FREDERIC J. BROWN
Tiger Woods celebrates his victory at the 18th hole on the final day of the World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.

By Tod Leonard
Tiger Woods will be on familiar and successful ground when he defends his Zozo Championship in October. As was anticipated, the PGA Tour and Zozo Inc. announced on Monday that the tournament is being moved from Japan to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sherwood was the site of the Woods-hosted World Challenge from 2000-2013, and Woods captured the limited-field tournament five times. He also played and beat David Duval in the primetime televised “Shootout at Sherwood” in 1999.

Last October, Woods won the Zozo Championship—the first official PGA Tour event played in Japan—by shooting 19 under and beating Hideki Matsuyama by three shots to tie Sam Snead’s all-time tour victory mark of 82. This year, the tournament will be played Oct. 22-25 as part of a western swing in the first portion of the 2020-21 season. Preceding it will be two events in Las Vegas—the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin and the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek [Oct. 15-18). The latter was moved from South Korea for this year because of COVID-19.

“Considering Zozo Inc.’s main business is in Japan, the decision to hold its event in the U.S. underscores their commitment and support towards our sport, communities where we play and the PGA Tour,” said Ty Votaw, the tour’s executive vice president for international events.

The Zozo field will be 78 players, including those from the 2019-20 FedEx Cup points list, players designated by the Japan Golf Tour Organization and sponsor’s exemptions. The purse is $8 million and Zozo said it is planning various charity activities to fund programs working to halt the spread of the coronavirus.