Golf tips: Four best bets for the Zozo Championship including 80/1 punt

The Zozo Championship at the Sherwood Country Club is the latest stop on the PGA Tour, and Paddy Power have teamed up with SportingLife.com expert Ben Coley to bring you our top tips for the week ahead.

Tiger Woods is the defending champion and could make history if he manages to secure a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title.

The 44-year-old is familiar with the California course, having hosted the Hero World Challenge there from 2000 to 2013, but plenty of challengers have their sights set on unsettling the star attraction.

Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas currently lead our outright betting market, but Coley believes punters should cast their eye elsewhere in the search for value.

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Collin Morikawa

Tiger Woods is the defending champion but heir to the throne COLLIN MORIKAWA appears a better bet this time. Morikawa’s approach play and mindset have already drawn comparisons to Woods, and his form seems to correlate – his two full-strength wins have been at courses Woods has also won at.

More recently he was back to form in 12th place last week, with his approach play again firing, and that sets the youngster up nicely for Sherwood. He won his last start back home in California and can double up on Sunday.

Webb Simpson

Previous winners here include Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk and Zach Johnson, and the test at Sherwood is more about precision, wedge play and a strong short-game than giving the ball a thump off the tee.

When that’s the case, WEBB SIMPSON is right up there with the best in the world and he’s one of just a dozen players with proper course experience. Eighth when last seen in Las Vegas, he only needs to show modest improvement from that and it could well be forthcoming on a short and turning course

Webb Simpson

Matt Fitzpatrick

Sticking with the theme of players who like a tight, tree-lined test, MATT FITZPATRICK should enjoy his debut here. All of his best form has come under such conditions, including at another Nicklaus design in Ohio, and that bodes particularly well.

So too does the improvements shown in his long game in last week’s CJ Cup and that’s two events running in which he’s been a big factor at the halfway point. Fitzpatrick knows he needs to cut out the errors but is fancied to do just that at a course he’ll love.

Kevin Na

Hailing from California, at his best on short courses and with three wins in the last couple of years, KEVIN NA looks the pick of the outsiders. He’s never played here competitively but has form at the correlating courses in Ohio and on the east coast, including Harbour Town where he has five top-10s.

They should provide a big clue as to what we’re looking for and Na has long played well in his home state. His form is patchy but that’s often true of shorter hitters and he’s played plenty of good golf lately.

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