Draftkings ZOZO Championship First Round Picks 10/23/24

This Thursday, Draftkings golf fans will be presented with the first round of the 2024 ZOZO Championship. Let’s take a look at the first round of this event from a DFS perspective.

Before I discuss my Draftkings player selections, let’s review where the first round of the 2024 ZOZO Championship will be played.

The first round of the 2024 ZOZO Championship will be played at Accordia Narashino Golf Club in Japan. This golf course is a par 70 that measures approximately 7,079 yards.

I wanted to emphasize that the purpose of this article is not to provide an exact DFS lineup.

Having stated that, this article will provide multiple player options in an effort to assist the reader in generating a unique lineup that will hopefully have the potential to win a DraftKings GPP (guaranteed prize pool) contest!

For those readers that are not aware, the rules and scoring for DraftKings single round showdown contests are vastly different than the traditional classic contests offered by the platform.

If you need to review the specific rules for the single round showdown contests feel free to check out the DraftKings website.

Here are my DraftKings player selections for the first round of the 2024 ZOZO Championship.

2024 ZOZO Championship Draftkings First Round Picks

Kurt Kitayama $9,500

Kurt Kitayama arrives at this week’s tournament on the heels of two consecutive top 25 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a ninth-place result at last week’s 2024 Shriners Children’s Open.

Due to Kurt Kitayama’s quality finish at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open I decided to take a hard look at the relevant player statistics for the tournament to see how Kitayama fared relative to the field.

Upon the completion of four rounds of competitive play at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open, in relation to the field, Kurt Kitayama ranked first in strokes gained tee to green (3.023), second in strokes gained approach (1.575), eighth in strokes gained around the green (0.861), and third in GIR (greens in regulation-84.7%).

Additionally, Kurt Kitayama finished 16th at the 2023 ZOZO Championship.

Min Woo Lee $9,000

Min Woo Lee has accumulated two top 22 finishes in his last four tournaments played on the PGA Tour, including a 22nd place result at the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship in August.

J.J. Spaun $8,300

J.J. Spaun has compiled five top 29 finishes in his last seven events played on the PGA Tour, including an impressive third place result at the 2024 Wyndham Championship two months ago.

In relation to this week’s 2024 ZOZO Championship field, in the last 24 rounds played on the PGA Tour, J.J. Spaun ranks 15th in birdie or better percentage, tenth in GIR (greens in regulation), third in strokes gained tee to green, 16th in bogey avoidance, third in strokes gained approach, and eighth in total Draftkings points scored.

Spaun has posted a quality finish at the Accordia Narashino Golf Club in the past. More specifically, J.J. Spaun finished sixth at the 2023 ZOZO Championship.

Kyoung Hoon Lee $7,300

The talented South Korean has tallied two top 23 finishes in his last three tournaments played on the PGA Tour, including a 23rd place result at the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship earlier this month.

Lee Hodges $6,900

Two weeks ago, Lee Hodges fired a final round 67 at the 2024 Black Desert Championship en route to an eventual eighth place result.

Additional golfers I like to perform well in the first round (Draftkings price noted): Collin Morikawa $10,400: Gary Woodland $7,900: Will Zalatoris $8,800: Rickie Fowler $7,900: Kyoung-Hoon Lee $7,300: Ryo Ishikawa $6,200: Kensei Hirata $7,100.