PGA Tour Tips
The Zozo Championship – Date: Oct 13–16, 2022
The PGA tour heads to Japan for the Zozo Championship which will be played at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, a Par 70 that plays 7041 yards. The Zozo was first hosted here in 2019 and won by Tiger Woods who was 3 strokes clear of second place finisher and Japan national, Hideki Matsuyama. The field will consist of 78 players and just like the CJ Cup there will be no cut line. So right off the bat we should be targeting guys who have the ability to go super low given that everyone will have 4 rounds to try and win this thing. The winning score should be in the neighborhood of 20 under. There isn’t much course history here for the non Japanese Tour players so we’ll definitely be looking at how guys did here in 2019. We don’t put as much clout into the whole traveling fatigue thing as others but will consider how golfers handled the travel and performed in the Olympics. 4 of the par 3s will play between 175-200 yards so we’ll be looking at par 3 scoring 175-200 yards. The par 4s will present an interesting challenge with 5 of them playing 405 yards or less and 3 of them and 4 of them playing 498 yards or longer. It’s a tree lined course and because of the long par 4s they won’t be able to just club down off the tee. Because of this we believe SG: Off The Tee is going to be important, specifically driving accuracy. As usual we will place a heavy emphasis on ball striking, also going to look at recovery skills due to the possibility of wayward drives and trees presenting trouble. Looking at the 2019 leader-board we see names like Tiger, Deki, Im, McIlroy, Connors, Schauffele, and Keegan Bradley. These are all very good approach players so this tells us that this is in fact a second shot golf course. So its worth looking for excellent approach players here. A few of those players are average to bad putters so we don’t think that plays a huge role this week.
Target Player Profile: We want guys that can go low, are solid and mostly accurate off the tee, excellent approach play, above average ball strikers, and we will put a light emphasis on recovery ability as well. An example of someone to look at this week is Johnny Vegas, he’s excellent off the tee, has been very good on approach, he can go low, and he’s been tearing the cover off the ball. If he can put at all this track should set up very very well for him.
Betting Picks – Most On Line Bookmakers Paying 8+Places.
Viktor Hovland @14/1
Were hoping he can fly under the radar a bit here given lack of history and we can pick him up in the 4000 range. His history isn’t great but on paper he’s a perfect fit for this course, so let’s see where things come out.
Xander Schauffele @7/1
One of the out standing players of the year, will look to dominate here this week.
Matthew Nesmith @40/1
Two straight top tens and a good all around profile, we’ll be looking to put some risk on him early while the odds are hot.
Tommy Fleetwood @28/1
A world class player who has had an inconsistent year but is due a win.
Our top 4 picks with odds correct at time of posting, we suggest Each Way money on bigger odds Picks.
The Zozo Championship is a professional golf tournament in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, which is located in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour and the PGA Tour. It is also sponsored by ZOZO, a Japanese clothing brand.
Image Credit: corp.zozo.com
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