GOLF MODEL TIPS: PGA TOUR BAYCURRENT CLASSIC 2025

Absolutely no hangover for Bob Macintyre, who put on a links golf clinic as he capped off a stellar year with a huge victory on home soil. The win was the sixth of the year for the column (there may have been more, my notes are a bit messy this year!) with most at very long odds. While the variance is at times brutal, if you’ve got the stomach for it, golf is one of the most lucrative long-term betting propositions going around.

While it’s attracting less punter interest than the Jon Rahm Open over on the Euro, there’s actually a decent field lining up in Japan for the early season PGA event and a quick look at the board shows there’s huge value to be had. The Baycurrent Classic was previously known as the ZOZO and in its short history has written some top tier names on its trophy, including Tiger and local hero Hideki.

Along with the sponsor change, the event has also changed venues and is now hosted by the Yokohama Country Club. Yokohama Country Club is a 36-hole facility (East and West) originally designed under the guidance of Takeo Aiyama, the club’s founding chairman. For this event, the layout is a composite: 16 holes from the West Course, plus two from the East Course.

The West Course underwent renovation between 2014–2016 under Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, focusing on strengthening strategic bunkering, contouring, and modern shot values while preserving classical features. Played as a par-71 across 7,315 yards, the track offers players wide and tree-liner fairways offering a good mix of easy and tighter approach to greens. Rough is patchy and is a bit of a crapshoot whether players will find a lie or not.

Greens are undulating and are expected to be set up very quickly, however Typhoon Halong might have the final say there. The weather system is expected to pass by Tokyo on Thursday and its outer bands will be a big influence on how this event pans out. Rain is a near certainty along with sustained winds between 25 and 35 km/h with gusts up to 50km/h expected across the opening day. Despite the daunting forecast, organisers are expecting a full four rounds.

This is the first we’ve seen of this track in Shotlinked tracked, professional play so there’s no historic dataset to fit course specific overlays on.

Very mild volumes so far however flows seem to be getting more and more back-ended and with weather expected to be a big factor it’s no surprise punters are hanging onto their bankrolls until they know more.

The top of the board is dominated by household names who have had disappointing seasons and punters have installed the most disappointing of all as a clear favourite. After winning two Majors in 2024, Xander hasn’t done much of anything this year, with a T7 at the Open the best he’s managed. Looking at his stats, the decline has been across the board but his putting in particular has really fallen away. Punters seem to have spotted something in his prep they like and he’s been backed in continuously since open.

Next in line is Morikawa, who has followed a similar trajectory this year after tracking up a slew of top finishes across 2024. It’s his wedge and flat stick play that have proven his downfall as he’s fallen from as high as third in the model ratings to a lowly 30th.

The model has absolutely no interest in either these two or any of the top names so I’ll be loading up on more fat prices lower down the board in a week brimming with value.