PGA Baycurrent Classic 2025 — Golf Picks, Tips & Analysis

Hideki returns to Japan after strong results having been in 5 Top 20s in his last 7 events, further adding his high consistent results in 11 straight events including top tier in his last 3 being the PGA BMW, TOUR Championship & DPWT-PGA BMW in his latest.

Known as one of the better high wind players on tour along with strong SG: T2G metrics he balances this with his slick ARG play & like most of the Top 20 OWGR players he can run hot with his Putter.

• 10 of 12 events he has had Positives SG gained with his putter
• 9 of his last 10 events Positives SG ARG
• 8 of his last 10 events Positive in SG APG
• 12 of his last 14 events in Positive SG Total.

At the ZOZO in 2024 he was T46 but importantly he bounced back quickly with a 2^nd at Dunlop Phoenix in Japan & he won his next event the PGA The Sentry in early January 2025, A big watch on Hideki from now till the new year.

$20 on betfair

Si Woo Kim

The 30-yr old Korean has now won 3 x PGA Tour and he is no stranger to us but we left him alone as he went 3 x straight Missed Cuts in July to Early August. He regained favour in our player rotation as we saw him slowly move into form with a T14 at Fedex St Jude, T19 at PGA BMW before going close with his T5 at DPWT-PGA BMW in early September.

Unlike most on Tour he is not the strongest of Putters however a closer look at his stats he only fails to be in Positive SG in this metric by very narrow strokes under 0.50 in 6 of his last 12 events.

We will lean on his strong Driver & Iron plays this week with the expected wind to increase.

• 21 of his last 25 events Positive SG IN OTT- the other 3 results a mere -0.25 strokes Avg
• 21 of 25 events in Positive SG ARG
• 15 of his last 25 in Positive SG APG 9 of the 10 were less than a -0.40 strokes Avg
• 17 of 25 Positive SG Total- makes sense with 3 of 4 SG metrics strong bar Putting
• Last 3 straight events all been in Positive SG Total

SWK now in 3 straight events seen as Positive he will take that confidence into Japan & whilst he is not well known for his Putting when 67^th at DPWT-PGA BMW most recently he made up for that with being 1^st ranked in SG ARG, he arrives nice & fresh off a 3-week break too which can only be seen as a positive.

It was no shock to see Kim win recently on the DPWT at The French Open, he was not far off when Moving day came around. Always well found in most win markets I see value this week around $60.

That last event Win highlighted a more patient Kim in France as he improved into each day play with 69,68,66,65 for a -16 and I love players who can consistently hit -4 to -5 each day rather than have highs and lows which generally do not result well.

The consistent I mention has now resulted for Kim in-

• 22 Cuts Made from 27 events
• 1 x 1^st
• 1 x 2^nd
• 4 x Top 10s
• 7 x Top 25s

A mostly well-balanced player in all metrics sitting within the Top 40 in most he can focus on going after Birdies in Japan where he sits a high 26^th amongst all PGA players.

In France his well-balanced shill set saw Kim put that all together whilst ranked-

• 1^st in SG Total picking up +4.02 strokes on Avg each day
• 1^st in Par 4 scoring with 3.77 strokes (This course has 13x Par 4s)
• 12^th in SG APG
• 9^th in GIR with 78% with 80% being excellent
• 8^th in SG T2G picking up

Some may see as Kim peaking in France, I look at his game all coming together, Kim does have Positive SG Total in 10 of his last 14 and unlike most of the 78 field here he is qualified for 2026 sitting a high 38 in OWGR & 31^st in Fedex so no pressure this week.

He is on the rise and is healthy & I like him at these overs.

Often promising so much is this 30-yr old from New Jersey, Many would have seen him as the next Ben Griffin, well that ship has sailed and I am backing Greyserman to come out hot this week.

At the 2024 ZOZO in Japan he finished 2^nd to NICO ECHAVARRIA and undoubtedly came into that event in superior form with 2 x 2nds from his 4 previous events and this year he enters coming off 5 CUTS in his last 6 events.

WHY this week?

We saw a glimpse of how good he should be when T2 @ PGA Rocket Classic in Late June, how 3 months have mattered since but he was beaten in a Playoff and to be fair the winner Aldrich Potgieter was so hot the usually big hitter was on top around the greens and even Putting, very unlike him.

I dare say the playoff loss rattled Max & there have been small glimpses of his high Putting game returning.

• 34^th in SG PUT in all PGA Players- he is a Top 10 when on song all day.
• 6 of last 10 events in Positive SG OTT
• 7 of last 10 events in Positive SG APG
• 7 of last 12 events in Positive SG ARG- with 4 of those less than -0.05 strokes
• 10 of last 16 events in Positive SG PUT- again with 4 of those less than -0.50 strokes

I think personally MG should be closer to $100 to Win that the $75 but if there is one player in this limited line up this week that can come out HOT it is him.

What I mean by come out Hot? He often can card mid 60s at ease so I think he just needs to start holing some Putts and his confidence will peak. He is my Guy instinct play this week & he had very warm fuzzy feelings for Japan.

This Tall Okey will need a result in Japan this week as he is on that fringe currently ranked 107^th in Fedex so he needs to perform to break into that Top 56 for all of 2026.

I like how he is trending in that he has 3 good results in 4 events played with -15, -12, -11 and they were in fields with the best of PGA in play and in his last 5 events he has carded a low of 62 on Day 1 at The Travelers and a low 63 on Day 1 again at the John Deere.

If this Okey native can start fast and then steady his play and his Daily Avg across all 4 days he is trending up to do so. His strength is his Driving Accuracy-

• 26^th in PGA with an avg of +66% over all events
• 43^rd in SG OTT
• 3^rd in all PGA players in APG from +275 Yards
• 15^th in all PGA Players in APG 200-225 yards (not usual stats I lean on) but course fits well.
• 10 of 13 events in Positive SG APG-near 13 as 3 of those were less than -0.02 strokes lost

As is often the case we are attempting to select players ready to perform & AE is trending up, he will need to improve his skills when on the Greens but as we saw at the recent PGA Procore, he did just that where he sat in 28^th in SG ARG & even 22^nd in SG PUT where he picked up +2.934 strokes.

If he can back that up in Japan, we can see him stay up high on the leaderboard

The comeback man, we mentioned him in the pre summary recently as Theegala delved fully into the details of his injury, his psyche, and how he planned to spend his time away.

Just type his details in google for a long read, it's a good read however and another player who I think can have a better event this week, I have though set him for a Top 20 finish as we want to see some low scoring before we jump in for the outright Win.

We did see that improvement come in the strong line up @ The Procore, ST started well with a 68 before struggling with a 70,75 but pulled it together on Day 4 with a 69.

Without providing all stats as he is only warming up but he was

• 8^th in SG APG
• 26^th in SG ARG

Yes, he gave those strokes back with his Putting SG -4.783 strokes but he normally is well balanced, well he was before the Injury etc.

I am not expecting him to Win but Improve into the money. I actually have not backed him to Win either and for transparency I have backed both Campbell & Kawamoto to win though on Betfair.

Brian is in the recent influx of Korn Ferry players making a splash of late and like last weeks winner at Jackson in Steven Fisk when you look back into their KFT records they are ball super consistent so it really is a matter of time before they Win.

Fisk we did Tip earlier so he did not shock me at all but Campbell made his way into a few summaries of mine as he defeated Potgieter at the PGA Mexico Open back in February this year before again winning a Playoff beating the inform Grillo at the John Deere Classic in Early July to now make him a 2 x PGA Tour winner all in 2025.

Now I will declare he has been CUT at his last event but he played well at both the PGA BMW & before that the PGA Fedex St Jude.

In his last few events he has been losing SG in his approach game, his SG APG has struggled losing -2.20 strokes each event whilst adding on to his usually weakest SG Metric being his Driving.

• 8 of last 10 Negative SG OTT-this is telling as he picks up Positive SG in other metrics.
• 50% in last 10 Positives SG in SG APG
• 55% in last 10 Positive SG in SG ARG
• 8 last 12 in Positive strokes in SG PUT

His stronger skill set is once on the Greens; he has obviously sound mettle as he has now won twice in Playoffs in 2025 and he also has 2 x top 10s and sits comfortably at 46^th in Fedex points so his 2026 was guaranteed when he won 2 events in 2025.

When Cambell starts on day 1 with a 65 he plays well all tournament, if he opens with a 72 or 73 then he plays like that. So, his start super important.

I still backed him to Win & was matched at $500 &$450 on betfair, the only selection to be resulted even if he Wins is this Top 20.

We have included a player from the homeland who many possibly have not heard of but as it is a PGA event in Japan then there are many more Japanese players that qualify.

Riki is a player who is used to the strong winds that can play havoc in Japan and I have been keeping a close eye on the Japanese Tour due to stars on the rise like Keita Nakajima and company.

So let us introduce you to this 25-yr old who has been plying his trade on the JGT-Japan Golf Tour and in the 17 events in that organisation he has resulted in 2025-

• 9^th in Results
• 7^th in scoring Avg on Tour with 68.765
• T10 in par 3 scoring
• 5^th in par 4 scoring- this course has 13 x par 4s
• 2^nd in GIR with a high 73.46% he should be 1^st as he has 61 rounds played
• 15^th in SG PUT and ahead of DPWT Shaun Norris and RK has played double the holes.

So explaining how I arrived at a relatively unknown player who is around the $520 I got matched on betfair, I have only had  a tiny amount to Win but if  a player like Riki starts well his home course advantage could come into play as he finds Greens well and Putts well and looking at the many other locals who are far less, most do not sit as high as he does in important SG Metrics.

A shame he is only at $11 on betfair but based on his $520 win he really should be at least $25 to a high of $40, you can always try over the odds to see if you can get matched as highly likely and always shop around especially as Tee off is 15 hours away as odds will only likely drift.