Golf Pick: Hideki Matsuyama to Win Outright (+1600) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
The top sportsbooks look at this week’s PGA Tour event, the Zozo Championship in Japan. This is the fifth renewal of the event and apart from 2020, the event has been held in Japan as the PGA’s only co-sanctioned event in Asia. Get ready for a golf showdown with seasoned pros and emerging talents hungry for victory.
2023 ZOZO Championship
October 19 – October 22, 2023 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club
Course Notes
- Narashino Country Club, Japan
- Par 70, 7041 yards
- Strokes Gained off the tee, Greens in regulation, and scrambling are key metrics to consider.
- A 36-hole on site course with a composite selection of holes chosen, usually with five par-3s and 3 par-5s.
Weather Forecast
An unsettled forecast awaits the golfers this week at the Narashino Country Club in Japan. Thursday looks the most settled but windy while Friday and Saturday look very unsettled with strong winds and the chance of rain showers. Rainy weather has been something historically related to the Zozo Championship, understandably given it is the Japanese wet season.
Roll of Honor
What can We Expect from Hideki Matsuyama?
Home hero, Hideki Matsuyama is always the main attraction this week at the Narashino Country Club.
The 2021 Masters Champion has struggled on and off with injury since his long-overdue major championship two and a half seasons ago. It’s a credit to him that he has won two twice from a limited schedule, here at the end of 2021 and at the start of 2022 at the Sony Open.
2023 has been more challenging for the thirty-one-year-old who returned home for some treatment on his troublesome neck during the year.
So, after withdrawing from the BMW Championship in August, Matsuyama has had the best part of two months off from competitive golf which could turn out to be a blessing in disguise as he surely, needs time away from playing to heel.
Will Hideki Matsuyama Perform Well this Week?
I believe they should be pretty good, given his affinity with his home event, illustrated by his win here in 2021 and his runner-up placing to Tiger Woods in 2019.
In the early years of his PGA Tour career, he often started a new year off well when fresh off a break at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
This week’s conditions potentially play into Matsuyama’s strengths with an inclement forecast making par harder than normal.
The Pick
It feels like, if he has been practicing productively after a break, he has maximum motivation to play well this week, and at the attractive number of (+1600) betting odds with Bovada, we can take the chance and back Hideki Matsuyama.
Golf Pick: Hideki Matsuyama to Finish Top 10 (+180) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
Golf Pick: Hideki Matsuyama to Win Outright (+1600) at Bovada
Min Woo Lee Has the Tools to Win
Last week Min Woo Lee was over in Asia at the Macau Open winning impressively wire-to-wire with a near flawless display of golf.
The twenty-five-year-old Australian has proved he has elite-level skills for the most difficult tests in golf so this week’s forecast of gusty winds could be just what the doctor ordered. His wins at the Scottish Open of 2021 and the Handa Vic Open of 2020 were in similarly challenging conditions.
His elite ball-striking skills have been seen to great effect the last year with a new level of consistency from Min Woo Lee, who has seen a 40%+ strike rate in the top 10 finishes in the last year. Those elite ball striking skills have seen three major champions win at the Narashino Country Club in past seasons and with Lee’s form efforts in those majors and the sports' fifth major, the Players Championship, his name would not look out of place on the elite roll of honor here.
The Pick
Take Min Woo Lee at Bovada price of (+2000) combined with a top 10 finish at BetOnline this week.
Golf Pick: Min Woo Lee to Finish Top 10 (+200) at BetOnline
Golf Pick: Min Woo Lee to Win Outright (+2000) at Bovada
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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