PGA First Look: The CJ Cup

The PGA First Look is complete with a course preview, odds, salaries, Official World Golf Rankings, and course history.

Click here to follow Notorious on Twitter.

Event Preview

Other than the fact that we don’t have Shot Tracker for the Asia swing, it’s a nice change of pace for the PGA Tour. We get to sweat our lineups at night on some impressive courses. This week the PGA Tour heads to South Korea for the very first edition of the CJ Cup. We have an interesting field on tap with some of the best golfers in the world and a few that you’ve probably never heard of. There are 78 golfers in the field — 60 from 2017 FedEx Cup list, five from the KPGA , two from Asian Tour, the top three Koreans in OWGR, and eight sponsor invites. Similar to last week, there is no cut, which places an added emphasis on golfers that can score.

Article Image

When playing DFS, I like to have as much information as possible. While that’s not the case this week, it’s fun to try to predict how scoring will play out on a new course. Nine Bridges is a Par 72 that measures just under 7,200 yards. It features four par fives and is on the shorter spectrum of Par 72s that are played on the PGA Tour. The course is located on Jeju Island, which is a volcanic island that is 3,500 feet above sea level. The elevation isn’t as extreme as say, Denver, but the ball will travel a bit further this week, which is an adjustment players will have to make. There are eight bridges on the golf course and the name “Nine Bridges” is metaphorical as it’s supposed to represent the club’s connection to its member (a little cheesy, but this place is sweet).

Article Image

The course starts with the outward nine that is called the Creek holes. These fairways are heavily lined with trees and there is a creek that runs through a number of holes. The inward nine is known as the Highlands. The course features a lot of dog legs and a good mix of both short and long holes. It sounds like landing zones off the tee are generous by PGA Tour standards, but you can get into some real trouble if you are wild off the tee. Water is in play on nearly half of the holes and the course is littered with over a hundred bunkers. No two holes here are played in the same direction, so we’ll want to check the wind before lineups lock on Wednesday evening. It sounds like the course is a solid all-around test of golf, but don’t forget that this is a resort course and these are professionals. The 18th hole should provide a fun finish, as it is a par five that has an island green. With a perfect drive, golfers that need to make up ground may try to go for it in two.

Article Image

If I find anything else about the course throughout the week, I’ll make sure to post the details here. It sounds like the course brought in bentgrass for the greens, which is very rare for this part of the world. As far as the weather is concerned, it’s expected to be 60-70 degrees with little to no rain, which is a stark contrast from the hot and humid conditions in Kuala Lumpur last week. For stats this week, I’m going to look for golfers that can keep it in play off the tee (not too wild), good iron players, and birdie makers. I’ll also be looking at par five scoring, as there are four on the scorecard that golfers will need to take advantage of.

Cut Rule:No cut this week. Barring a withdrawal, all golfers will play four rounds.

Key Statistics (In Order of Importance)

1) Strokes Gained Approach
2) Par 5 Scoring
3) Strokes Gained Off the Tee
4) Birdie or Better %
5) Strokes Gained Putting (emphasis on Bentgrass greens)

Salaries & Odds

Golfer DK Salary FD Salary FDRFT Salary OWGR Odds DK Odds FD Odds FDRFT Odds
Justin Thomas $12,100 $10,300 $19,600 4 7 0% 0% 0%
Paul Casey $11,600 $9,700 $18,400 14 11 0% 50% 0%
Jason Day $10,600 $10,200 $18,100 9 12 0% -50% 0%
Tony Finau $10,200 $9,300 $16,800 45 21 -50% 0% 0%
Marc Leishman $9,900 $9,500 $16,900 16 20 0% 0% 0%
Xander Schauffele $9,800 $8,900 $17,300 29 18 33% 56% 0%
Patrick Reed $9,500 $9,200 $16,700 23 26 0% 0% 0%
Pat Perez $9,400 $8,200 $16,600 20 27 0% 38% 0%
Anirban Lahiri $9,200 $6,500 $16,200 65 33 -33% 57% -9%
Keegan Bradley $9,100 $7,400 $16,500 64 28 10% 50% 0%
Rafael Cabrera-Bello $9,000 $8,600 $16,200 21 34 -18% -30% -18%
Cameron Smith $8,900 $6,200 $15,800 124 40 -17% 61% 0%
Russell Henley $8,800 $6,900 $15,600 48 41 -23% 36% 0%
Daniel Berger $8,700 $9,000 $16,200 27 30 29% -25% 9%
Ollie Schniederjans $8,600 $7,400 $14,900 107 57 -67% -39% 4%
Adam Scott $8,500 $9,800 $16,400 25 30 38% -233% 0%
J.B. Holmes $8,400 $8,300 $15,000 59 54 -41% -100% 0%
Gary Woodland $8,300 $7,900 $15,800 49 40 17% -7% -7%
Sung Kang $8,200 $6,100 $15,600 80 45 -5% 49% -25%
Branden Grace $8,100 $8,400 $15,200 46 48 -10% -100% 0%
Byeong-Hun An $8,100 $7,500 $15,400 79 45 0% -18% 5%
Kevin Na $8,000 $6,800 $15,500 72 44 18% 31% 10%
Chez Reavie $7,900 $7,300 $15,200 97 49 0% -10% -5%
Lucas Glover $7,800 $6,400 $15,000 85 58 -8% 19% -8%
Grayson Murray $7,800 $6,300 $13,500 95 96 -67% -14% 0%
Brian Harman $7,700 $7,200 $13,500 32 93 -50% -77% 3%
Charl Schwartzel $7,600 $7,700 $15,600 31 44 30% -19% -19%
Luke List $7,600 $5,500 $14,500 138 67 -15% 34% 0%
Thomas Pieters $7,600 $7,800 $15,600 34 43 37% -13% -6%
Graham DeLaet $7,500 $6,400 $14,500 103 71 -7% 0% -3%
Ian Poulter $7,500 $6,600 $14,900 54 59 10% 0% -4%
Jamie Lovemark $7,500 $7,200 $14,100 86 83 -17% -59% -3%
Jhonattan Vegas $7,500 $5,500 $13,200 38 117 -67% -6% -2%
Chris Kirk $7,500 $5,500 $13,500 163 103 -50% 4% -13%
Stewart Cink $7,400 $6,200 $13,900 137 88 -9% -6% 0%
Bud Cauley $7,400 $6,500 $14,700 105 61 20% 0% 0%
Danny Lee $7,400 $5,900 $14,700 90 66 14% 29% -7%
Nick Taylor $7,400 $5,300 $13,500 186 97 -17% 21% -3%
Si Woo Kim $7,400 $6,500 $13,300 41 113 -40% -75% -4%
Hudson Swafford $7,300 $5,300 $13,200 82 112 -20% 8% 2%
Emiliano Grillo $7,300 $6,500 $14,300 60 72 18% -18% 0%
Morgan Hoffmann $7,300 $5,300 $12,700 171 144 -45% -12% 0%
K.J. Choi $7,300 $4,900 $13,700 433 99 -5% 32% -8%
Kyung-tae Kim $7,300 $4,800 $12,800 126 146 -48% 6% -9%
Ryan Ruffels $7,300 $4,700 $11,900 498 267 -73% -6% -6%
Kyle Stanley $7,200 $7,000 $14,700 53 66 37% -21% -4%
Harold Varner $7,200 $5,800 $14,000 142 86 20% 16% -3%
Patrick Rodgers $7,200 $5,500 $13,500 152 101 7% 9% -8%
Whee Kim $7,200 $5,000 $12,800 205 140 -17% 11% 0%
Chris Stroud $7,200 $4,500 $11,600 167 279 -54% 0% -3%
Gavin Green $7,200 $4,500 $12,600 162 173 -35% 13% -2%
Rod Pampling $7,200 $4,500 $11,000 218 363 -59% -3% 3%
James Hahn $7,100 $5,900 $14,100 69 81 36% 19% 0%
Seung-Yul Noh $7,100 $6,000 $13,200 242 104 13% -12% 6%
Cheng-Tsung Pan $7,100 $5,100 $13,000 155 133 0% 9% -2%
Chad Campbell $7,100 $5,600 $12,200 196 181 -19% -37% 2%
Charles Howell $7,100 $6,200 $12,800 68 140 -2% -50% 0%
Camilo Villegas $7,100 $5,100 $12,800 336 143 -8% 2% -6%
Junghwan Lee $7,100 $4,500 $10,700 386 717 -47% -10% 0%
Adam Hadwin $7,000 $7,400 $14,000 50 85 40% -100% 0%
Kevin Tway $7,000 $5,300 $12,700 180 140 7% -8% 3%
Jeunghun Wang $7,000 $5,200 $13,500 87 102 27% 21% -10%
Wesley Bryan $7,000 $5,200 $12,700 55 148 0% -7% -3%
Jung-gon Hwang $7,000 $4,600 $11,400 342 -20% -6% 0%
Kyoung-Hoon Lee $7,000 $4,700 $11,600 267 -15% -6% 0%
Graeme McDowell $6,900 $6,400 $13,400 151 109 29% -47% -2%
Scott Brown $6,900 $6,100 $13,000 125 125 21% -33% 0%
Younghan Song $6,900 $5,100 $13,300 116 120 23% 12% -9%
Sang-Moon Bae $6,900 $5,700 $12,500 160 8% -36% 2%
Jim Herman $6,900 $4,500 $11,800 122 256 -2% 6% -2%
Kelly Kraft $6,900 $4,700 $11,700 189 252 0% -2% 3%
Cody Gribble $6,900 $4,800 $11,800 269 258 -3% -8% -3%
Robert Streb $6,800 $5,400 $12,300 131 188 12% -25% -2%
Jonas Blixt $6,800 $4,600 $11,600 395 250 11% 4% 6%
Jinho Choi $6,800 $4,500 $11,300 219 370 -1% -4% -1%
Seunghyuk Kim $6,800 $4,500 $11,000 241 433 -3% -6% 0%
Hyungjoon Lee $6,800 $4,600 $10,900 233 467 -4% -12% 1%
Gyu Min Lee $6,800 $4,500 $11,100 500 -5% -8% -4%

Legend

Term Description
Site Odds The percentage differential between a golfer’s salary rank and odds rank. The higher the %, the better.
OWGR Official World Golf Ranking

About the Author

Notorious
Derek Farnsworth (Notorious)

Derek Farnsworth (aka Notorious) is a lead RotoGrinders Expert and one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of DFS. Before joining the RotoGrinders team, Derek received a Master’s Degree from the University of Utah. When he’s not busy providing content, he’s dominating the DFS industry as evidenced by his consistent top rankings in several sports and multiple Live Final appearances. Noto provides expert NBA, NFL, MLB, and PGA analysis for RotoGrinders Premium members on a daily basis and has also been nominated for five different Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association (FSWA) awards. Follow Noto on Twitter – @RG_Notorious