2021 Zozo Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Narashino CC

It should be a memorable week for Hideki Matsuyama. He already got to compete in front of his home Japanese fans at the 2019 Zozo Championship. Matsuyama would’ve won the tournament if not for Tiger Woods stealing the show.

Matsuyama also got to soak in the warmth from the home fans this summer at the Tokyo Olympics just months after his first major championship at the Masters.

Now, he gets to return to Narashino for the PGA Tour’s first stop back since the inaugural Zozo Championship a couple years ago.

“After finishing second behind Tiger Woods in the 2019 Zozo Championship, my goal will be to finish one better when we return to Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club,” Matsuyama was quoted by the PGA Tour. “Playing at home is always a treat as I’m competing in the U.S. for most parts of the year. Being the only PGA TOUR tournament in Japan, I hope to become the first Japanese golfer to win this event and I will give everything that I’ve got to challenge for a victory.”

Matsuyama is hopeful this week will be a kick start. He sputtered to a T-67th finish a couple weeks ago at the Shriners Children’s Open and followed with T-59th at the CJ Cup. He did shoot 10-under last week so it’s not like he was throwing up snowmen. Yet, he was 15 shots adrift of Rory McIlroy’s trophy pace.

Fortunately, Matsuyama only has to look back a month to the Fortinet Championship where he finished T-6th. That was his fourth top-10 of 2021, which is one more than his missed cuts this year.

The 29-year-old is one of the world’s elite ball strikers. Matsuyama ranked 17th (.614) on the PGA Tour in 2020-21 in strokes gained approach.

He was all the way up to second in approach proximity from 125-150 yards and is in the top 50 in several other ranges.

Matsuyama isn’t in good enough form, in my opinion, to win this week, but he’ll rise to the occasion to contend and put on a good show to take low-Japanese.