2020 The CJ Cup Preview
The CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek
October 15 – October 18
Shadow Creek Golf Course | Las Vegas, NV
Par 72 – 7,560 Yards
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Martin Laird held off Austin Cook and Matthew Wolff in a playoff to win the Shriners Open at -23. His short game was pretty absurd all day, capped off by a ridiculous up and down on the par 3 17th after missing the green by 30 yards off the tee. Ancer finished 4th at -20 while Malnati, Hahn and Zalatoris closed out the top 5 finishing -19.
This week we have the CJ Cup, usually held at The Club at Nine Bridges in South Korea, but moved to Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas due to Covid. You might remember Shadow Creek from the Tiger vs. Phil event in 2018 but with no other PGA events regularly held here, course history won’t be a factor. Justin Thomas won the CJ Cup in 2019 and 2017 with Brooks Koepka winning in 2018, but that’s pretty useless info with the venue change (although player composition may have been similar).
It’s a stacked field compared to the last few tournaments led by Dustin Johnson (+1000), Jon Rahm (+1000), Justin Thomas (+1200), Rory McIlroy (+1400) and Xander Schauffele (+1400). This year’s tournament is a smaller field no-cut event, so getting 6 of 6 in your DK lineup won’t be an issue (unless you get a Kevin Na WD). Brooks Koepka (+2500) is back after taking a break with a knee injury so we’ll get to see who he randomly talks shit about this week. Other notables in the field include Matthew Wolff (+2000), Collin Morikawa (+2500), Patrick Cantlay (+2500) and Tyrrell Hatton (+2500).
The Course
Shadow Creek Golf Course | Las Vegas, NV
Par 72 – 7,560 Yards
Par 3’s: 202, 200, 257, 154
Par 4’s: 415, 435, 486, 507, 460, 437, 324, 405, 493, 482
Par 5’s: 581, 571, 622, 529
Par 5 Scoring always plays a big role when there are 4 holes to score on, especially with 3 of the 4 reachable for most players. Next up to a lesser extent would be par 4 scoring even though there aren’t any specific distances to zero in on; so just make sure the players haven’t been terrible on par 4’s.
With a lack of data for this course, we’ll stick with some of the key stats from the past few weeks which start with Birdie or Better Percentage and SG Tee to Green (can even go more granular with SG Approach and SG Tee to ensure a more balanced player). With a guaranteed four rounds, keep in mind that the top guys tend to rise to the top of the leaderboard. It’s tough to predict how the course will play but with some of the top players in the world you’d still expect double digit under par to win.
We won’t highlight any proximity stats this week as it would be mostly guesswork, but the longer hitters will definitely have an advantage with four par 4’s over 480 yards, a reachable 324 yard par 4 and a 622 yard par 5. So, the last stat we’ll pop in this week is driving distance. As shown below, this course isn’t the “desert” course you’d expect in Vegas.
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