The ZOZO Championship has moved stateside, much like last week’s CJ Cup at Shadow Creek. The players will take on the Sherwood Country Club in Lake Sherwood, California for what is just the second installment of this event. Last year’s tournament was won by Tiger Woods at Narashino Country Club in Japan. Now, Tiger will head to a course that he knows well and has won at before.
There are only 78 players in the field this week once again. The top 60 from the FedEx Cup standings are on hand, as well as the top seven players from the Japan Golf Tour money list and the top three players from the Japan Golf Tour’s Bridgestone Open. There are eight sponsor exemptions as well.
This year’s event is only sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the prize purse has been cut from $9.75 million to $8 million and the first-place cut is down from $1.755 million to $1.44 million. Still, with no cut line, a smaller field, and a newish and exciting course, we still have a terrific field on hand.
Odds are from MyBookie Sportsbook and we’ll post them here since the field is half the size instead of waiting until the end of the article.
Dustin Johnson is still missing from his positive COVID-19 test prior to last week’s CJ Cup, but just about every other big name is on hand this week with the exception of Bryson DeChambeau, who continues to be in the lab prepping for next month’s Masters. With no cut and an elite field, it will be really tough to look down the board for some long shots this week, but we’ll do the best we can.
JON RAHM | +1000 |
XANDER SCHAUFFELE | +1000 |
RORY MCILROY | +1200 |
JUSTIN THOMAS | +1200 |
TYRRELL HATTON | +2000 |
WEBB SIMPSON | +2000 |
PATRICK REED | +2200 |
COLLIN MORIKAWA | +2200 |
PATRICK CANTLAY | +2800 |
MATTHEW WOLFF | +2800 |
TONY FINAU | +3000 |
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA | +3000 |
VIKTOR HOVLAND | +3300 |
TIGER WOODS | +3300 |
DANIEL BERGER | +3500 |
HARRIS ENGLISH | +3500 |
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK | +3500 |
JOAQUIN NIEMANN | +3500 |
BUBBA WATSON | +3500 |
ADAM SCOTT | +3500 |
TOMMY FLEETWOOD | +4000 |
JASON KOKRAK | +4000 |
SUNGJAE IM | +5000 |
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER | +5000 |
RUSSELL HENLEY | +5000 |
ABRAHAM ANCER | +5000 |
JASON DAY | +5500 |
RICKIE FOWLER | +5500 |
PHIL MICKELSON | +7000 |
PAUL CASEY | +7500 |
SEBASTIAN MUNOZ | +8000 |
BILLY HORSCHEL | +8000 |
CAMERON SMITH | +8000 |
BRENDON TODD | +8000 |
JUSTIN ROSE | +8000 |
GARY WOODLAND | +8000 |
BRIAN HARMAN | +9000 |
JORDAN SPIETH | +9000 |
RYAN PALMER | +11000 |
TALOR GOOCH | +11000 |
LANTO GRIFFIN | +11000 |
ALEX NOREN | +11000 |
KEVIN KISNER | +12500 |
MACKENZIE HUGHES | +12500 |
CAMERON CHAMP | +14000 |
KEVIN NA | +14000 |
COREY CONNERS | +14000 |
KEVIN STREELMAN | +14000 |
MARC LEISHMAN | +16000 |
BYEONG HUN AN | +16000 |
HARRY HIGGS | +16000 |
BRENDAN STEELE | +17500 |
ADAM HADWIN | +15000 |
JOEL DAHMEN | +17500 |
DANNY LEE | +17500 |
ADAM LONG | +20000 |
TYLER DUNCAN | +25000 |
DYLAN FRITTELLI | +22500 |
MARK HUBBARD | +25000 |
TAKUMI KANAYA | +27500 |
RICHY WERENSKI | +30000 |
TOM HOGE | +30000 |
SHUGO IMAHIRA | +30000 |
CARLOS ORTIZ | +30000 |
ANDREW LANDRY | +35000 |
MICHAEL THOMPSON | +35000 |
JAZZ JANEWATTANANOND | +35000 |
NICK TAYLOR | +40000 |
RYO ISHIKAWA | +40000 |
MIKUMU HORIKAWA | +50000 |
RIKUYA HOSHINO | +50000 |
CHAN KIM | +50000 |
SATOSHI KODAIRA | +50000 |
BRAD KENNEDY | +50000 |
GUNN CHAROENKUL | +60000 |
SHAUN NORRIS | +60000 |
NAOKI SEKITO | +75000 |
The Field
Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele are co-favorites at 10/1, with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas close behind at 12/1. Tyrrell Hatton and Webb Simpson are strong contenders at 20/1 and so are Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa at 22/1. Patrick Cantlay and Matthew Wolff are sitting at 28/1 and Tony Finau and Hideki Matsuyama are 30/1. There are a lot of players in really good form, including Phil Mickelson at 70/1 coming off of his second Champions Tour win. Jason Kokrak is 40/1 after his first career PGA Tour win going 20-under with a final-round 64 at the CJ Cup.Course Profile
The Sherwood Country Club hosted the World Challenge from 2000 to 2013, so some of the older, veteran players have seen this course, but a lot of guys haven’t played it much, if at all. This course in Lake Sherwood is near the Santa Monica Mountains and is a very exclusive club. A lot of members have Hollywood ties. This is a short par 72, which brings a lot of players into play this week because it won’t be skewed towards the big hitters. It will measure around 7,100 yards and is a Jack Nicklaus design. Some of the fairway landing spots are tricky and there will be tough angles at some of the pins. Distance control is a huge thing on this course. The green complexes range from big to small and are generally well-protected by hazards. There are elevated tee boxes and there are holes in which the wind can wreak havoc on balls hit up into the jet stream. There will also be some drivable par 4s at points. This course should be a fun challenge and a fun watch for golf fans.Yay or Neigh?
This is our horse for course section and there really isn’t much to say here. Tiger Woods was a five-time winner of the World Challenge here. Graeme McDowell won twice, but he is not in the field. In fact, Tiger is the only player to win the World Challenge in the field. Zach Johnson had a win and a runner-up, but he did not qualify. Keegan Bradley also had a runner-up in 2012 and he is not in the field either. Certainly Phil Mickelson has some experience here from those World Challenge events. For the most part, though, this is a younger field and the World Challenge only had 16 to 18 players while it was at Sherwood, so even most of the “older” guys that play well now weren’t in that exclusive class.GET A 100% WELCOME BONUS TO BET GOLF AT MYBOOKIE SPORTSBOOK