Check out which men are in the hat for Fort Lauderdale

• Facebook
• Twitter

Casey and his new partner Stafford Slick have received one of the main draw wildcards

New American partnership Casey Patterson and Stafford Slick have been granted a wildcard into the Fort Lauderdale Major, which kicks-off the five-star season later this month.

The duo, who joined forces during the off-season, are one of four men’s teams from the USA that make up the Fort Lauderdale Major main draw, lining up alongside top-ranked teams Nick Lucena/Phil Dalhausser, Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb and John Hyden/Theo Brunner.

The second main draw wildcard was awarded to Italian pair Alex Ranghieri and Marco Caminati, who finished fifth in the opening World Tour tournament of the season in The Hague last month.

One of the biggest stories from the men’s draw is that last year’s Fort Lauderdale Major gold medalists, Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa, miss out. Instead, the South Americans have been handed a wildcard for the qualification stage. The duo found themselves the fifth-ranked Brazilian team, based on their points haul in the last 365 days.

Among the three Brazilian teams who have qualified for the main draw are 2017 World Champions Evandro Gonçalves/Andre Loyola Stein, who were runners-up in Fort Lauderdale 12 months ago, and 2016 Olympic winners Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt.

The second qualification wildcard was awarded to American tandem Billy Allen and Ryan Doherty – who will be one of the 32 teams battling for eight places in the main draw.

Want to know the rest of the teams who will go into battle on the beach in Florida from February 27? Then check out the full list here.

Click here to find out more about the full women's entry list.