The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour team up this week for a new co-sanctioned event, the Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed-team competition which will see 16 leading male players pair up with 16 of golf's strongest female performers.
Taking place over three rounds from Friday to Sunday, the Grant Thornton Invitational is effectively a rebranding of the QBE Shootout, which also took place at Tiburon Golf Club's Gold Course in Naples, Florida, but always featured a predominantly male field.
Each round takes on a different format with a Friday scramble, Saturday foursomes (alternate shot) and Sunday modified foursomes and, as was the case throughout the history of the QBE Shootout, scoring is expected to be ultra-low.
Tiburon, scene of the Shootout from 2001 onwards, is also well known to the LPGA contingent as the host venue for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Ludvig Aberg & Madelene Sagstrom to win Grant Thornton Invitational
Sahith Theegala and Rose Zhang to win Grant Thornton Invitational
Sagstrom And Aberg To Shine
Two betting options stand out at Tiburon and the best of them could be the Swedish dream team of Ludvig Aberg and Madelene Sagstrom, who look capable of claiming the inaugural Grant Thornton title.
Aberg, a Ryder Cup hero and a winner on both of the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour despite only turning professional at the end of June, has legitimate claims to be the best player in this field on current form.
He won the RSM Classic on his last PGA Tour appearance and he has a willing partner in Sagstrom, who has represented Europe in three Solheim Cups and who was a member of the Sweden team which reached the semi-finals of the International Crown earlier in the season.
The pair know each other well - Sagstrom's fiance Jack Clarke is Aberg's caddie - so there shouldn't be any issues with team cohesion, which is not necessarily the same for some of the other pairings, many of whom will have been thrown together due to shared sponsorship deals.
Sagstrom is not quite on a level with some of the other LPGA professionals in the field - world no.1 Lilia Vu and three other members of the world's top five are all in attendance in Ruoning Yin, Celine Boutier and Nelly Korda - but she's an LPGA champion with a solid enough Tiburon record.
LUDVIG ABERG AND MADELENE SAGSTROM TO WIN
Rising American Stars To Strut Their Stuff
The all-American team of Korda and Tony Finau catches the eye on sheer ability, but they could play second fiddle to compatriots Sahith Theegala and Rose Zhang, two rising stars who should enjoy teaming up this weekend.
Theegala has previously enjoyed success at Tiburon, winning the final edition of the QBE Shootout alongside Tom Hoge 12 months ago, and he broke through as an individual in September when winning the Fortinet Championship in his home state of California.
Zhang, another California native, was a decorated amateur who, like her Grant Thornton rival Aberg, has enjoyed a remarkable start to her career, winning on her first professional start at the Mizuho Americas Open in May, then finishing in the top ten in three of the four Majors.
The 20-year-old made her Tour Championship debut at Tiburon last month, finishing 13th, which was a solid sighter ahead of this week's tournament.
SAHITH THEEGALA AND ROSE ZHANG TO WIN
