CJ Cup Betting Guide (PGA)

The golf world was treated to a thrilling three-man playoff finish at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Martin Laird (275/1) emerged victorious over Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook after birdieing the second hole of the playoff. All three golfers finished at 23-under-par in an absolute shootout at TPC Summerlin, where Laird claimed his fourth career PGA Tour win and first since his 2013 victory at the Valero Texas Open.

Due to COVID-19, the PGA Tour will not make its regular trip to South Korea for the Asian swing this season. The CJ Cup will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada at Shadow Creek Golf Course. This course played host to the Tiger Woods/Phil Mickelson match in 2018, but otherwise has little history to examine. As per usual, the event will only feature 78 golfers, and all players are guaranteed four rounds.

An extremely stacked field is set to tee it up this week in Vegas. Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Matthew Wolff are the five highest-priced golfers on Draftkings. Brooks Koepka makes his 2020/21 debut after recovering from multiple injuries. Unfortunately, Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau announced their withdrawals on Tuesday due to the virus. Thomas has dominated this event, as he has won two of the three CJ Cups in South Korea.

Here are the past three winners of the event:

• 2019 Justin Thomas (-20)
• 2018 Brooks Koepka (-21)
• 2017 Justin Thomas (-9)

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Course Preview

Shadow Creek Golf Course is located in North Las Vegas, Nevada. A Tom Fazio design, this desert golf course is unique in many regards. He added numerous rolling hills and canyons from the original desert design, and there is plenty of water and trees in play.

It will play as a par-72 and measure around 7,500 yards this week. The greens at Shadow Creek are made of Bentgrass, and many analysts compare the layout to that of Augusta National. Par-5 scoring will be a key stat to zero in on with five on the scorecard.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green
• Par-5 scoring
• Opportunities Gained
• Performance on Bentgrass Greens

Best Bets to Win

Odds courtesy of BetMGM

Justin Thomas (+1100)
You can’t deny Thomas’ success at this event after winning in two of the past three seasons. He will go to another course that favors longer hitters and excellent par-5 scoring. In the past 50 rounds, he is first in the field in opportunities gained, first in strokes gained: tee-to-green, and 13th in par-5 scoring. His last two starts? A T2 at the Tour Championship and a T8 at the U.S. Open.

Matthew Wolff  (+1900)
The 21-year-old continues to impress more and more. With two consecutive runner-ups to start his season (U.S. Open, Shriners Open), Wolff is playing some phenomenal golf. He is the best par-5 scorer in the field this season and should be able to use his distance to his advantage once again this week. Wolff has proven he can compete in the strongest of fields, and his form has never been better.

Best Top-10 Bets

Joaquin Niemann (+500)
Niemann has really played some excellent golf over his last five events. With a third-place finish at the BMW Championship, a 23rd at the U.S. Open, and a T13 at the Shriners Open last week, Niemann is in good form. The Chilean averaged 349 yards off the tee at TPC Summerlin and will need this distance at Shadow Creek. Bentgrass is his best putting surface.

Ian Poulter (+600)
The pesky Englishman has two straight top-10s (BMW PGA Championship, Scottish Open). He rates out very well in my rolling stats model and rolls it very well on Bentgrass. Poulter has three consecutive top-20 finishes at the CJ Cup.

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Nic Turner is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Nic, check out his archive and follow him @sportzbandit.