2021 Zozo Championship: Latest Betting Odds, Favorites and a Sleeper pick for Narashino Country Club
The stars showed up to Vegas and one glistened brighter than the famous strip.
Rory McIlroy secured his 20th PGA Tour victory at the CJ Cup behind a scintillating 62 in the third round. McIlroy was then able to hold off the likes of Summit Club member Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler’s first serious run at a title on Sunday. The win over many Americans in the field offers some consolation for the heartbroken Northern Irishman in the wake of the Ryder Cup.
As for the picks, no one played poorly, but Oosthuizen, Leishman and Varner could not keep up with the pace on the easy driver / wedge track. Like Rory, the picks will look to begin gaining some momentum before the winter break.
We now head to the site of Tiger Woods’ most recent and record-tying 82nd Tour victory, the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan. It will be the first time the Tour is back in Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Last year, the event was held in California where Patrick Cantlay won. Like last week, it is just a 78-man field with no cut, but many of the notables in Vegas will not be flying to the other side of the globe.
According to SI Sportsbook, the favorite is Xander Schauffele at 6-1 returning to the country of his gold medal win in a limited field. To follow is Collin Morikawa fresh off his runner-up last week at 13-2. Next up is Masters champion and Japan native Hideki Matsuyama at 12-1. To close out the notables is the up-and-coming Will Zalatoris at 16-1.
For our favorite, we must go with local hero Matsuyama at 12-1. For a guy who’s been under so much pressure from his home country to perform, he has certainly delivered. Besides slipping on the green jacket in 2021, he has played some very good golf. In his last 24 rounds, Matsuyama is top-10 in strokes gained: ball striking, tee-to-green and approach, which included a T6 at the Fortinet Championship. Although he did not look his normal self in Las Vegas, we are sure his mind was elsewhere knowing the Tour finally returns to his home country and where he finished runner-up to Woods just two years ago.
For a midrange pick, we are going to follow the steam on C.T. Pan at 45-1. The Taiwanese player has had a wonderful start to the season with a T-11 and T-6 at the Fortinet and Sanderson Farms championships. In his most recent visit to Japan, he secured the bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics in a massive playoff for the honor. Pan is also one of the few who has seen this course the last time the Zozo was held here, so he should feel confident to keep the momentum rolling.
For a sleeper, take a flier on Roger Sloan at 100-1. Since golf’s new year began, Sloan sandwiched a 14th-place finish in between two missed cuts at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Prior to the beginning of this season, the Canadian only missed two cuts since May and finished inside the top-21 four times, nearly winning the Wyndham Championship. Sloan should feel like this is a less intimidating “no-cut” event where he can shine for four rounds.
2021-22 picks scoreboard:
Winners:
Top 5s:
Top 10s:
Top 20s:
Here are some notable odds, according to SI Sportsbook:
- Xander Schauffele 6-1
- Collin Morikawa 13-2
- Hideki Matsuyama 12-1
- Will Zalatoris 16-1
- Tommy Fleetwood 22-1
- Joaquin Niemann 25-1
- Rickie Fowler 25-1
- Cameron Tringale 35-1
- Jhonattan Vegas 35-1
- Keegan Bradley 35-1
- Alex Noren 35-1
- Maverick McNealy 35-1
- Si-Woo Kim 35-1
- Emiliano Grillo 40-1
- Erik Van Rooyen 40-1
- Charley Hoffman 40-1
- C.T. Pan 45-1
- Branden Grace 50-1
- Lanto Griffin 50-1
- Carlos Ortiz 50-1
- Adam Schenk 50-1
- Kyoung-Hoon Lee 50-1
- Matt Wallace 50-1
- MacKenzie Hughes 50-1
- Chris Kirk 50-1
- Takumi Kanaya 50-1
- Ryan Palmer 50-1
- Luke List 60-1
- Harry Higgs 66-1
- Garrick Higgo 66-1
- Sebastian Munoz 66-1
- Brendan Steele 66-1
- Henrik Norlander 66-1
- Brendon Todd 66-1
- Doug Ghim 66-1
- Matt Jones 80-1
- Robert Streb 80-1
- Pat Perez 80-1
- Tom Hoge 80-1
- Chan Kim 80-1
- Roger Sloan 100-1
- Troy Merritt 100-1
- Andrew Putnam 100-1
- Scott Vincent 100-1
- Doc Redman 125-1
- Matthew NeSmith 125-1
- Sepp Straka 125-1
- Chesson Hadley 125-1
- Kyle Stanley 125-1
- Sung-Hoon Kang 125-1
- Jimmy Walker 150-1
- Brandon Hagy 150-1
- Adam Long 150-1
- Shugo Imahira 150-1
- Wyndham Clark 150-1
- Sam Ryder 150-1
- Ryosuke Kinoshita 150-1
- Satoshi Kodaira 150-1
- Peter Malnati 150-1
- James Hahn 200-1
- Tomoharu Otsuki 200-1
- Hiroshi Iwata 200-1
- Kramer Hickok 200-1
- Rikuya Hoshino 200-1
- Jinichiro Kozuma 200-1
- Keita Nakajima 200-1
- Kazuki Higa 250-1
- Ryo Hisatsune 250-1
- Wesley Bryan 250-1
- Tyler McCumber 250-1
- Ryutaro Nagano 300-1
- Tomoyasu Sugiyama 300-1
- Naoto Nakanishi 400-1
- Ryuichi Oiwa 400-1
- Naoyuki Kataoka 400-1
- Bill Haas 400-1
- Ryuji Imada 500-1