The PGA Tour and a strong contingent of tour pros, including just two Australians in Lucas Herbert and Cam Davis, will make their way to Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Japan this week for the fourth edition of the Zozo Championship. The only PGA Tour event played in Japan features a 78-man field, four rounds and no cut.
One of those 78 men will be defending champ and Japanese golf legend Hideki Matsuyama. The fan favourite won last year’s event by five shots, making three birdies over five holes on the back nine and an eagle on the closing hole on Sunday. He bested runners-up Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale. Matsuyama’s home win capped off an incredible year in which he became the first Japanese male to win a major and the first Asian golfer to win the Masters at Augusta.
This year, the event will have another strong field featuring world No.5 Xander Schauffele, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Along with Schauffele, we’ll see Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Viktor Hovland and Rickie Fowler teeing it up.
This tournament also will feature some Japanese golf up-and-comers from Keita Nakajima (the former world No.1 amateur who recently turned pro) and Takumi Kanaya to 20-year-old wunderkind Ryo Hisatsune.
The winner will receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a $US1.98 million cut of the $US11 million purse.
Tee Times (all times AEDT)
THURSDAY/FIRST ROUND
11.23am — Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young
11:34am — Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Tyrrell Hatton
12.29pm — Collin Morikawa, Sebastián Muñoz,Mackenzie Hughes
12:40pm — Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, CAM DAVIS
12.40pm (10th tee start) — K.H. Lee, Joel Dahmen, LUCAS HERBERT
FRIDAY/SECOND ROUND
11:12 am — Mackenzie Hughes, Collin Morikawa, Sebastián Muñoz
11.23am — K.H. Lee, LUCAS HERBERT Joel Dahmen
11:23 am (10th tee start) — Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, CAM DAVIS
12.29pm — Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young
12.40pm — Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Tyrrell Hatton
