Zozo Championship moved to Sherwood due to COVID-19

COVID-19 takes its toll on the PGA Tour

J.R. Servais, Guest Writer|September 24, 2020

The PGA Tour has decided to move the Zozo Championship from  Japan to Lake Sherwood in Thousand Oaks due to circumstances caused by COVID-19. The tournament will take place from Oct. 22 to Oct. 25. 

Last October, the PGA Tour launched a new event called the Zozo Championship, an official PGA Tour event hosted in Japan. The PGA Tour typically begins with three tournaments in Asia. However, due to COVID-19, the PGA Tour decided to move the tournaments back to the U.S. The Zozo Championship at Sherwood will be included among three tournaments on the West Coast as part of the 2020-2021 PGA Tour season. 

The championship will feature 78 professional golfers including the top 70 players from the 2019-2020 FedEx cup point list. Tour members earn points based on their finishes at tournaments, and the FedEx cup point list is ranking the players based on these points. The players will compete for a prize of $8 million. 

“Sherwood Country Club and its Members are honored to host this year’s Zozo CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD and welcome golf’s greatest players as our guests for the week,” General Manager and CEO of Sherwood Country Club Rob Oosterhius said in a public press release.

Sherwood Country Club is a golf course located in Thousand Oaks and was designed by Jack Nicklaus. The course has hosted numerous PGA tour events in the past, including the Shark Shootout, a team event from 1989 to 1999, along with the first live golf match.

From 2000 to 2013, Sherwood also hosted The World Challenge. This was a tournament hosted by Tiger Woods. In 2016, Sherwood became the host of the PGA Tour Champions event called the PowerShares QQQ championship.

Having a major PGA Tour event so close to Oak Park is thrilling for many local golf fans including the Oak Park High School golf team.  “It’s pretty cool because I think all Oak park fans will be watching it on tv. And if the opportunity came, we would definitely attend,” senior and member of the OPHS golf team Darren Chiu wrote to the Talon. “It’s pretty cool to see that we have a community that’s pretty big on golf.”