Golf best bets: Picks for the Zozo Championship
The PGA Tour heads across the world this week for the Zozo Championship in Japan. This will be the fourth time in the last five years the tournament will be held at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, which is located an hour outside of Tokyo.
Xander Schauffele, coming off a disappointing performance at the Ryder Cup, is the betting favorite to win at +700 odds. Collin Morikawa (+1200), Sungjae Im (+1400) and Rickie Fowler (+1600) are next on the odds board, and reigning champion Keegan Bradley is further down at +2200.
We're not worried about outright picks here, though. Let's go through my three favorite props for the 2023 Zozo Championship.
Beau Hossler top-20 finish (+130 DraftKings)
Beau Hossler is sneakily one of the hottest players on the PGA Tour right now. The 28-year-old has six top-30 finishes and two top-10s over his last seven starts, and he's coming off a start at the Shriners Children's Open in which he gained strokes across the board for the first time since the Mexico Open in April.
Hossler made his debut at Narashino last year and finished T16. Considering he's in better form now than he was at this time last year, Hossler should be able to record another strong finish.
Sahith Theegala > Rickie Fowler (+100 FanDuel)
Speaking of red-hot players, Sahith Theegala has three straight top-20 finishes and is coming off his first career PGA Tour victory at the Fortinet Championship. The youngster gained 8.52 true strokes putting throughout the tournament, which was his best mark of 2023, and he's now gained strokes on the greens nine times in his last 12 starts. Oh, and Theegala finished T5 at the Zozo Championship last year in his first start at Narashino.
Rickie Fowler finished T2 at this event last year, but it's hard to envision him bouncing back right away from his abysmal performance in the Ryder Cup. It might take him a few more weeks to get over that disappointment hangover, so this feels like a good time to fade Fowler in a matchup.
Hideki Matsuyama top Japanese finisher (+170 FD)
Hideki Matsuyama absolutely loves playing in his home country. In three starts at Narashino Country Club, Matsuyama has a win, a runner-up finish and a T40 while he was dealing with an injury. Japan brings out the best in Matsuyama, and he's miles ahead of every other Japanese player in the field in terms of talent and experience.
The second name in this market is Takumi Kanaya at +550, and although he's an uber-talented player, he's struggled almost every time he's teed it up on the PGA Tour.
More must-reads: