2024 ZOZO Championship Golf Odds Preview: Everything To Know About Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club
A breath of fresh air in the midst of what has been an otherwise unremarkable Fall Swing, the 2024 ZOZO Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club welcomes a level of star power we haven’t seen in action since the TOUR Championship. This invitational event will showcase plenty of name-brand stars, with Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, and Max Homa all headlining in Japan. Let’s dive into a course preview and an early look at ZOZO Championship odds.
We’ll have one of the most pristine and picturesque golf courses on the PGA TOUR schedule on tap in Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. Despite the short yardage, it imposes a stern test on this limited field of 78 players. Bogey avoidance stands at a premium, and the course rewards the most skilled ball strikers. Although we operate without the aid of strokes gained data from ShotLink here, this is not a course where players have discovered their games. So I’ll weigh recent form much heavier than for the recent birdie-fest events we’ve seen in the Fall Swing.
Now, let’s get into the key facts and info about Accordia Golf Narashino before betting on ZOZO Championship odds. Be sure to lock in the best sportsbook promo codes from golf betting sites this week.
zozo championship Golf ODDS: THE FAVORITES
Here are the favorites for ZOZO Championship golf odds. Scroll to the bottom of this post to compare odds for the entire field across betting apps in your state.
ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: FIELD AT A GLANCE
If the PGA TOUR’s position in the global game of golf has been put into question, the ZOZO Championship is its answer. Many of its brightest stars have made the trip to the other side of the globe to make their 2024 fall debuts. We’ll see six of the OWGR top-20 rated players in the world tee it up.
Xander Schauffele is the highest-ranked player in the field. He will be poised to contend after a breakthrough 2024 season. He’s been outspoken about his Japanese heritage, a motivating factor when earning the gold medal at Kasumigaseki for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He’ll be joined by some big names including Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im, and Hideki Matsuyama as the field’s headliners.
Morikawa is your defending champ at the ZOZO Championship and has made the trip for his title defense. 2021 ZOZO Championship winner Hideki Matsuyama is also back in this limited field, sure to draw the attention of the local Japanese crowd throughout the week.
INTRODUCTION TO ACCORDIA GOLF NARASHINO COUNTRY CLUB
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club is a picturesque private golf course in Shiba, Japan. It hosted Japan Tour tournaments from 1968-1977. In 2019, it became an official stop on the PGA TOUR schedule, as part of the PGA TOUR’s efforts to expand its footprint more globally. With the deprecation of WGC events, the ZOZO Championship is the only Asia event that remains on the PGA TOUR schedule in 2024.
This will be the fourth installment of the ZOZO Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. It will be an impossible task to live up to the first two, as the inaugural event in 2020 was won by none other than Tiger Woods. The next event, after a stateside relocation due to COVID-19, went to local superstar Hideki Matsuyama in his first appearance at a PGA TOUR event in Japan since winning the Masters. Keegan Bradley and Collin Morikawa have since followed with entertaining wins of their own over the last two years.
In short, Narashino is a narrow, tree-lined course with a diverse layout of holes that will test a multitude of shots throughout a player’s bag. It features an even distribution of holes with distance and accuracy equally beneficial. Complex bunkers and water hazards line these fairways, so the top ball-strikers should rise to the top. Pristine and pure greens mean less guesswork in reading them, which has leveled the playing field for lesser putters like Hideki Matsuyama, Brendan Steele, Corey Conners, and Keegan Bradley.
How It Breaks Down
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club is a short par 70 playing to 7,041 yards on the scorecard, It features a unique layout of five par 3s, 10 par 4s, and three par 5s. The “short” yardage, however, misleads. None of the par 3s are particularly long, with all measuring below 200 yards. With five par-4s measuring over 485 yards, there is some sneaky length to this course which will place a premium on proximity from 175+ in order to find birdie opportunities.
Every hole at Narashino has two sets of greens — one bentgrass, and the other a Bermuda/Zoysia blend. This helps the golf course handle extreme seasonal weather changes between the cold winters (bent) and harsh, dry summers (Bermuda/Zoysia). This week, with temperatures beginning to cool down, they’ll favor the bentgrass greens.
As a stark contrast to TPC Summerlin, Narashino poses a stern tee-to-green test. In its first three years hosting the PGA TOUR, it has produced leaderboards that reward top ball strikers with the ability to scramble for par saves when needed. Outside the confines of the United States, we unfortunately do not have the luxury of ShotLink and strokes gained data to compare with other PGA TOUR stops. With that said, it’ll be an important week to reference a combination of recent form, comp course history, and scoring in moderate to difficult conditions.
NARASHINO GOLF ACCORDIA COUNTRY CLUB COURSE SPECS
- Yards: 7,041
- Par: 70 (5x 3s / 10x 4s / 3x 5s)
- Greens: Bent
- Architect: Kinya Fujita
- Comp Courses: Kasumigaseki CC, Sheshan International GC, Nine Bridges, TPC Kuala Lumpur, Harbour Town, TPC Sawgrass, Colonial, Waialae CC
- Historical Cut Line: N/A
- Past Winners: Collin Morikawa -14 (’23), Keegan Bradley -15 (’22), Hideki Matsuyama -15 (’21), Tiger Woods -19 (’20)
COURSE HISTORY AND COURSE COMPS
The spotlight is always on Hideki Matsuyama whenever he sets foot in Japan. That was amplified when he won the Masters in 2021 and will now reach a fever pitch. One of the most decorated athletes in Japanese sports returns in search of another trophy.
The top 10 in SG: TOT at the ZOZO Championship over its first three years in Japan are Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Beau Hossler, JJ Spaun, Rickie Fowler, Eric Cole, Ryo Hisatsune, and Gary Woodland.
Course Comps
It’s difficult to confidently identify accurate course comps for this week, given the absence of ShotLink data and a sample size of only two years. Matsuyama is the only player who has excelled here in both 2019 and 2021. Waialae CC would seem the top option, as Matsuyama picked up wins on both courses last season. Each features short distances and, at least subjectively, requires a long flight deep into the Pacific. Brendan Steele has also delivered strong results with limited reps at both to support the trend.
On the basis of short game alone, there is some merit to referencing performance at Augusta National. Each plays on pure, pristine Bentgrass greens. Matsuyama and Woods have of course won at Augusta as well, and the trend of strong overlapping play extends to other names like Sungjae Im, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, and Collin Morikawa
Beyond these comps, it would seem just as important to identify players who can travel overseas to Asia and perform well. From the overseas angle, I’m looking at performance at Kasumigaseki, Nine Bridges, Sheshan International and TPC Kuala Lumpur. With this being a treelined, positional par-70 course under 7,200 yards, performance at Colonial CC, Shadow Creek and TPC Sawgrass should serve as solid comps from the PGA TOUR.
Combine performance across this list, and the top-10 players in Comp Course History here are Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Maverick McNealy, Max Homa, Matt Kuchar, Adam Svensson, Ben Griffin, and Ryan Fox.
KEY STATS TO CONSIDER for Zozo championship Golf Odds
- SG: APP / SG: Ball Striking
- Prox: 175+
- Good Drives Gained
- Scrambling Gained / Bogey Avoidance
- Par-3 Scoring
- Par-5: 550-600
- SG: T2G (<7,200 Yards & Difficult Scoring Conditions)
- SG: P (L36)
- Course & Comp Course History
To keep it simple, the ideal player for this week should rank above-average in Course & Comp Course History, Good Drives Gained, SG: T2G (<7,200 Yards), SG: APP, and Birdies or Better Gained. There are 11 players who fit that criteria: Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Adam Svensson, Ben Griffin, Eric Cole, Sungjae Im, Doug Ghim, Seamus Power, Jhonattan Vegas, and Harry Hall.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Gary woodland
If the first four years of the ZOZO Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino are any indication, these grounds are a safe haven for veteran ball strikers who may otherwise be held back by their putting. The narrative also suggests having a previous major championship under your belt may just be a prerequisite to hoisting in Japan.
Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, and Collin Morikawa have emerged victorious in this event over its first four years on the PGA TOUR. They each share the same profile of consistent ball-striking and past major success as Gary Woodland.
Woodland continues to be one of the best feel-good stories on the PGA TOUR, as he continues to look more like his old self since recovering from brain surgery in 2022. The 2024 Fall Swing may be a sign of better days to come, too. He’s now finished T16 and T9 over his last two starts. He’s been flexing his vintage ball-striking strengths recently as well, gaining strokes both off-the-tee and on approach in four of his last five starts. That could prove to be a significant edge at Narashino, which has proven to allow top-tier ball strikers to separate.
This won’t be Woodland’s first look at Narashino, either. He proved to take a liking to this track in his 2019 debut, finishing fifth. Now playing like his old self again with an improved putting baseline, Woodland offers great upside at a discounted price this week.
2024 zozo championship: PLAYER POOL AND MODEL RESULTS
With all the course-fit profiles in mind, I’m leaning early toward the below player pool. Naturally, I’m also looking their way in the PGA TOUR odds. I’ve broken the list down by projected pricing/odds tier for DraftKings.
Model Breakdown
In my model, I’m emphasizing SG: APP, Prox 175+, Good Drives Gained, Comp Course History, SG: TOT (<7,200 Yards & Difficult Scoring) and Bogey Avoidance, followed by a more balanced mix of P5: 550-600, Par-3 Scoring, SG: Ball Striking and SG: Short Game.
Model Favorites
To little surprise, the highest OWGR-ranked player in the field also sits atop my model this week. Xander Schauffele will look to pick up his second victory in Japan this week after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. With Scottie Scheffler absent, Xander will be the favorite to win the ZOZO Championship. He stacks up perfectly to attack this demanding course setup.
After Schauffele, the rest of my model’s top 10 features Collin Morikawa, Mac Meissner, Seamus Power, Ben Griffin, JJ Spaun, Hideki Matsuyama, Doug Ghim, Harry Hall, and Eric Cole.
When PGA TOUR odds open, I’ll begin my card with Sungjae Im and then look to have more top-heavy exposure to Gary Woodland and Mac Meissner, depending on where the ZOZO Championship odds ultimately fall. Check back in later this week for more updates, and best of luck navigating the ZOZO Championship odds!
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