Echavarria’s victory vaulted him from No. 113 in the standings to No. 65, putting him another strong finish away from finishing in the Aon Next 10.
Any golfer who finishes Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup standings will earn entry into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational, the first two signature events of 2025. Those who finished inside of the top 125 will earn their PGA Tour cards for 2025.
The 30-year-old from Colombia birdied the 72nd hole on Sunday to win the 2024 Zozo Championship, beating Justin Thomas and Max Greyserman by a shot at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. Echavarria led by two heading into the final round thanks to a closing eagle on Saturday, but he held off the chasers for PGA Tour win No. 2.
He finished at 20 under, setting a new tournament scoring record.
With the win, he will cash a $1.53 million check. Thomas and Greyserman will pocket $748,000 for their runner-up finish.
“This is my second victory, so I just need 80 more victories to catch (Tiger). I’m on my way, though.”
Shortly after upsetting one of the best players in the world to win the Zozo Championship, Colombia’s Nico Echavarria phoned his mother at home and tried to fight back tears but it was a losing proposition.
“My parents are at home in Medellin and it’s pretty late there. They stayed up all night watching the golf and I’m glad they did,” Echavarria said. “Yeah, very happy and emotional just being able to talk to them because my parents are the reason I play this beautiful sport.”
And he played it beautifully on Sunday in Inzai City in the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, 25 miles northeast of Tokyo, making birdies at two of the final three holes to shoot 3-under 67 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club to secure his second PGA Tour title.
When he won for the first time last year at the Puerto Rico Open, Echavarria said the victory proved to himself that he was better than he even thought. Asked what this second win means, he smiled and said, “Proving it a little more now.”
He added: “I don’t think I would’ve gotten this win without the victory in Puerto Rico. I took a lot from that and kept myself calm,” he said.
With just one top 10 this season and three missed cuts in his last four starts, Echavarria was a surprise contender, racing into the lead with a pair of 64s and a 65 to set the 54-hole tournament scoring mark and grab a two-stroke lead.
Tied for the lead at the 72nd hole, Echavarria reached the par-5 18th in two, leaving himself a 40-foot eagle putt. He lagged to 3 feet and converted the clinching stroke for a 72-hole total of 20-under 260, to edge former world No. 1 Justin Thomas and rookie Max Greyserman by one shot.
Echavarria, 30, started the final round with birdies at Nos. 2 and 7 before a bogey at No. 8 dropped him back into a tie. He reclaimed sole possession of the lead at No. 13, planting his tee shot to 13 feet and canning the downhill, right-to-left breaking birdie putt. He pumped his right fist, one of two times he’d do so on the back nine as his putting prowess shined.
“New grip this week, that was the difference,” explained Echavarria, who swapped out the grip on Tuesday. “Just needed one week for the putter to get hot and this week was it.”
One hole later, however, his lead was gone thanks to a two-shot swing when he made a sloppy bogey at the par 5 and Greyserman canned a 29-foot birdie putt. That proved to be Greyserman’s final birdie. Echavarria wasn’t done yet and answered with another 13-foot birdie, this time at the par-3 16th and clenched his fist. Echavarria and Geyserman, who had been partners this season at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and finished T-4, remained tied until the 72nd hole.
Greyserman missed the fairway at 18 and had to lay up and his 25-foot birdie putt burned the right edge. He closed in 65 and unlike at the Wyndham Championship where he blew a four-stroke lead with five holes to go, he had no reason to hang his head after earning his third runner-up finish in his last five starts. He topped the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, and made over 100 feet of putts in each round.
“It wasn’t like Wyndham where I gave it away, I felt good out there the whole time. I mean, super comfortable. It was like I was playing at home,” Greyserman said. “Didn’t quite execute down the stretch when I needed to. I mean, Nico stepped up there and he hit a great second shot. He earned it.”
Thomas, who was seeking his first victory in 29 months, closed with a bogey-free 66 but after sinking three birdies in his first six holes, his putter went cold. Before the tournament began, he switched back to a trusty mallet that he’d used in many of his 15 previous Tour titles but it let him down when it mattered most in the final round. He burned edges and lipped out putts, making 11 consecutive pars before a birdie at the last. He ranked 66th in SG: Putting in the 78-man field on Sunday and lost strokes with the short stick for the week.
“It’s a mixture of obviously bummed and disappointed, but I played so well,” said Thomas, who made just one bogey all week and led the field in multiple statistical categories, including scrambling. “I played plenty well enough to win the tournament.”
Rickie Fowler shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 and finished fourth. It marked his first top-10 finish in 23 starts this season and best result dating to his last win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.
Echavarria, who had missed the cut in three of the four previous FedEx Cup Fall events and hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish in a stroke-play tournament all season, sensed his game was close, results be damned. Victory, which includes a spot in his first Masters, made the hard times worth it.
“Moments like this are the ones that make everything better,” he said.
When told that his 72-hole total broke the previous mark set by Tiger Woods in 2019, Echavarria marveled that he had won the same tournament as Tiger.
“This is my second victory, so I just need 80 more victories to catch him,” he said. “I’m on my way, though.”
Everything you need to know for the final round of the Zozo.
With 18 holes to play at the 2024 Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Japan, Nico Echavarria holds a two-shot lead at 17 under over Justin Thomas. Max Greyserman is alone in third at 14 under, while Rickie Fowler is one of the players tied for fourth at 11 under.
Fifteen-time PGA Tour winner Thomas hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship.
Accordia Golf Narashino is a par-70 track measuring 7,079 yards.
The total purse is $8.5 million with $1.53 million going to the winner, who will also receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the final round of the Zozo Championship at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. The third round is on Sunday in Japan but it will still begin Saturday in the U.S. All times listed are ET.
Final round tee times
Groupings and starting times for the final round of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP
Playing in the final group off No. 1:
Nico Echavarria
Justin Thomas
Max Greyserman pic.twitter.com/Pi5rlGu6q5
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When they stood on the final tee box on Saturday, Nico Echavarria and Justin Thomas were knotted up at 15 under. However, when the final round of the 2024 Zozo Championship gets underway on Sunday — Saturday night in the United States thanks to the significant time difference — Echavarria will have a two-shot advantage.
The 30-year-old Columbian found the fairway on the par-5 closer and stuck his 241-yard second shot to two feet for a tap-in eagle. Thomas, on the other hand, missed a four-foot birdie putt that would have pulled him within a shot with 18 holes to play.
Although Echavarria has just one PGA Tour win compared to Thomas’ 15, his came more recently than the two-time major champion’s latest. The University of Arkansas product won the Puerto Rico Open last year while the world No. 32 hasn’t hoisted hardware since the ’22 PGA Championship.
“At the end of the day it has been a while, but I’ve still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments,” Thomas said after signing his card. “I know how to win. It’s just a matter of executing and doing it and that’s really been the biggest difference.”
The winner in Japan will earn $1.53 million of the $8.5 million purse, 500 FedEx Cup points and a two-year exemption on Tour.
Here’s what you need to know from Day 3 at the Zozo Championship.
Can Echavarria hold off one of the best in the game?
Echavarria’s lone Tour win came at the Puerto Rico Open, an opposite field event to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. So holding off Thomas, one of the biggest names in the sport, will be a challenge he has yet to face. Only time will tell how he responds.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he replied when asked if his experience in Puerto Rico will help on Sunday. “Obviously this is a better field than the one in Puerto Rico, there’s better players out here, but a win is a win. I’m going to rely on that and keep doing what I’m doing, trying to have fun and see where we go.”
As for his round on Saturday, Echavarria was 1 over through four but quickly turned it around with four birdies over the last five holes of his front nine to make the turn with a 3-under 31. On the way home, he made a bogey and a birdie before his closing eagle to finish out his 5-under effort.
Over the final 18 holes, Echavarria is looking to keep it simple.
“Just stay in the moment. It’s a cliche, but it’s really important. You don’t want to go ahead with yourself, especially there’s a lot of hard holes out here. You just have to hit shot by shot and try to be in the fairway, try to hit the green and see if the putt goes in.”
Thomas hopes to break drought
It’s not often we see one of the best players in the game go years without winning, but Thomas has struggled for most of the last two seasons. In fact, he’s won just twice since a three-win 2019-20 season: ’21 Players and ’22 PGA.
But he’ll have a chance to get back in the winner’s circle on Sunday thanks to a third-round bogey-free 5-under 65.
Unlike Echavarria, Thomas got off to a hot start with birdies on Nos. 1 and 2. After seven straight pars to close his opening nine holes, Thomas grabbed three more birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 14.
His round might have ended in disappointing fashion, but he’s still well within striking distance with 18 holes to play.
“I would have obviously loved a couple more there coming in, but I played really, really solid, played really well,” he said. “You know, I just kind of feel like I did what I needed to do and got it around the course well. It’s nice to post a good score with it.”
What’s his key to victory?
“Honestly, although I’m behind, it’s still patience. Anything can happen out here. You have a lot of birdie holes that you can make bogey in a heartbeat if you get out of position or get in the wrong spot around the greens. I know that with greens this soft, any hole is birdiable. I think just because if I happen to be even through five, six, seven holes, that doesn’t mean I’m out of it, I just have to keep my head down and really just treat each hole for what it is and really try to make as many birdies as I can.”
Fowler ends his round with a bang
Fowler returned to the Tour earlier this month after an extended time away following the birth of his second child, but his game hasn’t shown many signs of rust.
In his first start since the Open, Fowler tied for 16th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Two weeks later, the fan-favorite finished T-23 at the Shriners Children’s Open. And through 54 holes of the Zozo, Fowler is 11 under and in a tie for fourth.
On Saturday, Fowler made four birdies and two bogeys before closing his round in dramatic fashion with a 44-foot birdie putt after hitting his approach shot from the wrong fairway.
“I’m excited because I feel like I really haven’t had my best between Sanderson, Vegas and here the first three days,” he said. “I know I have a lot more in the tank and what I can do. Hopefully just clean a few things up. There’s been a lot of good signs, but over the past few events I just haven’t really put it all together. So I’m looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we can get a good one going.”
Fowler, who will start the final round six back of Echavarria, last won over a year ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Top 10 and odds to win
Position
Player
Score
Odds to win
1st
Nico Echavarria
17 under
(+130)
2nd
Justin Thomas
15 under
(+140)
3rd
Max Greyserman
14 under
(+450)
T-4
Nate Lashley
11 under
(+7500)
T-4
Kevin Yu
11 under
(+5000)
T-4
Rickie Fowler
11 under
(+4500)
7th
Kurt Kitayama
10 under
(+6000)
T-8
Jhonattan Vegas
9 under
(+25000)
T-8
Andrew Novak
9 under
(+25000)
T-8
Eric Cole
9 under
(+25000)
T-8
C.T. Pan
9 under
(+30000)
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Thomas, who has five top-10 finishes so far this year, hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship.
The total purse is $8.5 million with $1.53 million going to the winner, who will also receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the third round of the Zozo Championship at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. The third round is on Saturday in Japan but it will still begin Friday in the U.S. All times listed are ET.
Time
Tee
Players
7:45 p.m.
1st
S.H. Kim, Lee Hodges, Matt Kuchar
7:45 p.m.
10th
Carson Young, Ben Silverman, Xander Schauffele
7:56 p.m.
1st
Rico Hoey, Harry Hall, Kurt Kitayama
7:56 p.m.
10th
Min Woo Lee, Mac Meissner, Gary Woodland
8:07 p.m.
1st
Chan Kim, Ren Yonezawa, Doug Ghim
8:07 p.m.
10th
Tom Hoge, Ben Kohles, Joel Dahmen
8:18 p.m.
1st
Luke List, Chad Ramey, Ryo Ishikawa
8:18 p.m.
10th
Max Homa, Si Woo Kim, Chandler Phillips
8:29 p.m.
1st
Zac Blair, Nate Lashley, K.H. Lee
8:29 p.m.
10th
Yuto Katsuragawa, Mark Hubbard, Sahith Theegala
8:40 p.m.
1st
J.J. Spaun, Collin Morikawa, Yuta Sugiura
8:40 p.m.
10th
Victor Perez, Sungjae Im, Patrick Rodgers
8:51 p.m.
1st
Ryosuke Kinoshita, Kensei Hirata, Nick Taylor
8:51 p.m.
10th
Chris Gotterup, Patrick Fishburn, Ryo Hisatsune
9:02 p.m.
1st
Andrew Putnam, Beau Hossler, Shugo Imahira
9:02 p.m.
10th
Ben Griffin, Naoyuki Kataoka, Charley Hoffman
9:13 p.m.
1st
Takumi Kanaya, Adam Schenk, Sam Stevens
9:13 p.m.
10th
Sami Valimaki, Will Zalatoris, Hideki Matsuyama
9:24 p.m.
1st
Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Yu, Taisei Shimizu
9:24 p.m.
10th
Justin Lower, Ryan Fox, Takahiro Hataji
9:35 p.m.
1st
Rickie Fowler, Max Greyserman, Andrew Novak
9:35 p.m.
10th
Satoshi Kodaira, Adam Svensson, Hiroshi Iwata
9:46 p.m.
1st
Eric Cole, Seamus Power, C.T. Pan
9:46 p.m.
10th
Davis Riley, Takashi Ogiso, David Skinns
9:57 p.m.
1st
Nico Echavarria, Taylor Moore, Justin Thomas
9:57 p.m.
10th
Brendon Todd, Kaito Onishi
How to watch, listen
You can watch the Zozo Championship on Golf Channel free on Fubo. All times ET.
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
This story has been updated to correct an error with the times.
Thomas showed his talking head skills late Wednesday night – or was it early Thursday morning?
Some day – mark my words – Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are going to be in the booth together doing commentary. It may be on some still-to-be created app or the next Netflix but give it 30 years and when those guys are finally done collecting baubles on the senior circuit (if there still is a senior circuit), they’re going to take TV commentary next level.
Thomas showed his talking head skills late Wednesday night – or was it early Thursday morning? The Golf Channel televised the Zozo Championship from 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET and for those who stayed up for first round coverage, they were treated to Thomas joining the booth with the underrated jack-of-all-trades George Savaricas and former Tour pro Graham DeLaet, who has been cutting his teeth as an analyst for PGA Tour Live and is the go-to-guy for Canada’s TSN.
After shooting 4-under 66 at Narashino Golf Club, Thomas touched on a wealth of subjects. While showing the highlights of his round, Savaricus asked Thomas about his switch back to a mallet putter this week.
“It’s great, it’s Old Faithful. I’ve had a lot of success and won a lot of tournaments with this putter,” Thomas said. “It’s a familiar, familiar feeling.”
We learned that No. 11 is a hole he’ll take par and run and some other course strategy stuff that will be useful to know while enjoying the next three rounds. Then Thomas was asked about his struggles last year and how he’s bounced back and he gave some great insight into the mental game of a major champion and former world No. 1.
“This game is so hard and can really take so much out of you and beat you up some but you’re also never as far it seems,” he said. “Is it the chicken or the egg? Was I hitting it bad and not playing well because my mental game wasn’t good or was it vice-versa?”
He continued: “I always tell people that I’m sorry, but golf is my job and if I’m not playing good golf it’s pretty hard for me to be happy. I understand everyone has different outlooks, but it’s like you need to be out there and enjoy it, but it’s like, buddy, would you be happy if you were sucking at your job? So, no, I’m not going to be happy.”
Justin Thomas will soon be a dad
Before things got too deep for late-night TV and went off the rails, Savaricas lightened the mood by bringing up the fact that Thomas was about to be last member of the Spring Break club – following in the footsteps of Spieth, Smylie Kaufman and Rickie Fowler – to become a dad. Thomas and his wife, Jillian, are expecting their first child, a daughter, in November.
“On the flight home, once this tournament is over, it’s going to become pretty real for me,” admitted Thomas, who likely is making his last start for the foreseeable future.
When Savaricus asked which of the guys he’d be most likely to ask for some advice on doing diapers, Thomas cracked, “Next question.”
“I’d ask all of their wives,” he added.
“Well played,” Savaricus said.
So about Rickie Fowler’s hair
The camera cut to Fowler weighing his next shot and Savaricus did a splendid job of setting Thomas up for his best analysis of all.
“How about Rickie’s flow now? He’s really letting it go in back,” Savaricus noted.
Hey, at 2 a.m., this is the stuff the viewer has been waiting for, am I right?
“I’m not a real big ‘Mullet Rick’ fan,” Thomas said. “I like the short hair Rickie. It’s wild, he looks about 5-8 years younger when he has his hair short. He always has something – it’s the stache, it’s the hair – but it’s Rick, you know, you’ve got to love him for whatever it is.”
This segment with Thomas easily was the highlight of the late night-early morning coverage, and further proof that Thomas, who was great working with Charles Barkley and company on the broadcast of The Match, has a future behind the mic when he’s ready to hang up the spikes.
He even delivered one more line worthy of chuckles. As he signed off, DeLaet said what every man is supposed to say to a soon-to-be papa: “You’re going to be a great dad.”
“Aah,” Thomas said as if he was touched by the comment. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
The second round is on Friday in Japan but it will still be Thursday in the U.S.
We’re heading to Day 2 at the 2024 Zozo Championship. This is the sixth playing of the event. Tiger Woods won the first one in 2019. Collin Morikawa is the defending champion.
The total purse is $8.5 million with $1.53 million going to the winner, who will also receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the second round of the 2024 Zozo Championship at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. The second round is on Friday in Japan but it will still begin Thursday in the U.S. All times listed are ET.
Second round tee times
Tee time (ET)
Tee
Players
7:45 p.m.
1st
Andrew Putnam, Beau Hossler, Yuto Katsuragawa
7:45 p.m.
10th
Eric Cole, Chan Kim, Takumi Kanaya
7:56 p.m.
1st
Patrick Rodgers, Mark Hubbard, Ren Yonezawa
7:56 p.m.
10th
Doug Ghim, Rico Hoey, Kaito Onishi
8:07 p.m.
1st
Taylor Moore, J.J. Spaun, Tom Hoge
8:07 p.m.
10th
Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Min Woo Lee
8:18 p.m.
1st
Harry Hall, Seamus Power, Adam Schenk
8:18 p.m.
10th
Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Will Zalatoris
8:29 p.m.
1st
Andrew Novak, Ben Kohles, Yuta Sugiura
8:29 p.m.
10th
Jhonattan Vegas, Chris Gotterup, Kurt Kitayama
8:40 p.m.
1st
Zac Blair, Patrick Fishburn, David Skinns
8:40 p.m.
10th
Sam Stevens, S.H. Kim, Shugo Imahira
8:51 p.m.
1st
Ryo Hisatsune, Mac Meissner, Takahiro Hataji
8:51 p.m.
10th
C.T. Pan, Max Greyserman, Takashi Ogiso
9:02 p.m.
1st
Joel Dahmen, Nate Lashley, Satoshi Kodaira
9:02 p.m.
10th
Ben Griffin, Victor Perez, Ryosuke Kinoshita
9:13 p.m.
1st
Kevin Yu, K.H. Lee, Brendon Todd
9:13 p.m.
10th
Luke List, Nico Echavarria, Adam Svensson
9:24 p.m.
1st
Max Homa, Sungjae Im, Kensei Hirata
9:24 p.m.
10th
Davis Riley, Nick Taylor, Lee Hodges
9:35 p.m.
1st
Hideki Matsuyama, Si Woo Kim, Justin Thomas
9:35 p.m.
10th
Chad Ramey, Gary Woodland, Matt Kuchar
9:46 p.m.
1st
Justin Lower, Ryan Fox, Naoyuki Kataoka
9:46 p.m.
10th
Charley Hoffman, Maverick McNealy, Ryo Ishikawa
9:57 p.m.
1st
Chandler Phillips, Sami Valimaki, Hiroshi Iwata
9:57 p.m.
10th
Carson Young, Ben Silverman, Taisei Shimizu
How to watch, listen
You can watch the Zozo Championship on Golf Channel free on Fubo. All times ET.
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
This story has been updated to correct an error with the times.
Plenty of folks in Japan will be fixated to a television screen or their phone Saturday morning. Including Max Homa and Collin Morikawa.
The duo is teeing it up this week in the 2024 Zozo Championship, but they’re far from the only Los Angeles Dodgers fans in Japan. That’s thanks to Shohei Ohtani, the best player in baseball, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a standout pitcher.
With Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees beginning in California around the same time as the third round of the 2024 Zozo Championship will begin across the Pacific Ocean, fans in Japan will also have their eyes fixated on Dodger Stadium.
“Obviously we have two Japanese players on the Dodgers that are
tremendous, one of which is Ohtani, who is the best baseball player I’ve ever seen,” Homa said. “So it’s quite cool to come here. I’ve actually seen quite a few L.A. hats. It’s quite neat to be in Japan when the best baseball player in the world is Japanese and he’s on the team I root for. It’s kind of a dream scenario.”
The time difference makes for coffee baseball in Japan, which gives fans plenty of time to cheer for the Dodgers (or Yankees) before spending the afternoon on the golf course cheering on some of the best players from the PGA Tour.
“It’s been great watching the Dodgers play in Japan, in Tokyo. It was nice because they had it on TV. You wake up in the morning and it’s on,” Morikawa said. “They’ll probably be playing I’m guessing when we’re out on the golf course, but we’ll be taking a peek here and there for sure.”
It won’t be a shock to see fans keeping the players informed while waiting on tee boxes or walking down fairways. And even with a seven-figure payday on the line, Homa isn’t afraid to show his Dodgers’ fandom.
“I would be lying if I said I wish I wasn’t home a little bit so I could go to the game, or a game, but yeah, it’s neat to be here,” Homa said. “I’m hopeful to see some more L.A. hats. And yeah, it’s been great, the run they’ve been on, it’s been very fun to watch.”
For the fifth event of the FedEx Cup Fall, the PGA Tour is in Chiba, Japan, for the Zozo Championship. This is the sixth year of the event and the fifth time it has been contested at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. Collin Morikawa is the defending champion, but he’s far from the only big name in the field.
Joining Morikawa in Asia are Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Xander Schauffele and numerous others. It’s by far the strongest field of the fall, even if it’s only 78 players and a no-cut event.