The PGA Tour heads to Japan this week for the staging of the Baycurrent Classic, formerly known as the Zozo Championship, arguably the highlight of the fall schedule with the limited 78-man field featuring major winners Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Driving Accuracy
- Ball Striking
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Putting
- Par 4 Scoring
Yokohama Country Club is the new venue for this newly renamed event that was launched in an attempt to showcase the PGA Tour as a global brand. This is a new venue so data is limited. It is tree-lined so accuracy should be at a premium in this one. A good approach game should be key. This is a Coore & Crenshaw so looking towards their other designs.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Plantation Course
- Pinehurst No.2
It has been two years since Collin Morikawa was last successful but that victory came in Japan when he claimed the 2023 Zozo Championship and he can claim the crown again under its new guise as the Baycurrent Classic. He has a real fondness for Coore & Crenshaw designs with Top 5 finishes at the last two Sentrys and a T-14 at the US Open in 2024. He ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Approach and 4th in Driving Accuracy. Looks the pick of the faves.
South African Christian Bezuidenhout has not won on the PGA Tour but he is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour who can get across the line and is trending up. He has five Top 20s in his last 11 starts. Bezuidenhout ranks 10th in Par 4 Scoring and 11th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Big show this week.
Talented Filipino bomber who looks well suited this week, Rico Hoey has been playing some great golf with three Top 11s in his last seven starts. Hoey leads the Tour in Ball Striking while he ranks 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach. Finished T-22 on debut here last season.
Kevin Roy is an honest veteran who has come close without quite getting over the line. He has finished Top 25 in five of his last 12 and he has a nice profile here with a third ranking in Par 4 Scoring and eighth in Ball Striking.
Tour old boy Andrew Putnam finished T-2 in this event in 2023 and again profiles well again. Putnam ranks 6th in Driving Accuracy and 10th in Par 4 Scoring. His form has tailed off but looks a good bet to run Top 10/20.
Rico Hoey is among the selections to win it here so will be snatching up double digit figures on him to be top Asian.
Six Europeans tee it up here and rolling with the in-form Rasmus Hojgaard, who has finished top three in three of his last five events.