Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 ZOZO Championship

2024 ZOZO Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

J.T. Poston proved that you should never write off a quality operator – no matter how out of form they appear to be – at the Shriners Children’s Open.

His formline heading into the TPC Summerlin shootout read 33-33-MC-MC-MC, but some restorative time at home with his wife and young daughter, while the FedEx Cup playoffs played out, was just what Poston needed to gain some much-needed perspective.

He returned to the Nevada tournament anew, and never looked back after posting an opening round of 64. 

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Poston played his opening four holes in -2 on Sunday, played serenely thereafter, and was able to lean on birdies at 12, 13, and 15 to hold off the fast-finishing Doug Ghim and wrap up a third PGA TOUR title.

The Shriners pretty much brings an end to the American leg of the FedEx Fall Series. The players no head off for a jaunt in Japan, Mexico, and Bermuda, before returning to U.S. soil to round out the Fall Swing with the RSM Classic late in November.

So it’s very much go time for those hovering around the bubble of the FedEx standings….although this week, it’s those without such worries that are likely to dominate at the ZOZO Championship.

Collin Morikawa, the defending champion, Hideki Matsuyama, and Xander Schauffele are arguably the best players in the field, and they all have some connection to Japan through their familial roots – it would be a huge surprise if one of that trio wasn’t contending come Sunday.

It also helps them that Accordia Golf, the host track at the Narashino Country Club, will very much play to their strengths. This is not a birdie-fest layout that we’ve come to know and expect from the Fall Series; instead, it’s the kind of classical course that, in America, you’d expect to host a major or Signature Event.

Measuring little over 7,000 yards for its Par 70, Accordia is a tight and testing affair, with some narrow landing zones off the tee and considerable doglegs either left or right. There’s plenty of sand, and water is very much in play on a handful of holes too.

For context, eight players at T10 or better on the leaderboard last year made a double-bogey or worse in their 72 holes, and the winner – Morikawa – was the only man in the field to finish on double-digits under par.

Straight shooting off the tee and on approach, a confident chipping stroke around the green, and a sure hand on the Bentgrass greens confirmation of the all-round class required to win here: of the four times that Narashino has hosted the ZOZO Championship, the trophy has been handed to Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, Matsuyama, and Tiger Woods….major champions and multiple-time PGA TOUR winners to a man.

With only an 87-strong field making the trip, the ZOZO Championship offers interesting opportunities for bettors. And while we would expect one of the thoroughbreds to kick on and win, that’s not to say that some long odds outsiders in this field don’t have a fair chance of winning.

On that note, here’s our sleeper shortlist for the 2024 ZOZO Championship.

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Max Homa – 50/1 – As J.T. Poston showed at the Shriners, time away from competitive golf to work on your game can be such an important thing.

Make no bones about it: an in-form Max Homa would be 20/1 or shorter to win this event, so we can only hope that six weeks away from the sport – aside from the Presidents Cup – will have been enough to restore the Californian’s confidence in his game.

There’s no great positivity in his recent form, but look at his record at classical, tree-lined tracks: a winner at Riviera and Torrey Pines, Home has also recorded a T3 at Augusta National (this year) and T6 at TPC Sawgrass, and even has a top-five finish in the Japanese Tour’s Dunlop Phoenix to his credit.

J.J. Spaun – 50/1 – Although he will need to improve on the greens, J.J. Spaun has the ideal game for picking his way around this Accordia Golf layout.

T6 here 12 months ago confirms such suspicions, as does T3 at Sedgefield in the Wyndham Championship in August: his best performance this season, and proof that Spaun’s best work comes when there is a premium on keeping your ball under tight control.

He fired rounds of 65 and 66 at TPC Summerlin last week, and while Spaun will be disappointed with the way he closed out his Shriners campaign on Sunday, there will still enough positive signs to suggest that this metronomic ball-striker – Spaun ranks 18th on TOUR for Greens in Regulation this season – remains in a good place with his game.

Gary Woodland – 66/1 – How good it is to see Gary Woodland talking positively about his game after the trauma of having to undergo brain surgery, which naturally threatened to derail his golf career.

But Woodland is back, and his ball striking is as strong as ever; bolstered too by some marked improvements on the greens.

He built his T9 finish at the Shriners on the back of another strong ball-striking effort, but it was +0.93 on the Bentgrass greens of TPC Summerlin that suggests that Woodland is ready to cash in on the scoring opportunities that his excellent driving and approach play are creating.

Mac Meissner – 75/1 – In his last eight PGA TOUR starts, Mac Meissner has gained strokes on the field off the six times, and on approach in all eight.

It serves as a timely reminder of just how strong the PGA TOUR rookie’s ball-striking is, and evidences why he’s been able to finish T5 and T12 this season at layouts like Colonial and Sedgefield Country Club, where picking and plotting your way around is key – as is the case at Narashino.

If he takes the tee-to-green game we have come to expect from him to Japan, and improves on the greens, Meissner could prove to be a surprise contender for the title.

Takumi Kanaya – 110/1 – There’s a stack of PGA TOUR regulars in the field this week that hold very little appeal, and so taking a look at the Japan Golf Tour stalwarts instead could be a wise move.

Of them, Takumi Kanaya certainly appeals. He has recorded three consecutive top-five finishes on that tour, including a win at the ACN Championship as little as three weeks ago.

The home star has posted a number of sub-par rounds at Narashino; including a closing 66 on his way to T7 in this event in 2021.

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

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2024-2025)

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