ZOZO Championship
Well, it’s been a pretty crazy week at The CJ Cup last week. Who would have thought we’d have another Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler Sunday finish. This was huge for both of them, Rickie hasn’t been in a final group, let alone win a golf tournament in over two years, and a win for Rory would make it his 20th overall win on the PGA Tour. Ultimately Rory did win making it his 20th tour victory. Personally, I was very impressed by Rory, we all know his Sunday’s usually end in defeat as of late, but he really showed a ton of confidence the whole round on Sunday. That’s the part we seldom see, he’s usually making comments such as “I’m happy to be here” and “I hope I play well.” These comments don’t get it done on Sunday, nevertheless seeing this out of Rory was quite impressive. On another note, super pumped Rickie jumped back in the game last week. Rickie’s 54 hole lead was the first time he’s held a 54 hole lead in over 2 years. We’d like to think Rickie’s newfound success especially on the greens is due to his glasses. The poor man couldn’t, this past week with his glasses on he was top ranked in putting and strokes gained around the green. There might be hope for Rickie yet, we will quickly be able to see if he’s back or just lucky this week at the ZOZO Championship.
This week the PGA Tour goes across the world to Chiba, Japan for the ZOZO Championship. This is always a cool tournament because it’s the first tour event held in Japan ever. This event is also partnered with the Japan Golf Tour. This provides a lot of exposure to golf in Japan and it’s important the tour branches out to other countries. The field this week isn’t as strong as I thought it’d be. However, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, and Xander Schauffele will be competing in the field this week. Another huge point about his week is the golf course. Narashino Country Club is magnificent. It was created in 2019 and has provided some incredible views and a very intense layout.
It’s a tough call this week on picks, I’d like to see some more solid play out Rickie, but I’m still not sold. Will Zalatoris has proven himself this year with solid play and Xander and Collin have consistently played well. However, if there is anybody due for a win it’s Xander Schauffele. Xander’s last win came at the 2019 Tournament of Champions. Now he’s coming on 3 years without a win, my winning pick for this week goes to Xander. We all know he can play, he’s coming off an Olympic Gold and a strong performance at the Ryder Cup. This man is ready for a win this week.
My underdog/sleeper pick of the week goes to Harry Higgs. Higgs is playing very solid in just 3 events he’s already notched 1 top ten. He’s been a scrambling machine as of late which has kept him in the mix his past 3 events. (Mike)