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PGA Tour Betting Picks and Guide: The Zozo Championship (2021)

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For the second straight week, the Tour will play host to a no-cut event, this time the Zozo Champion in Inzai, Japan. Held last year in the United States due to the pandemic, this event is held annually in Japan and was the first-ever PGA Tour-sanctioned event in the country.

Let’s take a closer look at the course and this week’s field to see where the value remains.

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Previous Winners of The Zozo Championship

  • 2020: Patrick Cantlay*
  • 2019: Tiger Woods

*Event was held in the United States (Sherwood CC)

Course Preview (Narashino Country Club)

Located in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, which is on the country’s eastern coast, this course should play similarly to how the Olympic course did for players participating in both. Featuring two greens at every hole, the course is currently measuring at just over 7,000 yards and will be shorter than the average these guys see every week.

The course itself is lined with trees so that driving accuracy will be critical, and Off-The-Tee metrics will be ones we key in on as we parse through the field of 78.

Relevant Betting Stats

  • Driving Accuracy
  • Bent Greens
  • Par 4 Efficiency
  • SG: Approach
  • Approach: 150-200 yards

Outright Betting Picks

Rickie Fowler (+2500 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
It’s been a long time since we mentioned Fowler in one of these articles, but I think the time has come for us to take another look at the now Tour-veteran.

Historically with Fowler, the “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” narrative was one we heard often, but at least he was a bridesmaid. Going back over the last two seasons, we couldn’t even say that.

In 2020 Fowler missed as many cuts as he made, a far cry from the player who was constantly lurking near the top of leaderboards come Sundays at majors. Well, whatever the case, Fowler turned in his best performance last week since May of 2020, doing so in a stacked field amongst the best in the game. It’s also worth noting that while he did fade on Sunday, he still led the field in driving, GIR, and SG: Tee-to-green and looked as good as he has top to bottom in as long as I can remember.

This week he heads to Japan with a lighter field than last week and has another chance to dial in his game and hopefully build on the confidence of shooting 66 or lower in three straight days last weekend.

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