Steve Bamford

Steve Bamford's Baycurrent Classic Tips 2025

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Congratulations if you were on-board Steven Fisk at the Sanderson Farms Championship last week at Monday best prices of 90/1 (with Coral and Ladbrokes with 8 places each-way). A bomber who can’t putt, Fisk fitted the bill perfectly following on from recent Sanderson Farms winners Kevin Yu and Luke List. I landed a full each-way place for the week with Garrick Higgo’s excellent runner-up finish at 45/1.

We have a new tournament on the PGA Tour the Baycurrent Classic. This is the replacement Japanese event for the ZOZO Championship, whose sponsorship ended in 2024. We also move from Narashino to a new venue – the Yokohama Country Club.

The Baycurrent remains a short-field 78 player, no cut event. It features the top 60 available PGA Tour players from the Regular Season FedExCup standings alongside a host of the Japan Golf Tour’s best talent. With an $8 million prize fund it’s the richest tournament of the FedEx Fall.

Before we go into the detail surrounding the Baycurrent Classic, we always have new visitors to Golf Betting System. Welcome and let me point you in the direction of our weekly Golf Betting System Podcast (published every Tuesday of the golfing calendar), the Steve Bamford Golf Channel on YouTube and our hugely popular, +6,600 strong, private Group on Facebook – you can Join Here.

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You can read Liam Williams’ Power Rankings for the Baycurrent Classic at bet365 News.

Course Guide: Yokohama Country Club is the Baycurrent Classic venue. A typical, tree-lined, parkland, Japanese golf course, at 7,317 yards in length it’s over 200 yards longer than the Narashino Country Club it replaces, but with this being a Par 71 this is still a short golf course to navigate. Since a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw renovation in 2016, this course has seen some action on the Japan Golf Tour Organization with the 2018 Japan Open, plus 2023 and 2024 Yokohama Minato Championships being played here.

Yokohama Country Club, Yokohama, Japan: Designer: Designer: Takeo Aiyama, 1960, with Coore & Crenshaw renovation, 2015; Course Type: Classical, Parkland, Mid-Score , Short; Par: 71; Length: 7,317 yards; Fairways: Korai Zoysiagrass; Rough: Noshiba Zoysiagrass 2″; Greens: 007 Bentgrass; Tournament Stimp: 11.5ft.

Course Designer Links: For research purposes other Coore and Crenshaw designs include (including re-designs):

  • The Plantation Course at Kapalua – The Sentry
  • Pinehurst Number 2 – 2014 & 2024 U.S. Open
  • Trinity Forest Golf Club – 2018/19 AT&T Byron Nelson

Course Overview: The Baycurrent Classic, held at Yokohama Country Club, utilises a composite course layout combining holes from both the West and East Courses. Specifically, the layout includes 16 holes from the West Course and 2 holes from the East Course. This configuration aims to offer a balanced challenge for players, integrating the West Course’s undulating fairways and dense pine trees with the East Course’s tighter, tree-lined fairways and deep bunkering. The West Course is renowned for its wide, inviting fairways, complemented by gently rolling terrain and classic Coore & Crenshaw-style bunkering.

The quirky, quite specialised nature of Japanese golf courses is fully highlighted here at Yokohama, where a Par 71 format features just 2 par-5s, both of within 2 holes of each other on the front-9. The back-9 features 8 par-4s, with only 3 par-3s namely the 3rd, 7th and the 237 yard 16th. Winning scores here have been -14/270 (2018 Japan Open), -13/271 (2023 Yokohama Minato Championship) and -22/262 (2024 Yokohama Minato Championship).

Yokohama Country Club also features Zoysiagrass fairways and rough, which we have also seen at Japans previous Tour stop-off Narashino Country Club from 2019. Zoysiagrass is a relative rarity on the PGA Tour featuring at TPC Southwind (FedEx St Jude Championship, WGC St Jude Invitational and before that the St Jude Classic), East Lake (Tour Championship), plus CJ Cup Byron Nelson venue TPC Craig Ranch (current) plus with previous host venue Trinity Forest, which was planted from tee to green with Zoysiagrass. These fairways also featured at the Atlanta Athletic Club (2011 PGA Championship; Bellerive Country Club (2018 PGA Championship) and Valhalla (2024 PGA Championship). Zoysia isn’t the most popular of fairway grasses with many players who claim the quirky grass promotes flyers.

Baycurrent Classic Tips

Previous PGA Tour winners in Japan: Hosted at Narashino CC: 2024: Nicolas Echavarria (-20); 2023: Collin Morikawa (-14); 2022: Keegan Bradley (-15); 2021: Hideki Matsuyama (-15); Hosted at Sherwood CC: 2020: Patrick Cantlay (-23); Hosted at Narashino CC: 2019: Tiger Woods (-19).

  • 2024: Nicolas Echavarria 64-64-65-67 -20/260
  • 2023: Collin Morikawa 64-73-66-63 -14/266
  • 2022: Keegan Bradley 66-65-66-68 -15/265
  • 2021: Hideki Matsuyama 64-68-68-65 -15/265
  • 2019: Tiger Woods 64-64-66-67 -19/261

OWGR of previous PGA Tour winners in Japan: 2024: Echavarria 292; 2023: Morikawa 20; 2022: Bradley 44; 2021: Matsuyama 19; 2020: Cantlay 14; 2019: Woods 10.

Datagolf Ranking of previous PGA Tour winners in Japan: 2024: Echavarria 259; 2023: Morikawa 7; 2022: Bradley 38; 2021: Matsuyama 40.

Incoming Form of previous PGA Tour winners in Japan since 2019:

  • Nicolas Echavarria: MC Shriners/11th Black Desert/MC Sanderson/MC Procore.
  • Collin Morikawa: 4th Tour/25th BMW/13th St Jude/MC Open Champ.
  • Keegan Bradley: 5th Sanderson/58th BMW/MC St Jude/44th Rocket Mortgage.
  • Hideki Matsuyama: 59th CJ Cup/67th Shriners/8th Fortinet/26th Tour.
  • Patrick Cantlay: 38th CJ Cup/8th Shriners/43rd US Open/12th BMW.
  • Tiger Woods: 37th BMW/WD Northern Trust/MC Open Champ/21st US Open.

Tournament Stats: We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s event that are well worth a look. Naturally they’ll help to shape a view on players who could go well this week. As noted, this event replaces the ZOZO Championship and the venue has changed so stats should be noted accordingly: Current Form | First Round Leader | Event Stats (ZOZO) | Combined Stats.

My published predictor is available here. Top 10 of my published predictor are: 1) Hideki Matsuyama; 2) Collin Morikawa; 3) Xander Schauffele; 4) Si Woo Kim; 5) Max Homa; 6) Sungjae Im; 7) Emiliano Grillo; 8) Eric Cole; 9) Tom Kim; 10) Alex Noren.

Our brand new predictor model is running alongside, where you can build your own rankings in live time using the variables listed on the left hand side.

Previous PGA Tour winners in Japan Winning Prices: 2024: Echavarria 250/1; 2023: Morikawa 11/1; 2022: Bradley 40/1; 2021: Matsuyama 16/1; 2020: Cantlay 28/1; 2019: Woods 33/1. Overall Average: 63/1.

Weather Forecast: The latest weather forecast for Yokohama, Japan is here. The forecast for the Baycurrent looks mixed. Temperatures will range between 18-28 degrees Celsius – 64-82 Fahrenheit – which is pretty extreme. Sunday is the coldest day.

Winds are also a feature plus they turn as well. Thursday looks tough with +30 mph gusts from the north-east. Friday is calm, then Saturday sees 15-20 mph gusts from the south. Sunday then sees a directional change back to the north-east with gusts above 20 mph.

September saw 362mm or 14.3 inches of rain in Yokohama and with a 50% chance of precipitation early on Thursday I’m expecting a soft, lush track, with greens speeding up throughout the week.

Player Strokes Gained Rankings: These top 25 in the field rankings are based on an 8-tournament window that stretches back to the St Jude Championship / Nexo Championship which includes both PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, where recorded. Player rankings are based on performance relative to the rest of the field:

  • Top 25 SG Off The Tee: 1) Michael Thorbjornsen; 2) Si Woo Kim; 3) Chris Gotterup; 4) Kurt Kitayama; 5) Garrick Higgo / Kevin Yu; 7) Gary Woodland; 8) Collin Morikawa; 9) Austin Eckroat; 10) Sungjae Im; 11) Lee Hodges / Xander Schauffele; 13) Keith Mitchell; 14) Alex Smalley; 15) Bud Cauley; 16) Rasmus Hojgaard / Kevin Roy / Sam Stevens; 20) Karl Vilips; 21) Min Woo Lee / Davis Riley; 23) Byeong Hun An / Aldrich Potgieter; 25) Alex Noren.
  • Top 25 SG Approach: 1) Sami Valimaki; 2) Adam Scott / Sahith Theegala; 4) Michael Thorbjornsen; 5) Michael Kim; 6) Rico Hoey; 7) Hideki Matsuyama; 8) Bud Cauley; 9) Kurt Kitayama; 10) Ryo Hisatsune / Collin Morikawa; 12) Max Homa / Xander Schauffele; 14) Ryan Gerard / Garrick Higgo; 16) Emiliano Grillo; 17) Chris Gotterup; 18) Si Woo Kim / Alex Noren; 20) Andrew Putnam; 21) Max Greyserman / Sungjae Im; 23) Patrick Fishburn / Mac Meissner; 25) Austin Eckroat.
  • Top 25 SG Around The Green: 1) Lee Hodges; 2) Hideki Matsuyama; 3) Adam Scott; 4) Wyndham Clark; 5) Mac Meissner; 6) Sungjae Im / Si Woo Kim; 8) Christiaan Bezuidenhout; 9) Beau Hossler; 10) Kurt Kitayama; 11) Tom Kim; 12) Kevin Yu; 13) Max McGreevy / Xander Schauffele; 15) Vince Whaley; 16) Nicolas Echavarria; 17) Chris Gotterup / Sam Stevens; 19) Mark Hubbard; 20) Ryo Hisatsune; 21) Bud Cauley / Collin Morikawa / Sahith Theegala; 24) Matt Wallace; 25) Davis Riley.
  • Top 25 SG Tee to Green: 1) Si Woo Kim; 2) Michael Thorbjornsen; 3) Sahith Theegala; 4) Kurt Kitayama; 5) Garrick Higgo; 6) Mac Meissner; 7) Ryo Hisatsune / Adam Scott; 9) Kevin Yu; 10) Collin Morikawa; 11) Hideki Matsuyama / Xander Schauffele; 13) Austin Eckroat / Alex Noren; 15) Bud Cauley / Patrick Fishburn; 17) Chris Gotterup / Max Homa; 19) Christiaan Bezuidenhout / Sungjae Im; 21) Vince Whaley; 22) Gary Woodland; 25) Rasmus Hojgaard / Michael Kim; 25) Ryan Gerard.
  • Top 25 SG Putting: 1) Eric Cole; 2) Garrick Higgo; 3) Sungjae Im; 4) Bud Cauley / Austin Eckroat / Min Woo Lee / Vince Whaley; 8) Kurt Kitayama; 9) Mark Hubbard / Takumi Kanaya; 11) Chris Gotterup; 12) Gary Woodland; 13) Matti Schmid; 14) David Lipsky / Hideki Matsuyama; 16) Davis Riley; 17) Xander Schauffele; 18) Brian Campbell / Max Homa / Alex Noren; 21) Danny Walker; 22) Kevin Yu; 23) Emiliano Grillo / Tom Kim; 25) Rasmus Hojgaard.
  • Top 25 SG Total: 1) Garrick Higgo; 2) Austin Eckroat; 3) Si Woo Kim; 4) Kurt Kitayama; 5) Alex Noren; 6) Max Homa / Gary Woodland; 8) Hideki Matsuyama / Michael Thorbjornsen / Vince Whaley; 11) Kevin Yu; 12) Bud Cauley; 13) Xander Schauffele; 14) Eric Cole; 15) Christiaan Bezuidenhout / Sungjae Im; 17) Rasmus Hojgaard / Collin Morikawa; 19) Ryo Hisatsune / Mac Meissner; 21) Chris Gotterup; 22) Patrick Fishburn / Lee Hodges / Mark Hubbard / Adam Scott / Sahith Theegala.

For the record, here’s the breakdown of pure Bentgrass green PGA Tour victors in the field since 2008:

  • 4 – Hideki Matsuyama.
  • 3 – Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott.
  • 2 – Billy Horschel, Tom Kim.
  • 1 – Brian Campbell, Wyndham Clark, Nicolas Echavarria, Emiliano Grillo, Lee Hodges, Max Homa, Sungjae Im, Michael Kim, Kurt Kitayama, Matt McCarty, Collin Morikawa, Davis Riley, Camilo Villegas.

My final Baycurrent Classic tips are as follows:

Hideki Matsuyama 3pts EW 16/1 (8EW, 1/5) with Betfred

Of the big 3 at the top of the market, I like Hideki Matsuyama.

13th a few weeks back on his first visit to Wentworth was very nice, and he surprised many when he was the 36-hole leader. To hit the ground running around the West Course is the mark of a good player and only when conditions deteriorated on Saturday did the 2021 Masters champion fall away. 67 on Sunday put him back into the top 10 best rounds of the day though on another cold, blustery assignment.

A 9-time winner in his native Japan, taking out the inaugural Baycurrent Classic would be a great honour for Hideki, who when you look at his professional record wins a lot of golf tournaments in the Fall across all levels.

Ranking in the top 11 for Approach, Around the Green, Tee to Green and Current Form across my 8-event Strokes Gained tracker, Hideki critically also ranks in the top 15 for Putting – so he’s showing all the signs of being in the right space for a contending performance. Plus I also think he’ll much like the soft, wider fairways on offer here at Yokohama, which differ from the tighter landing strips at Narashino.

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Min Woo Lee 1.5pts EW 28/1 (8EW, 1/5) with bet365

Michael Thorbjornsen, Max Homa, Garrick Higgo and Min Woo Lee were the volume bets of last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship. We were on-board Higgo who was the 18-, 36- and 54-hole leader, but came up just short to the inspired Steven Fisk. Homa was 8th heading into Sunday but went backwards, Thorbjornsen couldn’t putt, whilst Min Woo missed the cut by 2 shots on his Country Club of Jackson debut.

We’ve seen this before though from the World Number 45, who could do with a top finish this week to solidify his top 50 spot and guarantee his 2026 Masters start pre-Christmas, plus sew up participation in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am & Genesis Invitational Signature events at the start of 2026. A career best 11th at Wentworth, plus 5th at the Open de France were the pre-cursors to his Sanderson Farms outing, where he was at best 25/1 on Monday prices. Professional wins in the past have come off immediate finishes of MC/17/64/15/20 so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the talented Australian reset quickly here.

Hearing that Yokohama Country Club has in the main wide, inviting fairways peaked my interest on Min Woo and the soft turf conditions won’t hurt his cause either. 6th at the ZOZO Championship in 2023, a ball-striking clinic the likes of which we saw in Paris 2 outings ago – 1st Total Driving, 2nd Total Accuracy, 1st Ball-Striking – would be most welcome.

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Max Homa 1.5pts EW 33/1 (8EW, 1/5) with Betfred

Max Homa is grafting hard right now. He has no 2026 Masters problems following 12th there back in April, but that’s about the only saving grace from what has been a disastrous 2025 – and 18 months all-told when you look back.  Down to 122nd in the Official Golf World Rankings, win exemptions are in play from a Tour perspective, but he’s grinding to start turning the ship around.

5th at the John Deere Classic, 19th at the Procore Championship and 18th last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, his game is improving – he just needs to play better on Sundays. Progress can be gauged from my 8-event Strokes Gained rankings, where in this field the 34 year-old Californian ranks in the top 20 for both Tee to Green and Putting, the top 12 for Approach and the top 8 for Current Form.

Rounds of -5/67 (Thursday) and -8/64 (Saturday) at the Country Club of Jackson last week were T5 and 1st for daily scoring, highlighting that the 6-time PGA Tour winner is finding confidence. Missing out on the Ryder Cup will only heighten his resolve. Plus I’m of the opinion that classical, tree-lined courses are where he thrives – all 6 of his wins are on classical set-ups, so this trip to Japan, with this tree-lined parkland golf course, has come at a great time for Max.

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Tom Kim 1pt EW 55/1 (8EW, 1/5) with bet365

Tom Kim, like Max Homa, finds himself in a tricky spot. The 3-time PGA Tour winner, who has been as high as 11th in the Official World Golf Rankings, sits way down in 83rd spot. He failed to finish in the FedEx Cup top 50 so is outside of the Signature event fields right now, plus there won’t be a 2026 Masters invite dropping on his Dallas, Texas located door mat around Christmas time without a win or a run of stellar results. 7th at the elevated AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has been his only top 10 on the PGA Tour this season, but with reality starting to dawn there were signs of improvement in Mississippi last week.

On a pure bombers course, where power matters – 4 of the top 5 finishers ranked in the top 13 for Driving Distance – Tom’s 11th place finish last week was notable. Losing strokes Off the Tee purely for a lack of Driving Distance, Kim was finding fairways, plus ranked in the top 21 for Approach, Around the Green, Tee to Green and notably Putting. A beautiful -6/66 saw the South Korean 23 year-old in 5th spot heading into the weekend, and after a confidence building week at the CC of Jackson, I’m certain that Yokohama Country Club will suit.

Tom also traditionally goes well at this time of the season. In his amazingly short, but successful career to date, wins have come in October (x3) and November, plus he lost in a play-off last October at the DP World Tour Genesis Championship in his South Korea homeland. Kim was also 4th on his last trip to Japan in November 2022 at the Dunlop Phoenix.

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Odds and bookmaker offers correct at 14:35BST 6.10.25 but are naturally subject to fluctuation.