Setting the scene
The PGA TOUR will return to Las Vegas for another week to compete in the CJ CUP in 2021. THE CJ CUP was held in South Korea for the first three editions, but owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was forced to relocate to Las Vegas in 2020. In 2021, the tournament will return to Las Vegas, but it will be held at Summit Club, a brand new PGA TOUR course.
THE CJ CUP is a no-cut tournament that will feature 78 of the greatest players in the globe. This week’s lineup is solid, with three of the top five golfers in the world competing, as well as a slew of other TOUR players. Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, and Webb Simpson are among those golfers.
In 2017, Justin Thomas won the inaugural CJ CUP, Korea’s first official PGA TOUR event. In 2019, Thomas won the event for the second time.
Betting Angles
Looking for outsiders
It’s been three weeks since Europe’s humiliating setback, and members of both teams are gradually returning to work. Those returning to the PGA Tour, on the other hand, have had little success thus far, and there is a nagging worry about those at the top of the market.
Over the last few weeks, Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler, Harris English, Viktor Hovland, Paul Casey, and Sergio Garcia have combined for a best of 44th. Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, and Shane Lowry all did better in the Dunhill Links, but it was a pleasant environment for all three. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm complained of exhaustion after fading badly at the Open de Espana, and it may be difficult for some of the world’s best to go again after seven majors in 11 months and a Ryder Cup on top of that.
Powerplay
Big hitters who can carry more fairway bunkers have an advantage this week in Sin City, so power players should surge. Playing from tee to green with ball striking power is critical. To begin your golf betting strategy and handicap, you’ll need to check out these factors.
Course Correlation
The only Tom Fazio-designed course that we visit year after year is the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship course in the Dominican Republic, but the Fazio-designed Congaree Golf Club recently hosted the PGA Tour’s brand-new Palmetto Championship (won by Garrick Higgo), and Fazio also designed the Caves Course, which hosted the recent BMW Championship.
I’d also keep an eye on anyone who does well in the Desert Classic and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, both held at PGA West in Southern California. Both events are held in the desert, with the former being a low-scoring competition.
Horses for courses
This week, we’re back in Vegas for the CJ Cup, which will be held for the second year owing to the pandemic. The first three tournaments were held in South Korea at Nine Bridges. Last year’s winner was Jason Kokrak, who won his first PGA Tour title at the ultra-exclusive Tom Fazio design Shadow Creek. This week’s course architect is Tom Fazio, but we’ll be playing his Summit Club course, a 7431-yard par 72. The Summit Club seems far more at home in Nevada than last year’s location, which was virtually a classic, tree-lined course smack dab in the middle of the desert.
There isn’t much in the way of tree trouble, and the landscape is characteristic of the desert. The fairways are spacious off the tee, and the greens are huge and undulating bentgrass. There are lots of eye-catching bunkering and run-off areas to deter wayward approach shots. It’s challenging to forecast how a new course will play. There are some hazards on the course, but given how quickly Summit Club was brought in, I don’t expect it to be too problematic. There appear to be plenty of birdie opportunities with all par 5s score-able and multiple short, sub-400-yard par 4s. I believe that the spaciousness off the tee will attract many players to hit driver here and that the course will be overpowered as a result.
Where’s the money?
Let’s now look at the betting for the week ahead:
Dustin Johnson 12-1
Xander Schauffele 12-1
Justin Thomas 12-1
Collin Morikawa 16-1
Rory McIlroy 18-1
Jordan Spieth 22-1
Brooks Koepka 25-1
Tony Finau 25-1
Sungjae Im 25-1
Sam Burns 28-1
Viktor Hovland 28-1
Louis Oosthuizen 30-1
Cameron Smith 30-1
Scottie Scheffler 30-1
Abraham Ancer 33-1
Webb Simpson 33-1
Hideki Matsuyama 33-1
Harris English 35-1
Paul Casey 40-1
Shane Lowry 40-1
Tyrrell Hatton 40-1
Tommy Fleetwood 40-1
Marc Leishman 45-1
Jason Kokrak 45-1
Joaquin Niemann 45-1
Si-Woo Kim 50-1
Adam Scott 50-1
Max Homa 50-1
Justin Rose 50-1
Patrick Reed 50-1
Sergio Garcia 50-1
Kevin Na 55-1
Aaron Wise 55-1
Cameron Tringale 60-1
Talor Gooch 60-1
Russell Henley 60-1
Alex Noren 70-1
Charley Hoffman 70-1
Maverick McNealy 70-1
Brian Harman 80-1
Jason Day 80-1
Harold Varner 80-1
Ian Poulter 901
Keegan Bradley 90-1
Kevin Streelman 90-1
Gary Woodland 100-1
Emiliano Grillo 100-1
Rickie Fowler 100-1
Erik Van Rooyen 100-1
Jhonattan Vegas 100-1
Branden Grace 100-1
Cameron Davis 100-1
MacKenzie Hughes 125-1
Chris Kirk 125-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 125-1
Kevin Kisner 125-1
Matt Jones 125-1
Carlos Ortiz 125-1
Patton Kizzire 125-1
Charl Schwartzel 150-1
Rasmus Hojgaard 150-1
Stewart Cink 150-1
Sebastian Munoz 150-1
Lucas Glover 200-1
Tom Hoge 200-1
Byeong Hun An 200-1
Keith Mitchell 200-1
Harry Higgs 250-1
Sung-Hoon Kang 250-1
Hudson Swafford 250-1
Robert Streb 300-1
Joohyung Kim 300-1
Hanbyeol Kim 400-1
Minkyu Kim 500-1
Sanghun Shin 500-1
Seong-Hyeon Kim 500-1
Jaekyeong Lee 500-1
Yoseop Seo 500-1
Hey Guys
My name is Dean, AKA The Stat Man. I am a Sports Betting Analyst who uses math, algorithms, probability and logic to create my posts. I specialize in many sports, with Golf being the primary focus. You can find a lot of my work on various websites but the best content is found here on Beer Life.
I live in the UK, on the outskirts of London but my background and heritage is Irish. I'm an avid Manchester United fan who sees following them as a religion. Sport is pretty much my life, as I live and breathe it daily. If there is something I don't know it's probably not worth knowing as I have over 20 years industry experience and insight.
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