Zozo Championship: PGA Tour Odds and Prediction
Zozo Championship Background
The PGA Tour debuted its first-ever tournament in Korea in 2017, which is where the Tour visited last week. This week, it’s the Tour’s debut in Japan with the inaugural Zozo Championship. It’s easily the best field so far in the new 2019-20 season thanks a purse of $9.75 million (US) and just the chance for some of the big names to perhaps benefit from a marketing perspective by playing in golf-mad Japan.
The PGA Tour opened an office in Tokyo in 2016. Every year since 1993, the PGA Tour has had at least one Japanese player. Five players from the country have accounted for a total of 11 PGA Tour wins, led by Hideki Matsuyama with five. Zozo is a clothing retailer.
This event essentially replaces the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, which is no longer part of the Tour schedule. It’s a 78-player field with no cut and there are a handful of spots held for the top earning players on the Japan Golf Tour as the event is co-sponsored by the Japan Golf Tour Organization. The Accordia Golf Narashino County Club is a par 70 measuring around 7,000 yards located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, a suburb of Tokyo.
The 2020 Olympics are in Japan and those golf competitions will be held at the Kasumigaseki Country Club, a private course in Saitama.
Zozo Championship Betting Favourites
Justin Thomas is the +569 Sports Interaction betting favourite as he looks to win back-to-back weeks. He got his 11th career PGA Tour title Sunday at the CJ Cup in Korea. Thomas shot a final-round 5-under 67 to beat out Danny Lee by two.
Rory McIlroy is +718 – he, Tiger Woods (+3100 to win this tournament), Jason Day (+3100) and Matsuyama (+1600) all played in a Skins Game at this course on Monday. Day “won” that with $210,000 (US), while Tiger took home $60,000, McIlroy $60,000 and Matsuyama $20,000. This is McIlroy’s first official PGA Tour start since he won the 2018-19 season-ending Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. He was also named PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Matsuyama clearly will be the fan favourite for this event.
Canadian Golfer Odds
Adam Hadwin is +3700 to win with Corey Conners at +6800. Hadwin has had a great start to the season with a runner-up and tie for fourth. He didn’t play last week. Conners did and finished T12.
Zozo Championship Predictions
Obviously tough to handicap a debut tournament with no course history to examine. We like Hadwin for a Top 10 as well as Matsuyama but the winner is England’s Tommy Fleetwood at +2600. He was 20th in Korea.