The PGA Tour’s fall swing heads to Asia for this week’s Zozo Championship, which begins Thursday at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan.
The field is highlighted by two Zozo regulars in Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa, along with Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama. Our golf experts preview the event and share their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.
ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Chiba, Japan, Oct. 24-27
Course: Accordia Golf Narashino CC (Par 70, 7,079 Yards)
Purse: $8.5M (Winner: $1.53M)
Defending Champion: Collin Morikawa
FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (All times Golf Channel)
X: @ZozoChamp
PROP PICKS
–Doug Ghim to beat Will Zalatoris (-155 at DraftKings): Ghim has been grinding throughout the fall, with a solo second last week the latest in a string of six consecutive made cuts while his world ranking has improved from No. 137 to a career-high No. 93. Meanwhile, Zalatoris has slid to 60th as he makes his first start of the fall. He did follow four consecutive events in which he didn’t reach the weekend with a T12 and T13 in the first two legs of the playoffs.
–Gary Woodland Top 30 Finish (+105 at BetRivers): With the field limited to 72 players, Woodland only needs to beat 42 for this prop to cash. He’s pressing through the fall to earn critical status for signature events next year, and Woodland is coming off a T9 in Las Vegas following a T16 at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
–Rickie Fowler Top 20 Finish (+190 at DraftKings): This is the third fall event for Fowler, who is similarly trying to secure entry into marquee events for 2025. Following solid finishes at Sanderson (T16) and Las Vegas (T23) he arrives in Japan, where Fowler stumbled to a T64 in 2023. He arrives in better form this year and has a particular fondness for playing in Japan, where his maternal grandfather is from.
2024 Prop Picks Record: 49-55
BEST BETS
–Xander Schauffele (+400 at DraftKings) has posted a career-high 15 top-10 finishes this season, including his first two major titles. Schauffele won the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where his maternal grandparents live, and makes his sixth consecutive start at the Zozo.
–Collin Morikawa (+700) has not won a stroke-play event since the Zozo last year as he attempts to become the first player to successfully defend at the Zozo. This is his first start since the Tour Championship, where he did record the lowest 72-hole score.
–Hideki Matsuyama (+800), who is from Ehime, Japan, won the event in 2021 and was the runner-up in 2019. He also has two wins this year.
–Justin Thomas (+1800) finished T2 at the 2020 Zozo, which was played at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. This is his first start at Accordia.
NOTES
–The no-cut event is the fifth of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players who will retain exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status. Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards, but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5.
–The tournament scoring record of 261 was set by Tiger Woods in the inaugural event in 2019 and represents Woods’ most recent title.
–The 72-player field includes 48 who competed in Las Vegas last week, 30 of whom made the cut at the Shriners. Joel Dahmen, who withdrew after suffering a four-stroke penalty for too many clubs in his back, also is playing this week. He is currently 129th in the standings.
–Chiba native Kaito Onishi will make his sixth career PGA Tour start after becoming the fourth Japanese player to earn his membership via the Korn Ferry Tour. Onishi moved to Los Angeles with his mother at age 9 and went on to play college golf at Southern California from 2017-21.
–The event, which was first played in 2019, is co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour Organization and the field includes 14 JGTO members.
