In a field led by Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and defending champ Keegan Bradley, here’s who we like at the Zozo Championship.
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Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling-tips column, where we share our favorite bets for the upcoming action. This time around, it’s the Zozo Championship, which gets underway Thursday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, in Chiba, Japan. Along with our recommended plays, you’ll also see data from Chirp, a free-to-play mobile platform that features a range of games with enticing prizes, giving fans all kinds of ways to engage in the action without risking any money. Note: Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so set your clocks accordingly.
Last we saw him in competition, at the Tour Championship in August, Keegan Bradley was a hot topic of conversation as a potential Ryder Cup captain’s pick. And he remained a subject of conjecture after Team USA got trampled in Rome.
Might Bradley’s presence on the American roster have made a difference?
We’ll never know.
What we can say for certain is that, for the first time in nearly two months, Bradley will be back in action this week as he seeks to defend his title at the Zozo Championship, in Japan. To retain the crown, he will have to outshine an international field that includes four players who did compete in Rome — Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Hojgaard. Schauffele is the current betting favorite, followed by Morikawa and Sungjae Im. But we’ve got three other players in mind. The envelope, please.
Favorite: Cam Davis, +2,000
After a horrific start to 2023, Davis found his game mid-season and has come on strong of late, with four top 10s in his last five starts. He now brings that sound form to Accordia Narashino Country Club, an hour outside of Tokyo, where a tree-lined layout with three gettable par-5s and a cluster of short par-4s should be a good fit for his power game. Now, if the putter can cooperate…
Contender: Cam Champ, +4,000
Like another young Cam (Davis), Champ had a rocky start to 2023. But in his last two appearances, he has been in the hunt, pairing his usual titanic drives with more solid play around the greens. Champ’s feast-or-famine record (a win in each of his first three seasons but also oodles of missed cuts) makes him something of a risky play. But he’s also a prodigious talent whose prowess off the tee gives him a puncher’s chance almost anywhere he goes.
Long shot: Satoshi Kodaira, +30,000
The middle of the fairways is a fine place from which to play, and Kodaira finds the short grass more often than most. He ranks among the most accurate drivers in the game. He’s a long shot for good reason, but that’s also what makes him a fun play, in his home country, in an event where he finished T16 last year.
Who Chirp users like this week
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