PGA Preview: 2020 ZOZO Championship Predictions

The ZOZO Championship will take a page from the CJ Cup this year as both events normally played during the Asian Swing are now stateside. Last week the CJ Cup was in Las Vegas with this week’s ZOZO Championship being played at Sherwood Country Club in California.

Also, like the CJ Cup, this will be a select field no-cut tournament with several big names jumping into the field before the upcoming rescheduled Masters. Those names include Tiger Woods who comes in at +2800 and Phil Mickelson at +5500.

Mickelson is fresh off his second win on the PGA Tour Champions schedule while Woods has not played since missing the cut at the U.S. Open.

Heading into the opening round, it’s Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele as near co-favorites according to oddsmakers. Rahm enters at +1000 while Schauffele is at +1100. The remaining favorites are not that far away. Four of the top-five favorites are between +1000 and +1200.

This is only the second year for the ZOZO Championship and it’s being played on a different course in a different country. So oddsmakers are probably looking at recent stats, the current ranking on the OWGR, and performance on similar courses. You should also consider that when making your sports betting picks.

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Here are the favorites to win the 2020 version of the ZOZO Championship outright according to Intertops.

Jon Rahm +1000

Xander Schauffele +1100

Rory McIlroy +1200

Justin Thomas +1200

Collin Morikawa +1800

2020 ZOZO Championship Preview

Where: Lake Sherwood, California

Course: Sherwood Country Club

Par: 72

Length: 7,073 (PGA)

When: October 22-25, 2020

Purse: $8 million

TV Coverage: Golf Channel

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Sherwood Country Club is a pristine golf course with rolling fairways and large greens. Trees, water, and sand bunkers are well placed at the Jack Nicklaus signature course. Water runs along the edge of several of the fairways and the bunkers are well placed around landing zones and greens.

Sherwood is known for its par-fives of which there are five. There are also five par-three holes on the course and water is a factor in many of them. The issue for players wild off the tee will be Sherwood’s rough. Reports have it as being 3-plus inches deep. This is a no-cut select field so expect some good scores for those who take advantage of nailing their tee shots.

2020 ZOZO Championship Picks

Xander Schauffele +1100

Xander Schauffele played as near mistake-free as you can get last week at the CJ Cup and finished in sole possession of the second spot on the leaderboard. A few weeks ago he finished sole-fifth at the U.S. Open. He’s accurate of late and that’s a plus at Sherwood with its deep roughs.

Bubba Watson +2800

I think Bubba Watson is a great value pick this week even though he’s still below +3000. Watson has been playing great golf recently and has been leading in strokes gained during several rounds of his last few outings. Sherwood has a classic look which Watson seems to enjoy.

Viktor Hovland +3000

Hovland has finished in the top-25 nine times since the COVID-19 break. He’s been playing consistent rounds despite a few rough finishes. He finished T13 at the U.S. Open and carded a T12 at the CJ Cup.

Others I Like

Jon Rahm – Tiger Woods: I would go with Jon Rahm except he’s been a bit inconsistent during a few recent rounds. If his game is on for the entire tournament he should be at the top of the leader board fighting for a win. Tiger Woods hosted an event on this course, The World Challenge, from 2000 to 2013 so he knows this course. This would be a great time for Woods to knock the dust off before teeing it up at the Masters next month.

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ZOZO Championship Odds 2020

PGA handicappers will get the best outright winner odds at America’s Bookie or BetOnline.

Jon Rahm +1000

Xander Schauffele +1100

Rory McIlroy +1200

Justin Thomas +1200

Collin Morikawa +1800

Tyrrell Hatton +2000

Webb Simpson +2000

Patrick Reed +2200

Tony Finau +2800

Hideki Matsuyama +2800

Patrick Cantlay +2800

Matthew Wolff +2800

Bubba Watson +2800

Tiger Woods +2800

Viktor Hovland +3000

Adam Scott +3300

Daniel Berger +3500

Harris English +3500

Matthew Fitzpatrick +3500

Joaquin Niemann +3500

Tommy Fleetwood +3500

Scottie Scheffler +4000

Russell Henley +4000

Jason Kokrak +4000

Jason Day +4000

Sungjae Im +4500

Rickie Fowler +4500

Abraham Ancer +4500

Phil Mickelson +5500

Sebastian Munoz +6600

Paul Casey +6600

Billy Horschel +7500

Cameron Smith +7500

Brendon Todd +8000

Justin Rose +8000

Gary Woodland +8000

Brian Harman +8000

Jordan Spieth +8000

Ryan Palmer +10000

Kevin Kisner +10000

Cameron Champ +10000

Talor Gooch +10000

Lanto Griffin +10000

Kevin Na +10000

Kevin Streelman +10000

Marc Leishman +10000

Alex Noren +12500

Corey Conners +12500

Mackenzie Hughes +12500

Byeong-Hun An +12500

Adam Hadwin +12500

Harry Higgs +12500

Brendan Steele +15000

Joel Dahmen +15000

Danny Lee +15000

Adam Long +17500

Tyler Duncan +20000

Dylan Frittelli +20000

Takumi Kanaya +20000

Richy Werenski +20000

Mark Hubbard +20000

Tom Hoge +25000

Shugo Imahira +30000

Carlos Ortiz +30000

Andrew Landry +30000

Nick Taylor +30000

Jazz Janewattananond +30000

Brad Kennedy +30000

Michael Thompson +35000

Satoshi Kodaira +40000

Ryo Ishikawa +40000

Shaun Norris +40000

Rikuya Hoshino +50000

Chan Kim +50000

Gunn Charoenkul +50000

Mikumu Horikawa +50000

Naoki Sekito +50000