We have reached that time in the season where the PGA Tour swaps America for Asia, beginning with The CJ Cup out in South Korea, a tournament that is gaining in popularity, I would imagine because there is no cut so every entrant gets paid at the end of it.
Brooks Koepka did more than just that last year. He came in and left with the title and he is back here again this year looking to attempt to defend it. A really good field has been put together though so that is no easy task.
Recent Winners
2018 – Brooks Koepka
2017 – Justin Thomas
The Course
It is the Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island which will host the course this week. The composite course is becoming more familiar to those who enter the tournament although the track is slightly longer this year. It remains a par 72 but has gone up to 7,241 yards and with the amount of rain that has been around recently we should expect it to play every one of those yards.
The wind is often an issue here which is why scoring hasn’t been particularly low in the first two editions of the tournament although given how soft the course is that could change this year. The key statistic is greens in regulation. These are huge greens so you need to find them. With the threat of gusty winds the greens are always kept much slower than usual so we’re looking for good putters to get the job done as well.
The Field
78 men have been invited into the tournament and there are some huge names among them who have accepted their invites. The two champions so far are both here in Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka while Asian star Hideki Matsuyama is in the field as well. Jordan Spieth will look to get his career back on track with a big week.
There are a number of Europeans in the field here too. Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton are two of them while Rafa Cabrera Bello is another. Victor Hovland and Sergio Garcia could be teaming up together at the Ryder Cup next year and they are both here while Jason Day, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith add an international flavour to things. US Open champion Gary Woodland is also teeing it up this week.
Market Leaders
It is the first winner of the tournament in Justin Thomas who is the 15/2 favourite to land the title once again this week. There is a feeling that in calm conditions he could run away from the field again here and his form coming into the tournament would suggest that could also be the case but although there is only 78 players teeing it up this week, there are some extremely competent ones among them so his price isn’t for me.
The defending champion Brooks Koepka is a 9/1 shot to keep hold of the title here which on any normal week you would say is a decent price even allowing for his tendency to be a little hit or miss away from the major championships. Regular readers will know I’m no backer of a defending champion though especially in a tournament like this where he has other factors in play as well as the attention on his time such as jet lag and the like.
Hideki Matsuyama is the third favourite to win the tournament at 18/1. If he was in decent nick heading into the tournament then I might well have been interested in him but he remains the Asian hero and I’m never convinced that is a brilliant thing as far as his fortunes in a tournament are concerned. To be fair to him he has gone well in these Asian PGA Tour events in the past but at this price he near enough needs to win to get anything from him and I’d favour others over him in that regard.
The European pair of Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland are both 20/1 shots to land the title this week. Fleetwood would normally be high up on my shortlist but his game doesn’t look to be where he wants it to be at the minute and his late run in the Dunhill Links came when he had no chance of winning. Hovland needs to be taken seriously but as I’ve intimated in the past bookmakers are well aware of his credentials and are giving absolutely nothing away. It is 25/1 bar those named.
Main Bets
Marc Leishman was a runner up here a couple of years ago and he’s my first main bet this week. Admittedly that second placed finish was when the gusty winds were around but he showed in the Safeway Open at the beginning of the campaign that he can still score in calmer conditions. Leishman is a worldwide winner who is not scared to go low and attack flags in soft conditions like we often get in this part of the world. This course doesn’t demand power off the tee but he does require accuracy with the irons and that is the Australian’s forte. His short game is sound too and after a decent rest I think he can go in here.
Pat Perez supposedly withdrew last week because of a wrist injury but it turns out he pulled out so he could play in this event and as I backed him last week I should really do so again here especially after not backing Lanto Griffin last week and watching him win without my cash on it. Perez is a good traveller. He has a couple of top 10s here, gone well in the CIMB Classic before and has an excellent record in Mexico. His aggressive iron play style sets up perfectly for these Asian tracks and so I expect a good week from him. He was third in Vegas last time out and as long as that wrist excuse was nonsense he should run very well here.
Outsiders
When in Asia take a couple of Asian outsiders is often my philosophy and I’m not swaying away from that this week. The first man in question is Jazz Janewattananond who has won five times in Asia including the Korea Open earlier this year so he will be absolutely fine with conditions. He was third in the Maybank Championship on the European Tour and was right in the USPGA for so long earlier in the year. He sits just outside the top 20 on fairways hit on the European Tour this season and if he can dial in the irons and go flag hunting in familiar conditions he should run pretty hot here.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat is another Asian star who goes flag hunting and this course should suit his all-round game as well. We’ve seen him go very well out in Asia on the European Tour and obviously he is a stalwart of the Asian Tour as well. He won’t need to pound it off the tee here so he can go on the attack from good positions. His short game is very underrated and unlike a lot of players who hit it well he can actually putt. He’s a big price here when you think conditions might beat half this field without the Thai having to do so.
Tips
Back M.Leishman to win CJ Cup (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back P.Perez to win CJ Cup (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-6)
Back K.Aphibarnrat to win CJ Cup (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-6)
Back them here:
Back J.Janewattananond to win CJ Cup (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betway (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
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