Golf expert reveals 5 Baycurrent Classic picks you need to see
The FedEx Cup Fall lands in Japan this week, and the Baycurrent Classic at Yokohama Country Club brings the biggest purse of the swing — $8 million — to a limited but loaded 72-player field.
Play begins Thursday in Yokohama, roughly 30 minutes outside Tokyo. There is no cut, so every player in the field gets four rounds. Xander Schauffele returns to defend the title he won last year at 19 under par.
The course is the puzzle bettors are working through. Yokohama Country Club opened in 1960, but the version players face today was reshaped in a 2016 renovation by Coore & Crenshaw — the same team behind the Plantation Course at Kapalua and the 2010 restoration of Pinehurst No. 2.
It sets up as a Par 71 at just over 7,300 yards, with an unusual configuration: three par 3s, two par 5s, and thirteen par 4s. The routing mixes holes 1-16 from the West Course with the 17th and 18th from the East Course.
Fairways are wide — last year, players hit them about 10 percent more often than the Tour average — but they are heavily tree-lined, and missing them carries a steep penalty. The rough sits at 3 to 4 inches deep. The fairways are Zoysiagrass, the same surface found at TPC Craig Ranch, TPC Southwind, and East Lake. Greens are large and Bentgrass.
Weather is another factor. The forecast calls for little wind, but the course has absorbed significant rain and should play soft, with temperatures topping out in the mid-70s. Players felt the edges of Typhoon Halong in this area last year.
That combination — soft conditions, wide-but-penal fairways, and a field capped at 72 — shapes how the week's best bets are being framed. Approach play and ball-striking metrics carry extra weight when scoring conditions soften and greens hold.
The full breakdown of five picks, including the reasoning behind each name, is available now. Whether the field's biggest star repeats — or a longshot cashes — will be settled by Sunday outside Tokyo.
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