The PGA Tour will take their show outside the USA this week when they travel to Japan. The ZOZO Championship will have a field of 78 golfers and it is a no cut event. There is a $11M prize purse in Japan so the field will be stronger than you would think for a tournament so far away from home. Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Victor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Terrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Corey Conners and Cameron Young are some of the golfers in the field this week.
The tournament starts in the morning in Japan and that is Wednesday night for the people in the United States. That means our lineups must be in by 10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday night.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
The ZOZO Championship will be played at the Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Tiba, Japan. The tournament was played at this course last year and in 2019. Hideki Matsuyama won last year and he finished second to Tiger Woods in 2019. Some of the golfers were “freaked out” by the course because there are two greens on some holes. The PGA Tour will decide which green to use on which days of competition.
This is a short course. It only plays 7,225 yards and is a par 72. The bombers will not have an advantage this week. The golfers who are accurate off the tee and hit greens in regulation will have the advantage this week. That brings a lot of the field into play.
It is going to be tough to handicap this tournament because it is tough to predict how the time change will affect the golfers and the course is easy enough that most of the field should be able to score well.
Click here for the course preview: Narashino Country Club
KEY STATS FOR ZOZ CHAMPIONSHIP
– Shots Gained Tee-to-Green
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Shots Gained Putting (Bentgrass)
– Birdie or Better %
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP STRATEGY
When the PGA Tour has a condensed field with no cut, I like to build a “stars and scrubs” lineup. I select four or five golfers priced over $9K and pair them with many different combinations of golfers priced below the mid-$7K range. We are guaranteed four rounds with all golfers, so we do not need to worry about our scrubs missing the cut. All we need is the scrubs to play decent and our stars to dominate for this strategy to work out. I also cut down on my Cash Contest play in fields similar to the Zozo Championship.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the 4TH tournament of Segment 1. There are 8 tournaments in this segment and most of the top golfers will sit out many of the events. You should not need to save allocations in segment one. Simply play the best golfers available.
* If you are looking to join a Fantasy Golf League, I still have openings in my league. Click this link to join: Fantasy Golf League
ONE & DONE PICK: Christian Bezuidenhout (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP)
Players Used This Season in One & Done: Cameron Davis (37th), Denny McCarthy (39th), Brendon Steele (CUT)
BEST BETS ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP
Hideki Matsuyama (14-1)
Mito Pereira (35-1)
Keegan Bradley (35-1)
Tom Hoge (40-1)
Christian Bezuidenhout (40-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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