Homa won the Fortinet Championship to start his season and record his second win in the calendar year.

Brian Harman — Hudson Swafford

These two Georgia Bulldogs and Sea Island, Georgia, residents, will be playing for the first time together. Harman won with another Sea Island resident Patton Kizzire in 2018. Swafford is another Naples rookie. Both played on the Bulldog golf team that included Harris English, Chris Kirk, Russell Henley and Brendon Todd — all of whom are Tour winners.

Matt Jones — Ryan Palmer

Playing together for the first time after Jones replaced Harold Varner III, who withdrew with an injury. Palmer and Va rner tied for third in 2019. Jones is making his first appearance. Palmer won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans with Jon

Rahm in 2019. Jones won this year's Honda Classic

Sean O’Hair — Will Zalatoris

O'Hair was scheduled to play with Steve Stricker after the two won the Shootout in 2017, but Stricker withdrew due to a non-COVID-related illness. Zalatoris will play in the Shootout for the first time, but he has a good partner in O'Hair, who also won with Kenny Perry in 2012. Zalatoris is the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

Corey Conners — Graeme McDowell

Another international team representing Canada and Northern Ireland. McDowell is playing in his ninth Shootout while Conners only start was in 2019 when he played with Andrew Putnam. For McDowell, this will be his seventh different partner. He has finished second three times, with Darren Clarke in 2010, Shane Lowry in 2017 and Emiliano Grillo in 2018. Conners accumulated eight top-10 finishes and 19 top 25s in the 2021 season, including a T8 at the Masters.

K.H. Lee — Brandt Snedeker

Snedeker, another FedExCup champion in the field, will be in Naples for the seventh time. He won in 2015 with Jason Dufner. Lee is making his first Shootout appearance after a strong 2020/2021 season that included a win at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Golf: Meet the 2021 QBE Shootout teams in Naples this week