As the calendar season for the PGA Tour heads down the final stretch, 78 golfers will make the trip to the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club for this no-cut event. Set just outside Japan’s expansive capital city of Tokyo, the ZOZO Championship is currently the only PGA Tour event held in Asia.
The course is a shorter Par 70 and features narrow tree-lined fairway corridors, six dogleg holes, five par 3s, and smaller-than-average bentgrass greens. It is a course unique to Japanese-style golf. This will be the fifth edition of the ZOZO Championship in Japan.
While last year was quite pleasant, difficult weather conditions affected each of the first three events here. In 2019, the course played slightly under par but dealt with the remnants of a monsoon and was inundated with six inches of rainfall. In 2021, cold and rainy conditions made play difficult and the course played a half-stroke over par. 2022’s first round dealt with rainy conditions and the course ended up playing 0.85 strokes under par.
Elite golfers have dominated each of the four years of the ZOZO Championship. After Tiger Woods won the inaugural event in 2019, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, and Collin Morikawa have won the three most recent editions.
The Field
At the same course where Tiger Woods earned his 82nd PGA Tour victory in 2019 to tie Sam Snead’s record, Collin Morikawa will return to defend his win from last year. Overall, eight of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are committed to the ZOZO Championship, including Japan’s favorite son, and 2021 ZOZO Championship winner, Hideki Matsuyama.
Other notable players in attendance include Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im, Min Woo Lee, Max Homa, Justin Thomas, and Will Zalatoris. There are currently 67 golfers in the field with the 11 remaining spots in the field to be filled by the top eight available from the Japan Golf Tour’s money list through this week’s Japan Open Golf Championship and three sponsor exemptions restricted to Japan Golf Tour members.
A full 500 FedExCup points will be awarded to the winner. While there are plenty of golfers who are already inside the top 50 of the FedExCup standings which were finalized at the conclusion of the Tour Championship, there remains much to play for. Some in the field will be jockeying for valuable FedExCup Fall points, while others will be looking to nail a spot in “The Next 10”.
Most Important Stats For Success at Narashino CC
*In order of importance
- SG: APP
- Good Drive %
- Scrambling
- SG: Putting (Bent)
- Opportunities Gained
- Proximity (150-200 yds)
- Total Driving
- Fairways Gained
- SG: Tough Scoring Conditions
- Bogeys Avoided
ZOZO Championship – Final Model
In each preview article and on Discord, I present my final model, which gives a detailed player ranking of the most important stats and splits for the week. My modeling is built around the PGA’s Strokes Gained data, which is divided into SG: Off the Tee (OTT), SG: Approach (APP), SG: Around the Green (ARG), and SG: Putting (P). Learn more about Strokes Gained and why it can be so useful in analyzing the past and predicting future performance. Many of these specific metrics and conditions can be found in “The Rabbit Hole“, with my final model exclusively published here and in the Discord for subscribers.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dfn3kfa4NHrfNzuKVZzHMFmtn-mCVcEsLqVc8ThA__A/edit?usp=sharing
Outright Betting Selections
For the most up-to-date picks, check out my Twitter and subscribe to our Discord at BetspertsGolf.com.
*Lines accurate at the time of publication.
- Schauffele +500 (4u) – Rivers
Finishing Position Picks
Top 10
- Matsuyama -110 (1.1u) – Rivers
- Im +150 (1u) – Rivers
Top 20
- Kitayama -110 (1.1u) – Rivers
- M.W. Lee +100 (1u) – DK
- S.W. Kim +115 (1u) – DK
- Hossler +120 (1u) – DK
- Spaun +140 (1u) – DK
- Hoge +150 (1u) – DK
Top 30
- Meissner +100 (1u) – Rivers
- N. Taylor +130 (1u) – DK
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Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images