Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 ZOZO Championship

2022 ZOZO Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

If you thought his win at the Wyndham Championship was a fluke and his performances at the Presidents Cup just a hot hand, Joohyung Kim’s victory at the Shriners Children’s Open will surely convince you that the young Korean is a star in the making.

The 20-year-old became the first player since Tiger Woods in the mid-1990s to win two PGA TOUR titles prior to coming of age, and saw ‘Tom’ crash into the top 20 in the world rankings. You dread to think how many trophies he could win if he continues to improve. 

Kim got a helping hand from Patrick Cantlay, of course, who took leave of his senses to bludgeon his drive on the 72nd holes somewhere into the Nevada desert. A previously level contest took a three-shot swing as Cantlay was unable to extricate himself from disaster.

Embed from Getty Images

And so Tom, who changed his name to that of his childhood TV favorite Thomas the Tank Engine, will head to the PGA TOUR’s for-one-week only jaunt to Japan as one of the most intriguing propositions in the field. He will be hoping not to run out of steam (other train jokes are available).

Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa headline the field for the ZOZO Championship, which will once again unfold at the Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan. They will be joined by defending champion and home favorite Hideki Matsuyama, the in-form Sungjae Im and a host of PGA TOUR and Japan Golf Tour entries in this limited 80-man field.

They will be met by a golf course that is so classical in its design you could mistake it for a parklands course in the United States. There’s lush green landscapes, dense tree-lines and doglegging fairways, and given that this is the wet season in Chiba the rough has taken on a thick and tangly feel.

The Bentgrass greens are not huge by any stretch of the imagination, and so there’s a real premium on ball-striking at Narashino – is it any wonder that Matsuyama and a certain Tiger Woods are the two previous champions here.

It’s a short stretch at under 7,100 yards for its Par 70 too, so it’s a fiddly week of plotting and picking your way around – exacerbated by the possibility of some heavy rain and downpours.

Quality ball-strikers with a history at some of the PGA TOUR’s most classical courses are the go-to this week, so can any of the five named below come away from Japan with the win? Here’s our ZOZO Championship sleeper shortlist.

[membership level=”0″]

You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

[membership level=”1,2,3″]

Matthew NeSmith – 50/1 – Whether Matthew NeSmith takes to the conditions or not in Japan remains to be seen, but one thing he will be packing in his suitcase is plenty of form.

Back-to-back top-10s to start the new PGA TOUR season have been franked by his trademark ball-striking but improvements on the green too, and in a small, low-key field this is an excellent price on a progressive sort.

An eye-catching performance at Riviera last season suggests that NeSmith has got the game to handle traditional parklands courses with aplomb.

Mackenzie Hughes – 70/1 – The Canadian admitted that his win at the Sanderson Farms Championship was largely fuelled by the disappointment of missing out on selection for the Presidents Cup.

That explains his win in Mississippi from a psychological standpoint, but it doesn’t reveal how much better Hughes struck the ball at the Country Club of Jackson – that was a real stripe show.

Likely the result of plenty of hours on the range, there’s no reason that Hughes’ upward curve can’t improve at a layout where he finished T4 last year.

Mark Hubbard – 75/1 – Hubbard has started the new PGA TOUR season with a formline of 21-5-28, and he really ought to have contended more forthrightly at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he looked likely.

But the funny thing is that Narashino will suit his natural game more than any of his three outings thus far, with the short but accurate Hubbard able to pick his way around at will.

Making his debut at the venue, we’re happy to take a punt on a player that ranks 29th for SG: Tee-to-Green and 48th for SG: Putting so far this term. 

Kevin Streelman – 75/1 – The short, tight nature of Narashino should play to the strengths of Kevin Streelman, who is just about playing well enough right now to take advantage. 

The veteran followed T24 at the Sanderson Farms with T20 at the Shriners, and his modus operandi of making a high GIR count with few mistakes is a compelling one at this layout. 

It’s no surprise that some of the best paydays of Streelman’s career have come at tight, classic tracks like TPC Sawgrass and TPC River Highlands, and you would think he’ll enjoy this Japanese test for many of the same reasons.

Andrew Putnam – 80/1 – Another player trending in the right direction at the start of the season is Andrew Putnam.

A couple of decent outings early on were followed by T12 at the Shriners, where his nuggety, GIR-heavy style was backed by another strong showing with the flat stick.

One of Putnam’s best paydays came at the WGC HSBC Champions in China back in 2018, so his is a game that travels across continental borders.

 [/membership]

Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the ZOZO Championship here.

Sleeper Report Predictions Last Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “6.70%” bar_text=”1 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”26.67%” bar_text=”4 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 3 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”2.44%” bar_text=”0 out of 3 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”53.33%” bar_text=”8 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

---

Cover photo via Instagram