Baycurrent Classic betting guide: Five picks from expert Brady Kannon

The Baycurrent Classic heads to Yokohama Country Club this week, roughly 30 minutes from Tokyo. Golf betting expert Brady Kannon has identified five players to consider backing.

This is part of GOLF.com’s weekly PGA Tour betting column. Kannon is a seasoned golf bettor and commentator, a host and regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network devoted to sports and sports betting, and a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline.

The event features a limited 72-player field, no cut and an $8 million purse—the largest of the FedEx Cup Fall events. The tournament returns to Yokohama Country Club for a second consecutive year, using holes 1–16 from the West Course and the 17th and 18th holes from the East Course. It is a par-71 layout with three par-3s, two par-5s and 13 par-4s, measuring just over 7,300 yards. Xander Schauffele returns to defend his title after winning last year at 19 under par.

Yokohama Country Club was built in 1960 and renovated in 2016 by Coore & Crenshaw, who also designed the Plantation Course at Kapalua and renovated Pinehurst No. 2 in 2010. As at those venues, the course generally features wide fairways. Last year, players found the fairways at a rate roughly 10 percent higher than the Tour average. The fairways are heavily tree-lined, however, and misses off the tee are severely penalized, with 3- to 4-inch rough making recovery difficult. Like TPC Craig Ranch, TPC Southwind and East Lake Golf Club, Yokohama has Zoysiagrass fairways. The large greens are Bentgrass surfaces.

The forecast calls for limited wind, although players felt some effects from Typhoon Halong in the area last year. The course has absorbed significant rain and is expected to play on the softer side, with temperatures reaching roughly 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Kannon considered Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, Good Drives Gained, Scrambling, Par 4 Scoring, proximity from 150–200 yards and putting on Bentgrass.

Among comparable courses, Kannon sees similarities to TPC Scottsdale, host of the WM Phoenix Open, and TPC Toronto, which hosted the Canadian Open over the past two seasons. In the United States, the tournament begins at 11 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Hideki Matsuyama — 19-1

Matsuyama is Japan’s most celebrated professional golfer, and the course fits his profile: he is an outstanding ball striker and a strong scrambler. He has won at TPC Southwind and finished third at TPC Craig Ranch, both courses with Zoysiagrass fairways. Matsuyama also won recently at Kapalua, another Coore & Crenshaw design, and finished sixth at the 2025 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. He has four top-10 finishes at East Lake, two wins in Phoenix and a 20th-place finish here at Yokohama last fall. Over his last 20 rounds, Matsuyama ranks inside the top 10 in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Ball Striking and Strokes Gained: Par 4s.

Matt Wallace — 38-1

The Englishman finished 10th here last year and fourth at TPC Craig Ranch. He ended his PGA Tour season with two top-10 finishes and carried that form to the DP World Tour, adding two more top-10s last month. Over his last 20 rounds, Wallace ranks second in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach and sixth in Strokes Gained: Par 4s.

Alex Smalley — 45-1

Smalley finished fourth here last year and 13th at both TPC Craig Ranch and TPC Toronto. He ranks ninth in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach and inside the top 15 in proximity from 150–200 yards. His length and accuracy off the tee, proximity numbers and 19th-place ranking in this field in putting on Bentgrass make his success at this course understandable.

Kevin Yu — 50-1

Yu is another ball-striking profile who is especially effective off the tee. He finished 20th here last year and third at TPC Toronto in 2025, and he has been as high as 16th at TPC Scottsdale. Yu ranks 23rd on Tour in Total Driving and 10th in this field in Good Drives Gained over his last 20 rounds. He also ranks inside the top 10 in this field in proximity from 150–200 yards and Strokes Gained: Par 4s, while ranking third in Scrambling.

Jackson Suber — 58-1

“I can’t quit Suber,” Kannon writes. Suber is clearly a ball striker and looks like a player who will earn his first Tour win soon. He finished fourth at TPC Craig Ranch and has gone 18-4 at TPC Toronto over the last two years. Over his last 20 rounds, Suber ranks fifth in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach, eighth in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking and seventh in Scrambling.