Xander Schauffele is our top pick this week to win the 2021 Zozo Championship
This week, the PGA Tour travels over the Pacific Ocean to Japan, for the 2021 Zozo Championship. Narashino Country Club plays host this week to an elite field of some of the best players on the PGA Tour, in what is Japan's only PGA Tour event.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
First contested in 2019, the Zozo Championship is the first and only PGA Tour event to be played in Japan. Tiger Woods won the inaugural event, which too was hosted by Narashino Country Club.
In 2020, due to Covid restrictions, the event was forced to move to the US, where Patrick Cantlay won with a score of 23-under at Sherwood Country Club in California.
The Zozo Championship is very similar to its Korean counterpart, the CJ Cup, and is part of an effort by the PGA Tour to bring PGA Tour golf to East Asian markets and fans.
Like the CJ Cup, the tournament is an invitational. 78 players receive invites, including the Top 60 of last season's FedEx Cup Rankings, the current Top 7 players on the Japan Golf Tour's money list, the Top 3 players in the Bridgestone Open, as well as 8 sponsor exemptions.
Narashino Country Club is no stranger to hosting large events. The tight, tree lined course measures 7,224 yards in length and will play as a par 72. Like many Japanese courses, the holes at Narashino feature two greens. The idea behind this is that, in an effort to play golf across multiple seasons, one green is used during the summer and one during the winter, with the greens featuring different grass types to accommodate this. Winter greens will usually feature bentgrass, whereas summer greens bermuda grass.
OUR PICKS THIS WEEK
Like the CJ Cup, we are seeing some of the best golfers tee it up this week. Given this, here are our picks this week:
1) Xander Schauffele
2) Tommy Fleetwood
3) Mackenzie Hughes
For Xander, Japan holds great memories, especially after his gold medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics. Let's see if he can channel that positive energy into a win. For Fleetwood, he has been playing good golf post-Ryder Cup including a T7 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. For the Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, his season is off to a good start as well, including a T25 finish last week at the CJ Cup.
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Since the event is being contested in Japan, play will kick off Wednesday evening, with the first tee times starting at 7:30PM Eastern Time. This is sure to be an exciting event with lots of drama and great golf.
Stay tuned for our Weekend Update post to see the storylines heading into the weekend,
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
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