The PGA Tour crosses the other pond this week to head to Japan for the Baycurrent Classic, née the ZOZO Championship.
This tournament, since its inception, has usually been the last time you see some of the big names in golf until either the Hero World Challenge or The Sentry to kick off the following season. While it is not quite as star-studded as the days of Tiger Woods playing (his record-tying 82nd career win came at the inaugural playing of this event in 2019), there are still plenty of strong names in this year's field.
A fun wrinkle for this year's playing, besides a new presenting sponsor, is the tournament moving to a new course. Yokohama Country Club makes its debut this week, so no one in the field really knows what to expect.
Standing at 7,315 yards, the par-71 offers a lot of mid-to-long par-4s, so expect an emphasis on strong approach play this week. We're coming off a poor week from the rankings, with our best finish being Kevin Yu finishing at T11 (shoutout to honorable mention Rasmus Hojgaard finishing T3 after his Ryder Cup debut), so let's try to find better fortunes in Yokohama.
Honorable Mentions: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Austin Eckroat, Adam Scott, Karl Vilips, Gary Woodland
9. Max Homa
A man the United States probably wishes they had in the locker room at the Ryder Cup, Max Homa started to get things clicking again last week with a T18 finish at the Sanderson Farms. The biggest takeaway is that Homa finished 15th on the week in strokes gained approach, the area of his game that had the biggest downturn during his poor 2025. If Homa can keep up his iron play this week, he should find himself contending come Sunday once again.
8. Aldrich Potgieter
This placement for Potgieter is really just because I'm hoping to catch lightning in a bottle this week. Obviously, his driving prowess is well known, but when Potgieter has his irons going, then it's almost a guarantee that he puts together a strong performance.
While his approach numbers have not been great, he has been reining in the bottom end of his range of performance lately, which will help Aldrich find more consistent high-finishing performances, and I think this week can be one of those solid finishes.
7. Kurt Kitayama
Consistently one of the best iron players on Tour, Kurt Kitayama has also played very well in Japan, with a fifth-place finish at the ZOZO last year. The 32-year-old has had positive approach play in 10 straight starts, so he is feeling it with his irons at the moment.
He also hasn't finished lower than T31 in his last six starts, which includes a win at the 3M Open earlier this year. Very much a form pick here, don't be surprised by a Kitayama run this weekend.
6. Hideki Matsuyama
Admittedly, Hideki Matsuyama does not have a great record at this tournament, outside of his win in 2022. However, he showed off his high-floor capabilities with his play down the stretch heading into East Lake, still managing to make the Tour Championship in a year where he clearly didn't have his best stuff (Hideki didn't have a single top-10 after his win at The Sentry in January).
Matsuyama also always manages to play well in other events in Japan, so maybe his struggles at the ZOZO came down to the golf course. Moving to a new course this week could very well help Hideki find some better form.
5. Billy Horschel
I am of the belief that, if he was healthy, Billy Horschel would have made the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and his energy and presence in the locker room would have helped the Americans win. Forever the leader in strokes gained: got that dog in him (Collin Morikawa is dead last in this stat), Billy Ho is still on his way back from his hip surgery that caused him to miss three of the four majors this year.
Horschel always manages to grind out strong results when people least expect it, and I fully expect him to pull this off again this week.
4. Xander Schauffele
There's one big reason why I'm high on Xander this week: the grass. Yokohama Country Club uses Zoysia grass in the fairway and rough, the same grass used at Valhalla, where Xander famously won his first career major last May.
I know I was low on Xander for the Ryder Cup, but he was one of the most successful Americans on the week with a 3-1-0 record, so maybe he has finally put his injury issues behind him and is ready to have a strong bounce-back in 2026. Yokohama could be the place that kickstarts another great run from Schauffele.
3. Michael Kim
Maybe the most overlooked win in golf recently, Michael Kim took down the Open de France a couple of weeks ago for his first professional win since the 2018 John Deere Classic.
Kim had a cold stretch through the summer, but appeared to heat up as we reached the FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing tenth at the BMW Championship and just missing out on the Tour Championship. His strong play is built on hitting his irons well, so if he keeps up the iron play that he showed in France, then Michael Kim could be contending once again this weekend.
2. Si Woo Kim
You can pretty much take everything that I said about Kurt Kitayama, add about 9% more pedigree, and you get Si Woo Kim. With three straight top-25s, Kim is coming into the Baycurrent in very strong form, and seems primed to breakthrough for another win.
I'm not worried about his ball striking at all; we just need to see the putter cooperate this weekend. The former Players champion has not had a positive putting performance since The Memorial this summer, which is certainly a reason for concern. However, he has been getting his putting performance back to average recently, and I think that this trend continues this weekend.
1. Alex Noren
My favorite Swede who has found his way back into the top 20 in the OWGR thanks to two wins on the DP World Tour in his last three starts, Alex Noren should dominate the field this week with his iron play.
Every club in Noren's bag seems to be clicking for him right now, and I don't see any reason why this won't continue for the 43-year-old. After a successful vice-captaincy at Bethpage, I think we're in for a strong end of 2025 and 2026 from Noren, almost in the same style that we've seen from guys like Justin Rose recently.