ZoZo Championship 2022 Betting Preview/Prop Picks
12 October 2022
The PGA Tour returns to Japan for the third time for the 2022 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. This is the fourth edition of the event, which made one stop in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tournament play begins on Thursday, October 13th, and ends on Sunday, October 16th.
Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan has been the host course of the tournament every time it has been held in the country. Tournament play took place at Sherwood Country Club in 2020 when PGA tournaments were played in the United States only.
Hideki Matsuyama returns to his home country looking to defend his 2021 title. Matsuyama ran away with the tournament, defeating Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale by five shots.
The Field
This is the first event with a 78-man field and no cut. The players who earned a spot in the tournament ranked inside the Top 60 in the FedEx Cup Points list at the end of last season, the top seven players from the Japan Golf Tour, the top three finishers at Bridgestone Open, and eight sponsorship exemptions.
Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa join Matsuyama in a deep field across the Pacific Ocean. Last week's Shriners Children's Hospital Open winner Tom Kim is in the field and trying to make it two in a row.
The Course
Narashino Country Club is a par-70 with a length of approximately 7,079 yards. The course was designed by Shinya Fujita and is a parkland-style layout, a common course profile in Japan.
Like many courses in the country, there are two greens for each hole on the property. The layout the pros will play is a combination of the two 18-hole courses on the property. There will be three par 5s and five par 3s on the scorecard, a unique combination for 18 holes.
The Dunkel Index for the Shriners Children's Hospital Open
The Dunkel Index gives us the top 10 golfers that could win the event. The players are below:
- Tom Tim -30.400
- Xander Schauffele -34.431
- Sungjae Im -35.137
- Tom Hoge -37.981
- Tommy Fleetwood -38.410
- Cameron Young -38.536
- Hideki Matsuyama -40.003
- Viktor Hovland -40.312
- Tyrrell Hatton -40.891
- Andrew Putnam -41.203
Potential Winning Pick
South Korea's Sungjae Im (-35.137) is coming off a seventh-place finish last week in Las Vegas in his first event on the PGA Tour since the Presidents Cup.
Im didn't make the trip to Japan last year, but the 24-year-old, two-time winner on the PGA Tour captured a T3 here in 2019.
Prop Pick
Top 20 Finish: Tom Kim (-165)
Kim is taking the PGA Tour by storm right now. The 20-year-old Korean won the Wyndham Championship in August in just his 14th start then followed that up last week with a win at the Shriners. His two victories in just 18 starts is faster than even Tiger Woods (20 starts).
Rated No. 1 in this week’s Dunkel Index, Kim is a viable pick to make it back-to-back championships, but at a minimum take him (-165) to finish in the Top 20.
Tournament Matchup: Cameron Young (-120) OVER Viktor Hovland
Young had a breakout season last year with three second-place finishes, including at the Open Championship. He ranked No. 3 in driving distance (319.3) and No. 6 in birdie average (4.41).
Hovland was red hot at the start of the season that included a win at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. But he was not as consistent down the stretch and finished No. 7 in birdie average (4.37) and No. 37 in driving distance (308.4).
With Young rated No. 6 in this week’s Dunkel Index and Hovland at No. 8, these two should be looking to get started on a strong note, but take Young (-120) to have the edge in this matchup in Japan.
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