ZOZO Championship
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the ZOZO Championship. Also, check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS golf DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
ZOZO Championship
Preview for the ZOZO Championship: This will be the fourth year that we see this tournament played, Tiger Woods won the inaugural edition in 2019 by three strokes over Hideki Matsuyama. This will be the third year that the Narashino Country Club in Japan hosts this event with 2020 using Sherwood Country Club in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The record at this tournament came in 2020 when Patrick Cantlay shot a -23, the record on this course specifically is held by Tiger Woods who shot -19 three years ago. Over the last three years, winners of the ZOZO Championship include the aforementioned Tiger Woods in 2019, Patrick Cantlay in 2020, and Hideki Matsuyama in 2021.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $11M, the winner collects $1.98M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Narashino Country Club is 7,079 yards in length, it’s a par 70, and the greens average 5,500 square feet and are bentgrass. The winning score at this tournament since its inception ranges from -16 to -23, and you can expect to see the winning score in the mid to high teens this week. Some key stats to focus on this week, in order, are driving distance, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: tee to green, and strokes gained: approach.
The field: We have a fairly solid 78-player field this week, and there is no cut line to worry about after round 2, so every player will play all four rounds barring a withdrawal. Notable players competing this week are Tom Kim, Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, and several other talented golfers will be also joining them in Japan. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B-.
Three questions that are relevant to the ZOZO Championship this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Young, Viktor Hovland, Tom Kim, Collin Morikawa, Scott Stallings, Lucas Herbert, Corey Conners, and Sebastian Munoz.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Si Woo Kim, Xander Schauffele, Scott Stallings, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Brendan Steele, Cameron Davis, Cameron Young, and Tommy Fleetwood.
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total here (4 rounds minimum) since 2019? Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners, Matt Wallace, Cameron Champ, Luke List, Sam Ryder, Sebastian Munoz, Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, and Dylan Frittelli.
DraftKings lineup construction strategy this week: With the small field on tap and no cut line this week, you can get aggressive with your lineups, so I’d advise a strong stars and scrubs approach and mix in some hybrid ones also. Pay close attention to player’s projected ownership if you have the tools to do so, and try to leave at least $500 on the table per lineup in the big GPPs to have unique configurations.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some tasty data.
15 Players Who Are High Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Hideki Matsuyama (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – The king of Japan golf has a win and a runner-up on this course which is the good news, the bad news is that his off the tee play has been weak since June. I’ll be on Matsuyama this week since he will come ready to play in his native country and he should have another great finish – maybe not a 1st or a 2nd, but a top 10 seems more than possible. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – 2nd, 2020 – T28, and 2021 – Won.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $10.0K) – Im has been pure fire over his last five starts with three T2’s, a 7th, and a 12th, and he had a top 3 here three years ago – he’s a huge threat to win this week. His stats are unreal also, so you got to make Sungjae a big core play of yours this week. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – T3 and 2020 – T41.
Tom Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – With an amazing two wins in his last three starts and a T13 in between, Tom Kim is riding a huge wave of momentum this week and the 20-year-old should factor strongly into the leaderboard in Japan. His ball-striking is outstanding and he has gained strokes with his short game in seven out of his last eight starts including last week’s 7.89 en route to the win at the Shriners Children’s Open. He could very well be poised for superstardom in the not-too-distant future, and he should remain a must-play until his golf game tells us otherwise. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: None.
Tom Hoge (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – What a run Hoge has been on over his last five starts with two T4’s, a 10th, and a T12, and he gained an impressive 9.97 strokes ball-striking last week. He was decent here last year with a solid top 20, and it’s entirely possible we see Tom in the top 10 come Sunday. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2020 – T47 and 2021 – T17.
Matt Wallace (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – His T4 from a year ago grabbed my attention and he’s coming off a T28 last week thanks to a strong short game which is typical of his style of play. I wouldn’t go all out on Wallace this week, but he has respectable upside and should finish inside the top 30 at the very least thanks to his surging around the green play which is 2nd in the key stats picture for this week. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2021 – T4.
Hayden Buckley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – Buckley has gained strokes off the tee in an amazing 16 consecutive events played, and has a fairly consistent putter also. He has two straight top 20’s and could be in line for another this week if his stats are maintained which seems likely. Another positive is the very good pricing on Hayden, and I’d recommend taking advantage. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: None.
Sam Ryder (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – The T7 from last year is a nice lift for Ryder’s prospects this week, and he has been decent lately also with two top 28’s over his last six starts thanks to good approach play and putting. I wouldn’t count on another top 10 this year, but this course seems to resonate with him and he’s in better form this time around, as well. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2021 – T7.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $10.8K) – We know him for playing his best in smaller fields and his game is in great shape right now with two wins, a 4th, and other sweet finishes throughout 2022. He has a very balanced game and is a consistent threat every time he tees it up. He had a top 10 three years ago here, and I expect him to put up another one this week too. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – T10, 2020 – T17, and 2021 – T28.
Collin Morikawa (Salary: DraftKings – $10.2K) – Other than seeing him help USA win the Presidents Cup late last month, we haven’t seen him play a normal event yet this season until now. He was solid here last year and the consummate ball-striker should be sound once again and do well this week. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – T22, 2020 – T50, and 2021 – T7.
Si Woo Kim (Salary: DraftKings – 8.8K) – Si Woo Kim had a great showing last week with a T8 at the Shriners Children’s Open thanks to gaining 7.38 strokes ball-striking and 2.33 strokes putting. He had a top 20 here in 2021 and I’m fairly confident he will do something similar again this week. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – T37 and 2021 – T18.
Scott Stallings (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – I’ve been drinking the Stallings kool-aid since late June and the taste is sweet with four top 10’s and two top 13’s over his last ten starts. The ball-striking and around the green game is there, so a top 20 is a very real possibility even without tournament history to fall back on. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: None.
Kevin Streelman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Streelman has back-to-back top 24’s – nothing amazing in terms of stats but just fine balance in his bag, especially off the tee. He should be motivated to rectify his poor performance from 2019, and should find himself staring at a top 25 after round 4. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2019 – T74 and 2020 – T28.
Taylor Moore (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – He’s coming off a rare cut last week, but before that, he had five straight top 36’s and two of them were top 6’s. I’m banking on the rebound this week, you may want to wait him out, but I like how Moore navigates golf courses and will be on him mildly this week. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: None.
Sepp Straka (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – Straka locked down a 2nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, then a T7 at the Tour Championship, and put together another 2nd at the Sanderson Farms Championship two weeks ago with unreal ball-striking and short game play. He was bad here last year but came into the tournament with four straight missed cuts, so take that into consideration if you’re big on past results. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: 2021 – T66.
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – He may be “Young” but he has loads of skill and the results prove that out with a 2nd and a T2 over his last four starts – both times he gained strokes across the board and was a ball-striking and short game beast. ZOZO Championship finishes over the last three years: None.
