The Course Report
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club
About Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club
The PGA Tour heads across a very large pond to the country of Japan, and Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club plays host to the ZoZo Championship. The field this year consists of 78 players, the top 60 available PGA Tour pros from the previous season’s FedEx Cup standings, the top-seven players on the Japan Golf Tour money list, and eight sponsors exemptions.
The course looks short. In fact, the course’s structure is different in regards to the fact that golfers will face 3 par-5’s and 5 par-3’s. This isn’t your run of the mill standard course that you will fine at your local municipality. The course, even though it plays short, does have some teeth. A quick glance at 2019’s results would refute that statement, but Tiger Woods simply dominated in elite fashion. If you disregard Matsuyama’s -16, the golfer closest to Tiger was Rory McIIroy and Sungjae Im at 13 under.
Another thing to point out from 2019 is that a monsoon came through in round 2 and soaked the course. This pushed the tournament finish all the way to Monday, and made the course a lot easier. This isn’t widely known, but the course played much more difficult in round 1. In fact, it played over par. After the rain came the course was over two shots easer for the rest of the tournament.
For future reference, and we still need a lot more data to even claim that this next claim is a trend, is that this course is similar to what players tend to see at Augusta National. Success here could lead to success there. I digress.
The tree lined course are tight. Very tight. If this were to play firm and fast, we could see conditions where drivers would stay in the bag and hitting fairways with irons will be essential. Yet, players have done well cutting corners with the driver, making it an essential tool. The point being is that if you pigeon hole players here, it could make for a long weekend due to how this course is unique in its makeup.
Make sure to stay up to date with the course conditions. Regardless, the course can’t be overpowered by length, and being conservative off the tee box is as helpful as those with distance.
On approach, golfers will have water on four holes while dealing with 5 water hazards in total. There are plenty of bunkers on this course, and that alone could cause an abundance of bogeys on any player’s scorecard. The Zoysia fairways really allow the golfers to let loose with scoring clubs. In 2019, Tiger was ripping 8-iron from 200 yards. That is really insane when you think about it.
How I want the course to play, and how the course will actually play are more than likely two different scenarios. I want dry conditions that is going to lead to wayward tee shots even when players are conservative. Yet, that just isn’t going to be the case. We are going to get a course that is in perfect condition, and any moisture is going to enhance scoring. Weather predicts a very small amount of rain in the early morning hours on Friday.
There is a lot on the line here. 500 FedEx points including 9.95-million dollar purse with 1.8 going to the winner.
Architect: Shinya Fujita
Greens: Bentgrass
Green Size: 6,000 sq. feet (Small)
Stimpmeter: 11 to 11.5 – Avgerage
Length: 7,041 – Par 70
Water Hazards: 5 come into play
Bunkers: 86+
Weather Forecast
Past Winners
Returning to Japan gave Deki a boost after the big goose egg at the Olympics.
Deki delivered on Sunday and showed once again that pure irons and great putting can get you victories on the PGA Tour.
Due to Covi-19, this tournament was not played in Japan. Thus, a field loaded with players itching to get back on the course all flodded Sherwood CC.
Rahm, Thomas, and plenty PGA’s elite players were here. Yet, Cantlay had just enough to outlast the entire field.
Surgery, personal life, and number of other things have caused Tiger to struggle. Pull him away from all that is distracting and Tiger Woods can lead a tournament wire-to-wire and dominate any field. No one was close to Tiger as he won the tournament with a score of -19.
Cantlay won the Shriners in a playoff for his first victory on Tour.
Most of Cantlay’s career had been derailed by a back injury at this point, so the fact that he finally competed on Tour was a victory in itself.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.