Does the Zozo Championship have a Friday cut? PGA Tour event’s format explored

ZOZO Championship - Round One
Emilio Grillo at the 2023 Zozo Championship (via Getty Images)

The Zozo Championship is the fourth event in the FedEx Cup Fall schedule and is played at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan. The tournament features a field of 78 players and no cut is made after the end of play on Friday.

The field of the tournament comprises the top 60 from the previous season's FedEx Cup rankings, the top seven from Japan Golf Tour's money list in the ongoing season, the top three players from the Bridgestone Open, and finally eight players are brought in as sponsors' exemptions.

The Zozo Championship was started in 2019 by the PGA Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. Interestingly, the inaugural edition was won by the legendary Tiger Woods which was also his 82nd win on the Tour, tying the record for most wins with Sam Snead.


2023 Zozo Championship: Exploring the leaderboard after the end of Friday's play

The fifth edition of the event has successfully concluded the first two days' play at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. Beau Hossler has been leading the table by a margin of one stroke against Justin Suh. Japanese golfer Satoshi Kodaira is also making his way to the top spot as he is just two strokes behind the leader.

The field of the 2023 Zozo Championship consists of Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Rickie Fowler, Sunjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama and many other star golfers from the PGA Tour.

Below is the leaderboard of the tournament after the end of Friday's play:

  • 1 - Beau Hossler (-7)
  • 2 - Justin Suh (-6)
  • 3 - Satoshi Kodaira (-5)
  • T4 - Emiliano Grillo (-4)
  • T4 - Yuki Inamori (-4)
  • T4 - Xander Schauffele (-4)
  • T4 - Eric Cole (-4)
  • T8 - J.J. Spaun (-3)
  • T8 - Cam Davis (-3)
  • T8 - Keegan Bradley (-3)
  • T8 - Robby Shelton (-3)
  • T8 - Mikumu Horikawa (-3)
  • T8 - Ryo Ishikawa (-3)
  • T8 - Collin Morikawa (-3)
  • T15 - Sungjae Im (-2)
  • T15 - Zac Blair (-2)
  • T17 - Callum Tarren (-1)
  • T17 - Joel Dahmen (-1)
  • T19 - Kensei Hirata (E)
  • T19 - Ryo Hisatsune (E)
  • T19 - Sahith Theegala (E)
  • T19 - Akshay Bhatia (E)
  • T19 - Taylor Moore (E)
  • T19 - Nate Lashley (E)
  • T19 - Keith Mitchell (E)
  • T19 - S.H. Kim (E)
  • T19 - Justin Lower (E)
  • T28 - Nick Taylor (+1)
  • T28 - Andrew Novak (+1)
  • T28 - Brandon Wu (+1)
  • T28 - Kurt Kitayama (+1)
  • T32 - Hayden Buckley (+2)
  • T32 - Nicolai Hojgaard (+2)
  • T32 - Davis Riley (+2)
  • T32 - Min Woo Lee (+2)
  • T32 - David Lingmerth (+2)
  • T32 - Aaron Baddeley (+2)
  • T32 - Mackenzie Hughes (+2)
  • T32 - Lee Hodges (+2)
  • T32 - Will Gordon (+2)
  • T32 - Matt NeSmith (+2)
  • T42 - Ben Griffin (+3)
  • T42 - Young-han Song (+3)
  • T42 - Vincent Norrman (+3)
  • T42 - Dylan Wu (+3)
  • T42 - David Lipsky (+3)
  • T42 - Taylor Montgomery (+3)
  • T42 - Cameron Champ (+3)
  • T42 - Adam Scott (+3)
  • T42 - Takumi Kanaya (+3)
  • T42 - Aaron Rai (+3)
  • T42 - Kevin Yu (+3)
  • T54 - Tyson Alexander (+4)
  • T54 - Tom Hoge (+4)
  • T54 - Nick Hardy (+4)
  • T54 - Sam Ryder (+4)
  • T54 - Rickie Fowler (+4)
  • T54 - Ryutaro Nagano (+4)
  • T54 - K.H. Lee (+4)
  • T61 - Michael Kim (+5)
  • T61 - Hideki Matsuyama (+5)
  • T63 - Thomas Detry (+6)
  • T63 - Taiga Semikawa (+6)
  • T63 - Matt Wallace (+6)
  • T63 - Adam Schenk (+6)
  • T63 - Mark Hubbard (+6)
  • T63 - Trevor Werbylo (+6)
  • T69 - Alex Noren (+7)
  • T69 - Shugo Imahira (+7)
  • T69 - Kaito Onishi (+7)
  • T69 - Austin Eckroat (+7)
  • T73 - Keita Nakajima (+8)
  • T73 - Adam Svensson (+8)
  • T73 - Aguri Iwasaki (+8)
  • T73 - Sam Stevens (+8)
  • 77 - Ben Taylor (+17)

The 2023 Zozo Championship has a prize pool of $8.5 million and all the players will be eyeing the mega prize money paycheck of $1,530,000 when they come back on Saturday at 07:30 pm ET.

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