At 100-1, Roger Sloan flies under the radar this week and is competitive.
Golf file | Tom Boland
The stars showed up as far as Vegas and one glittered brighter than the famous Strip.
Rory McIlroy secured his 20th PGA Tour win at the CJ Cup after a dazzling 62 in the third round. McIlroy was then able to fend off the first serious title race from Summit Club member Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler on Sunday. Beating many Americans in the field is some consolation for the heartbroken Northern Irishman after the Ryder Cup.
Nobody played bad on the picks, but Oosthuizen, Leishman and Varner couldn’t keep up with the pace on the easy driver / wedge track. Like Rory, the picks will pick up some momentum before the winter break.
We are now heading to the location of Tiger Woods’ most recent and record breaking 82nd Tour win, the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan. It’s the first time the tour has been back in Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year the event took place in California, where Patrick Cantlay won. Like last week, it’s only a 78-man field with no cut, but a lot of the celebrities in Vegas won’t be flying to the other side of the world.
According to SI Sportsbook, the favorite is Xander Schauffele 6-1, who returns to the land of his gold medal win in a limited field. Next up is Collin Morikawa, who finished second last week 13-2. Next comes the Masters champion and the Japanese native Hideki Matsuyama with 12: 1. To complete the notables, aspiring Will Zalatoris is 16-1.
For our favorite we have to go 12-1 with local hero Matsuyama. For a man who was under so much pressure to perform from his home country, he certainly delivered. Apart from putting on the green jacket in 2021, he played very good golf. In his final 24 rounds, Matsuyama is the top 10 for strokes won: serving, teeing off and approaching, including a T6 at the Fortinet Championship. Though he didn’t look his normal in Las Vegas, we were sure his mind was elsewhere when he knew the tour was finally returning to his home country and where he finished second behind Woods two years ago.
For a midrange pick, we follow the steam on CT Pan at 45-1. The Taiwanese player got off to a wonderful start to the season with a T-11 and T-6 at the Fortinet and Sanderson Farms Championships. On his most recent visit to Japan, he secured the bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics in a massive playoff for the honor. Pan is also one of the few to have seen this course the last time the Zozo was held here, so he should be confident be able to keep the momentum going.
For a sleeper, take a flyer on Roger Sloan at 100-1. Since the start of the golf year, Sloan finished 14th between two missed cuts at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Before the start of this season, the Canadian had only missed two cuts since May and finished in the top 21 four times, almost winning the Wyndham Championship. Sloan should feel like this is a less intimidating “no-cut” event where he can shine for four rounds.
2021-22 chooses scoreboard:
winner:
Top 5s:
Top 10:
Top 20:
Here are some notable odds, according to SI Sportsbook:
- Xander Schauffele 6-1
- Collin Morikawa 13-2
- Hideki Matsuyama 12-1
- Will Zalatoris 16-1
- Tommy Fleetwood 22-1
- Joaquin Niemann 25-1
- Rickie Fowler 25-1
- Cameron Tringale 35-1
- Jhonattan Vegas 35-1
- Keegan Bradley 35-1
- Alex Noren 35-1
- Maverick McNealy 35-1
- Si-Woo Kim 35-1
- Emiliano Grillo 40-1
- Erik Van Rooyen 40-1
- Charley Hoffman 40-1
- CT cup 45-1
- Burn 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 pin 66-1
- Matt Jones 80-1
- Robert Streb 80-1
- Pat Perez 80-1
- Tom Hoge 80-1
- Chan Kim 80-1
- Roger Sloan 100-1
- 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 leaves 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