BAYCURRENT CLASSIC: The PGA Tour takes a trip around the globe this week for the event now known as the Baycurrent Classic, formerly the ZOZO Championship, a tournament that is notable for being the first regular Tour stop in the country of Japan. As such, it is co-sanctioned by the Japan Tour and many Japanese stars who are relatively unknown on the worldwide scene will be teeing it up this week, giving this event a unique international flair.
We do have a new venue this year, as Yokohama Country Club in the Eastern port city of Yokohama will make its debut on the world stage. There are two courses at Yokohama CC, the East and West, and the tournament course is a composite of 16 holes from the West and 2 from the East. This setup has been used for two Japan Tour events here so some of the Japanese contingent should be familiar with the layout, while their PGA Tour counterparts will be seeing things for the first time. A par-71 that tips out at just over 7,300 yards, Yokohama is a tree-lined, parkland-style course with smallish greens that are well-bunkered. The West course was renovated by the Coore/Crenshaw design team in 2016, so it should be a modern, championship-caliber layout. That said, when the Japan Tour came to Yokohama in 2024 the winning score was 22-under and 25 players posted 10-under or better, meaning we can expect a green light birdie-fest this week. Course records may fall.
It’s a strong field for a Fall Series event, with names like Xander Schauffele (13.5), Hideki Matsuyama (18.5), and Collin Morikawa (18.5) heading BETDAQ’s Win Market. Here are three who I think may be worth a bet:
WIN MARKET
Recommendations to BACK (odds in parenthesis)
Si Woo Kim (24.0)- Kim seems to be rounding into form nicely here at year’s end, finding the top-20 in his last two PGA Tour events and then heading over to Europe for the BMW Championship last month and finishing 5th there. Like most in the field, he has no experience at Yokohama CC, but Asian players have tended to fare well in this event, undoubtedly due to their familiarity and comfort with the culture and geography in that part of the globe, and based on the drone video on the website the course looks like a straightforward parkland-style track of the type that Kim devours regularly. An experienced winner who is playing well, Kim is my favorite top-of-the-market bet at nearly 25/1.
Min Woo Lee (40.0)- An Australian by birth, Lee has played extensive golf in Asia throughout his career and should have an edge on much of the field this week when it comes to comfort and adaptability. More importantly, though, he’s been playing terrific golf in recent weeks, particularly in Europe, finishing 11th in the BMW Championship and following that up with a T5 in France the next week. He picked up his first PGA Tour win in Texas earlier this year, posting 20-under in an event that turned into the type of birdie-fest that we expect to see this week, so we know he’s plenty comfortable firing at pins. At a price like 40.0, Lee might be my favorite bet on the board.
Sami Valimaki (100.0)- Over the past couple of years Valimaki has proven that he’s truly a world-class talent, globetrotting and posting top-10 finishes at nearly every stop, with victories in five different countries since 2020. He’s particularly dangerous when scores are low and birdies in bunches are required, as he ranked in the top 20% on the PGA Tour in birdie average this season due to his proficiency with the irons (18th on Tour in strokes gained on approach) and the putter (12th in strokes gained putting). He now gets the chance to showcase his talents in a new country, Japan, and he’s just three starts removed from a runner-up finish at the Omega European Masters, so there shouldn’t be too many concerns about his form. Valimaki should be backed enthusiastically at this price.
