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The PGA Tour has established itself in other parts of Asia but, at long last, it finally pitches up in Japan. The ZOZO Championship, the first PGA Tour event ever to be held in the country, takes place at Narashino County Club in Chiba, east of Tokyo. The course, a par 70 measuring just 7,041 yards, will be brand new to everyone. Well, sort of. In the build-up on Monday, it staged a Skins game featuring Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and local hero Hideki Matsuyama. No-one particularly stood out but Day banked the big money and we did see that the course was playing soft. The fairways are tight and tree-lined so this looks a different challenge to last week's CJ Cup where big hitter Justin Thomas won by two with 20-under. That was confirmed by Collin Morikawa (who has Japanese family), who said in his pre-Zozo Press conference: "It's very different than what I've seen before, especially on the PGA Tour this last summer. "It's a lot more narrow, the fairways are a lot smaller as compared to last week. What freaked me out was the double greens. I was a little surprised, I thought I was hitting one green but turns out the hole was on another one. But I loved it. "Obviously with the rain it's going to be pretty soft." Angles to consider 1/ Form in Japan/Asia While this is a new venue, it's typical of many Japanese courses so those who have experience in the country could have an edge. Expanding it out, good records in Asia are certainly worthy of note. 2/ Par 3 Scoring On particular quirk of Narashino County Club is that it has five par 3s. It therefore makes sense to take a look at the PGA Tour's Par 3 Scoring table. 3/ Current form It's the obvious route to go down as we have no course form to peruse. Some players are clearly shaking off the rust while others are in a flow after playing plenty of the early-season events. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Adam Scott The Aussie is T9 in Par 3 Scoring this season for starters but I particularly like the fact that he teed it up in last week's Japan Open and finished tied fifth. He was also T7 in that event in 2015. Scott has seven top 10s in his last 11 worldwide events so clearly is game is in a very good place again. Adam Hadwin Like Scott, the Canadian is hoping to get a captain's pick from Ernie Els for the Presidents Cup in Australia in December. He's certainly going about it the right way having finished second and fourth in his last two PGA Tour events. Hadwin is also ranked 1st in Par 3 Scoring this season. Gary Woodland He may not have form in Japan but Woodland certainly enjoys his trips to the Far East. He's a two-time runner-up at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia (also T5 last year) and was third in last week's CJ Cup in Korea after a hot weekend. Tips 1-2; +0.60pts 1pt e.w. Adam Scott at 28/1 (Bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) 33rd 1pt e.w. Adam Hadwin at 45/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 41st 1pt e.w. Gary Woodland at 28/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 5th |