Zozo Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Accordia

The PGA Tour is in Chiba, Japan for the inaugural Zozo Championship as part of a three week Asian Swing

Wake me up before you Zozo. American golf fans get some more late night/early morning golf with the inaugural edition of the Zozo Championship.

Like last week’s CJ Cup in South Korea, the Zozo Championship is a 78-player field. There is no 36-hole cut. Ten players from the Japan Tour are in the field that is otherwise composed of top players from the PGA Tour.

It’s a money grab, quite honestly, and Tiger Woods is among the big names cashing in this week. It’s a chance for Woods to tee it up in a tournament for the first time since the BMW Championship in August, as well as to keep an eye on potential captain’s picks for the upcoming Presidents Cup.

Woods joined Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama and Rory McIlroy in a skins game Monday in Japan.

The field will be taking on Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba. The tournament course uses holes from the King and Queen course at the 36-hole complex. It will be a par-70 measuring just over 7.000 yards. Several doglegs, water hazards, and bunkers will help to keep from an absolute bomb and gouge fest but methinks the big hitters should still have an advantage this week. The rough doesn’t appear to be too malicious, but a significant tree line at this forest course will penalize severe misses.

The early weather forecast indicates rain early in the week and perhaps early on in the tournament. Temperatures are in the 50s-70s this week.

It’s always a good idea to finalize your lineups once you know tee times/weather draws, but especially here.

Despite a larger purse at last week’s CJ Cup in South Korea, this week’s field is significantly stronger. It’s the first-ever PGA Tour tournament in Japan and with Tiger in the field, there’s some buzz around the Zoz Championship.

Let’s see who will rise up in the Land of the Rising Sun.