Zozo 2022 Heavy Petting

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If golf research were sexual...you'd be rounding 2nd base after this.

Here are a few key things to know that may not have been covered on the podcast enough. Keep these in mind when narrowing down your bets and/or player pool.

Remember, 78 man field...no cut...be aggressive in DFS. Scoring matters even though this isn't the easiest course they've ever played.

Will Zalatoris compared this course to Augusta National last year in large part due to how pristine, the lack of rough, and the bentgrass greens.

Water comes into play on 4 holes, but the bunkers will be a factor, especially around the greens.

SG: Around the Green and Bunker play should be considered this week in models. Don't go crazy. It's not a major championship, but it counts for something here.

In the 2 years Accordia has hosted, the hit fairway rate has been below TOUR average, but the GIR % has been right at TOUR average in large part because playing from the rough isn't that big of a deal. Bombs away!

The bent grass greens average around 5500 square feet. They're peckish. They're pure AF though. They have some undulation, and they run on the average to slow side in terms of speed. Great putters like Tiger have played well here, as well as shitty putters like Steele, Keegan, & Conners. Unlike the Shriners...this is NOT a putting contest.

Rory said, "The greens are so pure, and it sort of reminds me a little bit of the course we play in Mexico, Chapultapec. Just sort of the tree-lined and doglegs and having to sort of cut off corners and stuff, but I like it.”

Mid to long iron play will matter a lot given the lengthy P4's, the 2 gettable P5's, and the 5 mid range P3's. There will be a handful of wedge opps with the shorter P4's, but the mid to long irons will matter more.

Top 4 Stokes Gained VS Expectation per DataGolf at Accordia that have played BOTH YEARS: Hideki, Keegan, Otsuki & Merritt

Bottom 4 Stokes Gained VS Expectation per DataGolf at Accordia that have played BOTH YEARS: Pan, Grillo, Putnam & Xander

DataGolf's optimal DK lineup is Im, Young, Stallings, Herbert, Kitayama, & Clark

 A Beef w/ The Other Davis + Arrested in Sea Island + Falling in a Pond on Tour + DJ'ing on the Side + More! The interviews with Davis Thompson & Ben Griffin were extremely insightful in terms of giving you an idea of what type of players these guys are so you can file that away for betting & DFS. But...we also had a lot of fun learning about these guys off the course. The Ben Griffin one is especially entertaining. Even if you're strictly the DFS/Betting data nerd, you'll enjoy our conversations about statistics and how these guys find form week to week. 

1. Strokes gained OTT leaders from last 24 rounds: 1. Im 2. Young 3. Steele 4. Conners 5. Buckley 6. Champ 7. List 8. Merritt 9. Streelman 10. Davis2. Rounds gained % putting leaders on bent grass: 1. C Bez 2. Hossler 3. Stallings 4. McNealy 5. Herbert 6. Fowler 7. Hughes 8. Hovland 9. Ramey 10. Svensson3. Strokes gained T2G leaders in the last 3 calendar months: 1. Im 2. J Kim 3. Conners 4. Hoge 5. Young 6. Davis 7. Hodges 8. Si Woo 9. Buckley 10. Lipsky4. On courses <7200 yards, difficult to hit fairways & bent greens, your top 10 in total strokes gained: 1. Morikawa 2. Bradley 3. Putnam 4. Dahmen 5. Champ 6. Ramey 7. Matsuyama 8. Rodgers 9. Long 10. Fowler5. Top 10 JUST strokes gained ball striking on courses <7200 yards, difficult to hit fairways, & difficult scoring: 1. List 2. Champ 3. Bradley 4. Im 5. Stallings 6. Morikawa 7. Ramey 8. Knox 9. Rai 10. Dahmen6. Top 10 in birdies or better gained the last 50 rounds: 1. Young 2. Schauffele 3. Kitayama 4. Hovland 5. Riley 6. Davis 7. Pereira 8. Grillo 9. Jaeger 10. J Kim7. Top 10 GIR's gained at Accordia: 1.Matsuyama 2. Lee 3. List 4. McNealy 5. Steele 6. Grillo 7. Morikawa 8. NeSmith 9. Otsuki 10. Iwata8. Top 10 in GIR's gained the last 12 rounds: 1. J Kim 2. Straka 3. Conners 4. Rai 5. Long 6. NeSmith 7. Grillo 8. Morikawa 9. Putnam 10. Pereira9. The two highest approach shot distribution buckets this week are 200+ & 125-150, your top 10 in proximity: 1. Pereira 2. Morikawa 3. Grillo 4. Hovland 5. Matsuyama 6. Schauffele 7. Conners 8. Davis 9. Steele 10. Smalley10. Top 10 projected points per salary dollar (good values): 1. Young 2. Im 3. Clark 4. Herbert 5. Kitayama 6. Hossler 7. Lee 8. Davis 9. Smalley 10. Schauffele

We cashed last week at 1.25x thanks to Grillo being a jackass. I'm making a cautious day 1 play here as the weather in Japan looks verrrrryyyyy interesting with high winds and a ton of rain. It could end up being a total washout or just soaking wet. For this reason, I didn't want to commit to stroke or birdie totals. I'll take my chances with these 2 Birdie or Better Matchups where Conners and Straka are clearly just better players and 70% of the time, they score more birdies than Ramey and Rai. Proceed with caution firing on PP Round 1 plays given the weather forecast.

Korn Ferry Tour Graduates (now PGA TOUR Rookies) You NEED TO KNOW!

Name : Austin Eckroat

Order of Merit or Finals Ranking : 3rd Finals 

From : Edmond, Oklahoma

Plays out of : Edmond, Oklahoma

College : Oklahoma State University

KFT Wins / Top 25s / Top 10s : 10 top 25 / 3 top 10 / 2 runner ups

KFT Made Cuts/Missed Cuts : 12/16

Driving Distance & Rank : 314.9 (27th)

Driving Accuracy % & Rank : 62.95% (47th)

GIR% & Rank : 74.28% (7th)

Putting Average Rank : 31st

Scrambling Rank : 24th

Birdie or Better % & Rank : 25.79% (11th)

OTHER STATS : 

OTHER Pertinent Info : Feels like 4 events in a row is his max. Best buds with Wolff. Stud in high school. 4x All American in college at OSU. Won natty in 2018 and went 3-0 as a freshman. Stud at the Walker Cup in 2020. As of 10/5, he’s played in 13 events on the PGA Tour schedule through Monday Q or sponsor invites with 3 Top 25’s, and only 4 MC’s (including the USO). 

PODCAST INTEL: Considers himself a top tier ball striker. He's really looking forward to the tougher courses, especially on the Florida swing. Hits the ball high. Prefers a draw. Thinks if he makes it to The Masters, the course would be perfect for him. Most comfortable on bent grass greens.