Zozo Championship betting tips: Schauffele big in Japan
Odds and preview for this week’s PGA Tour event
Some big names will be in action at the Narashino Country Club, Japan, as we look at the odds to find some Zozo Championship betting tips.
The PGA Tour makes a welcome return to Asia for the first time since 2019 after the Zozo Championship was contested in California in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Patrick Cantlay won his first event of the season on his way to capturing the FedExCup when rallying from four shots back after 54 holes to win last season’s event, held at Sherwood CC.
Tiger Woods won the inaugural event in 2019 from Hideki Matsuyama.
In all, 78 players will compete with the top 60 from last season’s FedEx Cup points list qualifying, plus sponsor exemptions. There is no cut for the event over a par-70, 7,041-yard course.
Market leaders
The field is top heavy, as it includes big names like Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele (pictured above) and Hideki Matsuyama, plus the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Joaquin Niemann and Will Zalatoris, before the talent is diluted somewhat.
Schauffele, at 5/1, is the favourite and will be hoping to find his first PGA Tour win since the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2019.
The California native came second three times in the 2021 season and in the summer he joined an exclusive band to have won an Olympic gold medal at the Kasumigaseki CC in Saitama.
The 27-year-old was unable to enjoy the moment with fans, but 5,000 will be in attendance this week and the four-time PGA Tour winner will hope that they can spur him on. He has been ultra-consistent in 2021, making eight top-10 finishes in 22 starts, and is still playing some excellent golf.
Morikawa, 11/2, stormed into contention at the CJ Cup in Nevada last weekend with a final-round 62. His iron play was again exceptional and in the end he was just a shot behind winner Rory McIlroy so is worth considering for Zozo Championship betting tips.
His accurate, long drives will be an asset at Narashino, where trees can come into play with alarming regularity. American-born of Japanese heritage, a win for the Open champion would mean a great deal to the 24-year-old.
Matsuyama, 12/1, was runner-up here two years ago and while one of the world’s elite ball-strikers, has not been totally on song the last couple of weeks, finishing T67 at the Shriners Children’s Open and T59 at the CJ Cup.
There will be plenty hoping he will become Japan’s first winner of the Zozo Championship.
At larger odds
Rickie Fowler took a giant step towards relevance with a T3 finish at the CJ Cup. True, he did shoot a 71 after leading by two entering the final round, but this was still a better finish than he had all last season and he is a 22/1 shot this week.
Cameron Tringale has started to find his form again. T22 at the Fortinet Championship and T11 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he posted a solid final-round 68 in the CJ Cup to finish at 10 under.
While he is overdue a PGA Tour success, his game is evolving and he is a 30/1 chance this week in Zozo Championship betting tips.
Si Woo Kim had just one round in the 60s last week and finished 76th of the 78-strong field.
He will have better weeks, and his previous form at the Sanderson Farms (T8) and Fortinet (T11) can’t be ignored. He is a 30/1 shot in a relatively weak field.
Elsewhere
KH Lee merits respect at 50/1. Twice a winner in Japan, last season’s AT&T Byron Nelson winner has posted some decent scores in finishing T14 at the Shriners and T25 at the CJ Cup, and the Korean will certainly have his supporters.
CT Pan (pictured above) has finished T11 and T6 in his first two starts of this season, and earned a bronze medal the last time he competed in Japan. He has played the course before and his odds are 55/1.
Matt Wallace was third in the Texas Open and T6 in the Wells Fargo, and after missing the cut in the Sanderson Farms, bounced back with a solid T14 finish in the Shriners.
It would not be a shock to see the Englishman high on the leaderboard on Sunday. He is a 60/1 shot in the Zozo Championship betting tips list.
All odds and markets correct at time of publication
