2024 Zozo Championship : Weather Reports for the $8.5M Tournament Explored

The fifth event of the FedEx Cup Fall series will get underway this Thursday in Japan. The 2024 Zozo Championship features a 78-man field headlined by reigning Open champion, Xander Schauffele, and former Open winner and title defender Collin Morikawa. Aside from them, a bunch of the Tour’s top stars will tee up for the first time in a month at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.

Expectations are definitely high. But will weather dampen the spirits? Mother Nature has caused serious trouble for the PGA Tour this season. Be it the frost-delayed WM Phoenix Open or the clipped-at-third-round AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, rain has caused havoc and headaches for Jay Monahan. What about the $8.5 worth Zozo Championship? 

The Weather Channel predicts a cloudy sky with slight chances of rain. Thursday’s temperature will swing between 76F and 67F. The early hours will witness steady gusts of wind running from 10 MPH to 15 MPH. The chance of rain is 6%, although humidity will stay at 74%.

The Zozo Championship second round will be played under similar conditions. But the chances of rain go up to 23% with humidity staying at 74%. The maximum and minimum temperatures will hover between 71F and 65F. Windspeed is expected to reach a maximum of 20 MPH. 

The case is similar for the moving day as well. However, from Saturday night, the weather forecast predicts a light shower. Chances of rain increase to 43%. Finally, on Sunday, there might be showers during the round. There is a 51% chance of rain while temperature remains the same around 72F. Expect northeasterly wind at 10-15 mph during the final round of the 2024 Zozo Championship. 

Although the Weather Channel has issued a thunderstorm advisory, it’s unlikely that Mother Nature will wreak havoc like last year. The 2023 edition was marred by a strong gust of wind that made the already tricky Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club a living hell for the PGA Tour pros.

Zozo Championship’s history of battling with Mother Nature’s wrath

PGA Tour’s lone stop in Japan has a history of facing weather troubles. Back in 2019, thanks to Typhoon Bualoi, the Tokyo layout took a heavy beating of six inches of rain on Friday. The videos of flooded fairways went viral as Friday’s round was postponed. The PGA Tour had to move the second round to Saturday, resulting in a logjam of tee times on the moving day. 

The battering was so heavy that the organizers were forced to host the Saturday round without fans. It seemed inevitable that the final round of the 2019 Zozo Championship would be pushed to Monday, and that’s what happened. Tiger Woods eventually bested crowd favorite Hideki Matsuyama by three strokes. 

In fact, last year too, PGA Tour pros had to battle strong winds on Friday. Cam Davis said after the round, “That was one of the windiest rounds of golf I’ve had all year, for sure. That was tough.” Only 13 players, one-sixth of the field, broke par. The wind blew over 20 MPH as players struggled to keep even their chips on the line. This year, though, Mother Nature is unlikely to unleash her fury on Schauffele & Co.