For all the complaining I did about the Zozo Championship before the event, I will slightly lessen my tone for a few hours after Collin Morikawa shot a six-under 64 to catapult himself into the lead after the first round.
I talked extensively about Morikawa on this week's Links + Locks podcast with Roberto Arguello and how his high-end returns for weighted proximity, GIR percentage, weighted scoring and recent ball striking could provide a ceiling that would be difficult for others to match in this limited-field, no-cut week of unknowns.
We will see if the American can keep the momentum rolling while he tries to end a winless drought since the 2021 Open Championship. However, if you want to join the fun and have a chance to win $200 if Morikawa does get himself across the finish line, I decided to run a fun promotion over on Twitter to free-roll the action.
If you haven't already, you can find me on Twitter (@TeeOffSports). There, I provide a link to my pre-tournament model, a powerful and interactive data spreadsheet that allows user input to create custom golf rankings. That sheet is released every Monday, so be sure to check it out and construct your own numbers from my database of information.
Zozo Championship Round 2 Matchup
Dylan Wu -110 over Brandon Wu (bet365)
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The trepidation I feel with getting further invested in this week almost prevented me from providing a second-round matchup because we are blindly guessing when it comes to what transpired in the middle of the night over in Japan.
I would equate that answer to an NFL game. Imagine for a second that the Bills and the Chiefs were playing, and all we knew was that the Chiefs won 28-24 as the statistical data for the game vanished into thin air.
Did Mahomes lead Kansas City with a come-from-behind victory? How did specific players perform from a statistical standpoint? Which team won at the line of scrimmage? We would want to know these answers.
Now, stretch that imagination further and get told that you had to write an article about what occurred between the two teams. You would quickly realize it is an impossible scenario to get right and one that 100% relies on pre-tournament (or game) research over any other factor that could enter the mix.
I will trust the data that I ran from Monday to Wednesday and use the little information we did receive about Greens in Regulation (GIR) percentage and driving distance to draw a calculated conclusion, but this goes against my general strategy when talking about value in the space.
My biggest concern for Brandon Wu entering the week stemmed from a putter that had gone ice cold. The data wasn't horrible with some of the GIR projections or recent ball striking, but this pronounced issue started grading straight red in my model with his short game when a green in regulation was missed.
We see that pop to the forefront of the conversation when diving into his scrambling numbers for Narashino Country Club, which landed 57th in this field and were further sunk by a weighted putting return that plummeted to 69th overall.
I do think Brandon is a notably better wind player than Dylan Wu. However, there is that one-day problem of what happens statistically if Brandon starts being a little more inaccurate than projected with his irons because of the recent struggles.
My Rick Flair "WUUUU" (despite there being Wus all around) will be of very tempered enthusiasm when talking about this pick because I am not quite sure where each stood after day one, but I had this battle closer to -130 pre-event, meaning not much likely changed when each man shot a one-over 71 to begin his tournament.
Second-Round Pick: Dylan Wu -110 over Brandon Wu (bet365)
