This is the first installment in our weekly fantasy golf content for DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft, breaking down the best PGA DFS picks and everything you need to know for the CJ Cup.
If this is your first time reading the article, or you’ve forgotten all about PGA DFS, then I’ll give you a quick summary of what’s to come:
- Tournament Intro
- Course Breakdown and PGA DFS Sweatsheet
- Player Preview
- Statistical Preview
PGA DFS Picks & Fantasy Golf: The CJ Cup
The two-week “Vegas Swing” ends this week with a treat — Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. The ultra-prestigious course has been seen only once before by the public, for the 2018 viewing of “The Match” between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. This year each of the world’s top four ascends on this exclusive course along with 20 more of the world’s top 30.
The Tournament
The CJ Cup, in its first three years, featured a beautiful island course in Jeju, Korea. However, this year, due to COVID-19, the high stakes no-cut event with a prize pool of $9 million moves to Las Vegas. Justin Thomas has found the most success over in Korea, winning the tournament twice, but that’s more of a historical point than a relevant one. A great field and course await us this week.
The Course: Shadow Creek Golf Club
When money is no object, and the course is owned by a bunch of billionaires, the beauty and exclusivity of it remain un-paralleled. The playground course was built back in 1989 by Tom Fazio but went through an extensive renovation in 2008. That lengthened the course to around 7,500 yards, where it’ll play for this week’s event.
Since the only data we have on it is “The Match,” stats are hard to come by. Also, in match play, it’s hard to get a true gauge of what a golfer shoots, but if I had to guess, they were both around 3 or 4 under on the day. With four par 5’s and a driveable par 4, I suspect scoring to be pretty low this week.
Continuing on the very little data theme, with only two rounds played to go off of, some of these sections may seem a bit barren. I’ll do my best to add in spots where there is a lack of information. Also, I’ll be calculating out my own sweatsheet, with predictions on each hole.
Tournament Format
There are 78 golfers and no cut.
Course Facts & Figures
Par and Yardage
- Par 72: 7,500 yards
Course Difficulty
- N/A. My prediction is 70.5 or -1.5
Hole Dispersion
- Four Par 3’s: 202, 200, 257, 154
- Ten Par 4’s: 415, 435, 486, 507, 460, 437, 324, 405, 493, 482
- Four Par 5’s: 581, 571, 622, 529
Grass Types & Hazards
- Grass Type: Bermuda fairways/rough, Bentgrass greens, exactly like last week.
- Average Green 5,500
- Water Hazards: 7
- Bunkers: 84
- Rough Length: 3-4 inches
Designer
- Tom Fazio
Facts and Figures
- Off the Tee: It’s just Woods and Mickelson. That’s it, those are the only data points we have on this course. So we’ll review them. Both Woods and Mickelson hit about 10 of 14 fairways, which would put it on par with TPC Summerlin with just north of 70% of the fairways being hit.
- Approach to the Green: Even with their above-average fairways hit, I believe the greens still will prove to be a little more difficult to get onto. Woods hit 11 of 18 greens (61%), and Mickelson hit 13 of 18 (72%).
- Around the Green: N/A
- On the Green: N/A
Sweatsheet
Bird’s eye view says the back nine will play easier than the front for the second straight week. A drivable par four and two par 5s are the main contributors. The easiest hole will likely be the 18th hole, which played as a 529-yard par 5 for the match and won’t stretch beyond 550. Everyone in the field should be able to get there in two with an iron.
A couple of noticeable differences that the players will face this week versus what Woods and Mickelson saw is the 13th hole. Played at 213 for “The Match,” it will be stretched out to 255 yards for this week’s event. I suspect if the tees are left all the way back all week, it’ll be one of, if not the toughest holes this week. The sixth hole, a longer par four stretching over 500 yards, will likely be the other candidate for the hardest hole this week.
In terms of easiest holes to get a streak going, 7-9, 10-12, or 9-11 look to be the best chance at it. There may be a slight edge to golfers starting on the first tee since they’ll have a larger number of holes in a row that are scoreable.
Player Preview
Twenty-four of the world’s top 30 golfers are coming to Vegas this week to compete for the CJ Cup. Not pictured, Shane Lowry, ranked 30th before this week’s update. Extending out even further, 37 of the top 50 are here in what’s shaping out to be one of the best fields we’ve had since the U.S. Open.
I’m sure many of the golfers coming over from Europe, including the winner of the BMW Championship Tyrrell Hatton, will enjoy the no-cut aspect of the event, giving them a guaranteed four days and a paycheck regardless of any jet lag they may experience.
Eighteen-year-old Korean prodigy Joohyung Kim gets one of the many exemptions into this field and one of six KPGA or Asian Tour players. A couple of others getting a nod this week via a sponsor exemption or exemption via being Korean born and their standing in the OWGR are Sung Kang, Si Woo Kim, K.H. Lee and Jordan Spieth. That’s right. Spieth is now in the category of needing sponsor exemptions to get into these WGC and limited-field events.
**Dustin Johnson & Tony Finau have had to WD after testing positive for COVID-19
Previous Winners for the CJ Cup
- 2019: Justin Thomas (-20)
- 2018: Brooks Koepka (-21)
- 2017: Justin Thomas (-9)
Statistical Comparison for PGA DFS Picks
Driving Accuracy vs. Driving Distance
I’m sure I sound like a broken record at this point, but Tiger certainly sprayed the ball a bit and didn’t get into much trouble. Without knowing exactly how long they plan to make the Bermuda rough, I’d lean on the side of distance this week. There are a few rare spots where accuracy is paramount, like the OHL Mayakoba coming up in a month or so, but they are the oddity rather than the standard.
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