The PGA Tour’s Fall Series churns on with its only Asian based event in this week’s ZOZO Championship.
This season marks the sixth playing of the event and outside of the 2020 edition, it has been played annually at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Chiba, Japan.
The ZOZO Championship is co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR and the Japan Golf Tour and was first put into place in 2019 to expand the PGA TOUR’s global footprint.
Additionally, unlike what we’ve seen across the beginning of the PGA Tour’s Fall Series, this week is a limited field event, seeing just 78 golfers make the field.
As previously mentioned, the ZOZO Championship is the only PGA Tour event held on Asian soil. The now debunked WGC events once saw events played in Asia.
The Field
Although this week features a limited field, it will undoubtedly be the most talented field we’ve seen across the PGA Tour’s Fall Series to this point.
Xander Schauffele, defending PGA Championship and Open Championship winner as well as the World No. 2, headlines this week's star-studded field.
Collin Morikawa, the defending champion of this event and the world No. 4, is back to defend his title.
World No. 7 and 2021 winner of the ZOZO Championship, Hideki Matsuyama looks to win for the second time on home soil this week.
Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im and Max Homa come in as other golfers within the top 30 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) that will be teeing it up this week.
Additionally, a multitude of golfers who played last week in Las Vegas at the Shriners Children’s Open will be making the trans-Pacific trip to play this week.
Keegan Bradley (2022) and Tiger Woods (2019) are the other two former winners of this event in Japan but won’t be playing this week.
The Course
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Chiba, Japan will be the host this week and has held four of the previous five editions of this event.
It plays as a Par 70 at 7,079 yards.
This infamous Japanese track was opened in 1965 during the height of the Japanese golf craze and was designed with inspiration from the classical work of Great Britain golf architecture.
Narashino Country Club is a 36-hole facility made up of two separate courses (King and Queen) and this week’s event will consist of a composite of the two courses.
This venue was built in a way to mask the urban and suburban surroundings in an effort to allow those playing to escape the every-day working grind.
Due to this, each hole features a wall of trees to block out the surrounding area. With the wall of trees comes very narrow and tight fairways.
Other lines of defense offered by this course is water that is in play on several holes and the inclusion of a multitude of bunkers.
Older golf courses in Japan, such as this one, feature two greens on every hole so golf could be played all year round. Since then, the greens at Narashino have been converted to Bentgrass which removed the need for multiple greens.
However, to honor the two-green tradition, the PGA TOUR has included one hole per year to be played using both greens. In 2019 it was the par-four fourth hole and in 2021 and 2022 they used the fifth hole to continue the tradition.
If a golfer lands on the incorrect green, the “wrong green” local rule will be enforced which will allow the golfer relief off the green no closer to the hole and no penalty will be enforced.
The greens featured this week are also smaller than average to go along with the already narrow and tree-lined fairways.
Accuracy off the tee will be of the utmost importance to not only find the fairways and stay away from the trees, but to avoid the water and sand in play.
Accurate iron play will then continue the need for accuracy to find these smaller-than-average greens.
Additionally, putting has been one of the most important aspects of this course through the previous four editions.
The Weather
As of the time of writing this, there is a chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Thursday currently calls for the highest chance of precipitation at 60-percent. Friday is calling for a 40-percent chance, Saturday a 30-percent chance and Sunday a 40-percent chance. Temperatures will remain around 72-to-73 degrees across all four days as winds will settle in the mid-to-high single digits in terms of miles-per-hour. In all, what we can expect out of Japanese weather.
Key Stats
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)
Ball Striking
Proximity to the Hole from 175-plus Yards
Strokes Gained: Putting on Bentgrass (SG: PUTT Bentgrass)
Par 5 Average Scoring
Par 3 Average Scoring
Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)
Driving Accuracy / Good Drives Gained
Scrambling
Bogey Avoidance
DFS Suggestions
$10,000+
Being a limited field event, I’ll be suggesting just one golfer per price range. Kicking off this top price range is none other than Xander Schauffele ($11,500.) He’s obviously the most expensive guy in this field which often scares people off. Even so, I feel like $11,500 is still a discount for the second best golfer in the world. He realistically should be $12,000 or above. Schauffele is currently first on Tour in all of par three average scoring, scrambling and bogey avoidance. He is also seventh in SG: APP, ninth in ball striking, 14th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 15th in par five average scoring, 16th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 30th in GIR%, 74th in driving accuracy and 79th in good drives. We obviously haven’t seen him since the TOUR Championship where he finished T4th. We know what makes up Schauffele at this point, there’s no going in listing his 2024 accolades which include two major titles and an endless amount of top fives and tens. He also placed T9th here in 2022 and T10th back in 2019.
$9,000-$9,900
I’m going with Kurt Kitayama ($9,200) in this price range. After what could have been described as a down year for Kitayama, he has found some form as of late. He’s fresh off a T9th at last week’s Shriners Children’s Open. He also placed T25th at the Black Desert Classic and T6th at the 3M Open. He also placed T16th at this event a season ago and T38th back in 2022. Kitayama is currently first on Tour in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, ninth in SG: APP, 11th in par three average scoring, 28th in ball striking, 37th in bogey avoidance, 39th in scrambling, 52nd in GIR%, 53rd in par five average scoring, 55th in good drives, 105th in driving accuracy and 155th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass.
$8,000-$8,900
Next up we have Doug Ghim ($8,600.) Ghim played here once before, in 2021 where he placed T66th. However, he too recently has found some form. He finished runner-up to J.T. Poston last week at the Shriners Children’s Open. He also placed T25th at the Black Desert Classic, T33rd at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T47th at the Procore Championship during the Fall Series. He is currently fifth on Tour in both SG: APP and GIR%, seventh in bogey avoidance, eighth in ball striking, tenth in good drives, 14th in driving accuracy, 32nd in par five average scoring, 35th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 37th in scrambling, 67th in par three average scoring and 143rd in SGL PUTT Bentgrass.
$7,000-$7,900
I really like Patrick Fishburn ($7,400) this week. He is currently first on Tour in GIR%, second in ball striking, fourth in both good drives and bogey avoidance, ninth in par five average scoring, 36th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 44th in scrambling, 47th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 52nd in par three average scoring, 83rd in driving accuracy and 119th in SG: APP. Although he’s struggled through his last three events, he had a run of events where he placed 15th at the ISCO Championship, third at the Barracuda Championship, T6th at the 3M Open and third at the Procore Championship. He’ll be making his ZOZO Championship debut this week. He’s also on my betting card at +7500.
$6,900-
My final play this week is Nate Lashley ($6,500.) When going with Schauffele, we have to find some ways to save a few dollars and Lashley allowed that to happen. He’s made the cut in three consecutive events coming into this week on the Fall Series, highlighted by a T29th at last week’s Shriners Children’s Open. He placed T41st here last year as well. He is currently third on Tour in par three average scoring, ninth in good drives, 19th in driving accuracy, 30th in scrambling, 32nd in bogey avoidance, 44th in GIR%, 48th in ball striking, 62nd in SG: APP, 63rd in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 69th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards and 116th in par five average scoring.
Betting Card
Sahith Theegala (+1800)
Patrick Fishburn (+7500)
Ryo Hisatsune (+17000)
Sahith Theegala (+1800)
We last saw Theegala at the Procore Championship where he placed T7th. He also finished the season with a third place finish at the TOUR Championship. Theegala placed T19th here a season ago. He also placed T5th here in 2022. He is currently 37th on Tour in par five average scoring, 44th in SG: APP, 47th in ball striking, 60th in GIR%, 66th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 69th in scrambling, 74th in par three average scoring, 78th in good drives, 84th in bogey avoidance, 101st in driving accuracy and 111th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards.
Ryo Hisatsune (+17000)
You know I love to play at least one guy teeing it up on home soil when an event is held outside of the United States. This week, that is Hisatsune. He is currently 13th on Tour in good drives, 21st in GIR%, 36th in ball striking, 46th in driving accuracy, 47th in SG: APP, 52nd in bogey avoidance, 74th in par three average scoring, 80th in proximity to the hole from 175-plus yards, 129th in both SG: PUTT Bentgrass and par five average scoring and 134th in scrambling. He placed T6th in this event a year ago as well as T12th in 2022 and T52nd in 2021. We last saw him at the Black Desert Championship where he placed T25th. He also placed T3rd at the 3M Open.
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