After last year's tournament was relocated to California due to travel restrictions, the 2021 Zozo Championship returns to Japan and gets underway on Thursday. This will be many golfers' second trip to Japan in a couple of months as the host course, Narashino Country Club, is less than 50 miles from where golf at the Tokyo Olympics was held. Thus, gold medalist Xander Schauffele couldn't wait to board a plane and return to Japan and he's one of the co-favorites for the 2021 Zozo Championship.
Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are listed at 13-2 by Caesars Sportsbook in the latest 2021 Zozo Championship odds. They are the only golfers with single-digit odds, but the 2021 Zozo Championship field features plenty of depth. Other favorites include Will Zalatoris (18-1), Tommy Fleetwood (25-1) and Japan's own, Hideki Matsuyama (16-1). Before locking in your 2021 Zozo Championship picks, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed last June. In fact, it's up almost $10,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.
At the 2021 Open Championship, McClure's best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. He was also all over Daniel Berger (+220) and Emiliano Grillo (+700) finishing inside the top-20. McClure's best bets netted over $2,200 at the 2021 Open Championship.
In addition, McClure's model was all over Jon Rahm's (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner. And at the 2021 Masters, McClure nailed Rahm's (+250) top-five finish in his best bets, as well as Corey Conners' (+550) top-10 showing.
This same model has also nailed a whopping seven majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the 2021 Zozo Championship field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected 2021 Zozo Championship leaderboard.
The model's top 2021 Zozo Championship predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2021 Zozo Championship: Will Zalatoris (18-1), a player with three top-10 major finishes in his young career, barely crackes the top five. There are far better values in the 2021 Zozo Championship field.
Zalatoris has posted relatively strong numbers in his three events this season, but he struggled at the Shriners Children's Open his last time out, missing the cut after shooting a 72 in the second round in a low-scoring event. He's performed well off the tee and reaching greens in regulation at a high level, but his putting has let him down this season. He ranks well outside the top 100 in strokes gained: putting, which could keep him out of contention this week.
Another surprise: Joaquin Niemann, a 28-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. Niemann did everything but win last season on tour as he had three runner-up finishes among his five top 10s. He almost never had a bad tournament, making the cut in 26 of 27 events.
Even though he has a slight frame, Niemann is one of the most powerful drivers on tour. He ranked 13th in driving distance last season, but more importantly for this week, he ranked 14th in strokes gained: off-the-tee. Narashino Country Club has lots of tight, tree-lined fairways, so combining both length and accuracy off the tee will be critical this week.
The Chilean's strength when driving, coupled with his strong iron play gives him a great chance to finish on top of the leaderboard. He had the 13th-lowest average score on the PGA Tour last year, so he can compete with anyone. Niemann has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
How to make 2021 Zozo Championship picks
The model is also targeting five other golfers with odds longer than 25-1 who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these long shots could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who will win the Zozo Championship 2021? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2021 Zozo Championship leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed seven golf majors and is up almost $10,000 since the restart.
2021 Zozo Championship odds
Collin Morikawa 13-2
Xander Schauffele 13-2
Hideki Matsuyama 16-1
Will Zalatoris 18-1
Tommy Fleetwood 25-1
Joaquin Niemann 28-1
Cameron Tringale 30-1
Rickie Fowler 30-1
Keegan Bradley 35-1
Alex Noren 35-1
Maverick McNealy 35-1
Si-Woo Kim 35-1
Emiliano Grillo 40-1
Jhonattan Vegas 40-1
C.T. Pan 40-1
Erik Van Rooyen 40-1
Charley Hoffman 40-1
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
Roger Sloan 80-1
Matt Jones 80-1
Robert Streb 80-1
Pat Perez 80-1
Tom Hoge 80-1
Chan Kim 80-1
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
