Fantasy Golf Predictions
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2021 CJ CUP at Summit
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the CJ CUP at Summit
CJ CUP at Summit Fantasy Preview
After claiming his first PGA TOUR title in his 50th appearance at the Honda Classic, Sungjae Im added his second trophy to his collection in his 100th TOUR start on Sunday at the Shriners Children’s Open.
The Korean will be hoping that its not another 50 outings before he claims his third, and the manner in which he took care of business in Nevada suggests the wait will be a lot shorter next time around.
Excellent in all departments throughout the tournament, Im was battling at the top of the leaderboard with Matt Wolff, the runner-up 12 months ago, and Adam Schenk, who looked hellbent on making every putt he looked at.
But it was all about Im on Sunday, with the Korean producing an astonishing performance to birdie nine of the opening thirteen holes played. He could even afford to play the remaining five in level par, such was his supremacy, with a winning score of -24 at TPC Summerlin the lowest since Webb Simpson’s victory here back in 2013.
Onwards we go in the early season schedule to The CJ CUP, which will remain in Las Vegas after its one-year sojourn to Shadow Creek in 2020.
Last Week’s Fantasy Results
So close to taking another win, this time off of our Tuesday Sleeper report with both Matthew Wolff (2nd) and Marc Leishman (T3), both of which posted all four sub-70 rounds (which means big DFS points).
In the end, it was Im, with this electric 62 on Sunday to take the whole cake.
CJ CUP at Summit Field
The normal 78-player field is expected in Nevada, with Im joined by a host of Ryder Cup combatants.
Messrs (Dustin) Johnson, Thomas, Morikawa, Schauffele, Spieth, Finau and Koepka will tee it up, and they will renew acquaintances with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Harris English, who are also in the field.
Rory McIlroy will be hoping to put his Ryder Cup experience to bed, and the likes of Shane Lowry, Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood will join him in the hope of restoring European pride.
Jason Kokrak, the defending champion, is also in the field alongside the in-form Sam Burns, the ever-classy Louis Oosthuizen and Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama in what should be a high-quality event.
This Week’s Course Preview
Not a great deal is known about The Summit, although visitors to the Las Vegas strip might just have seen the layout from their hotel room window.
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Situated barely a mile or two from Sin City, The Summit was designed by Tom Fazio and is best described as a parklands track in the middle of the desert.
The landscape has that sort of barren, beige look to it like you might expect in the desert, and a backdrop of mountains to some holes does little to shake the feeling we’re on the sandbelt.
And yet the course itself is green and lush, with man-made bunkers (rather than just local sand) and a couple of large lakes that fringe a number of holes.
Measuring 7,431 yards for its Par 72, The Summit features a number of signature holes. Bryson would have liked the first – a downhill Par 4 that he might just have troubled off the tee, while the sixth is played to a backdrop of that Las Vegas strip.
The eleventh is a mammoth 235-yard Par 3, while the final hole is a risk-and-reward Par 5 – what a great location for title hopes and dreams to be shattered.
The Bentgrass greens tend to be sloping in nature, and a few are elevated too, and so we expect that some length off the tee and quality irons will be an advantage. But, as tends to be the case with new courses, The Summit is a mystery to us all.
Weather Forecast for Las Vegas, NV
If you had to come up with three keywords to describe the weather in Vegas, you’d probably go for one or more of hot, dry and windy.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad, as the players are in for a warm and typically moisture-free week in Nevada. All four days of the tournament will be pleasant enough, with the mercury rising until its peak on Sunday of 80˚F.
But as for the wind, well, the early predictions suggest that will be at a minimum. A top speed of 8mph is expected, which is in stark contrast to the high gales Nevada experienced at the start of the week.
Last Year’s Results from the CJ CUP at Summit
It was over at Shadow Creek that Jason Kokrak ended his long wait for a PGA TOUR trophy.
Almost a decade after he played his first elite event, Kokrak finally got his hands on some silverware after closing with a stunning round of 64, which was enough to see him win by two from the next best Xander Schauffele.
Schauffele himself opened up 66-64 to power into an early lead, while Tyrrell Hatton also started brightly with a 65-68 combo.
But a bad day at the office for that duo on Saturday enabled Kokrak to close the gap, and his flawless performance on the Sunday – literally, given that he didn’t make a single bogey – was a surprisingly nerve-less way for the 36-year-old to get over the line.
Schauffele was solo second on -17, with Hatton and Russell Henley sharing third and Talor Gooch alone in fifth.
Jason Kokrak shoots 8-under 64 | Round 4 | THE CJ CUP 2020
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Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the CJ CUP at Summit this Week
Let’s face it, small-field tournaments are not exactly premier real estate for DFS. Nevertheless, there’s some interesting salaries around this week and the chance to draft some under-the-radar types, so we can give the CJ CUP our full attention.
- PGA $30k Dogleg: In truth, we have to play exclusively single entry contests this week to maximize our edge over our competition. Here’s a decent starter – for $33 entry, you could clinch a top prize of $3,000 and stacks of other prizes, and it will be nice to walk away from the CJ CUP with profit.
- PGA $40k Long Drive: Here’s another single-entry contest for those with longer pockets. A $100 ticket could net you the $5k top prize, but note that there’s only 444 players involved – that’s a smaller field to beat.
This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the CJ CUP at Summit
It’s unknown territory at The Summit, and so there’s lots of guesswork going on.
Tom Fazio is known for his devilish green complexes, with layouts including Riviera and PGA National in his collection, and the media we have seen suggests something similar at The Summit.
But there doesn’t look to be a huge amount of danger off the tee, with minimal rough and shallow bunkers that look easy enough to play out of, and so the second shot – and what happens thereafter – will perhaps be key.
Bentgrass putting will be crucial, and we’re largely inclined to avoid those that haven’t played in a strokeplay event for a while – with one notable exception (see our picks for more information). Even the best in the world can suffer from ‘ring rust’.
Finally, if correlating courses are your thing, the greens at The Summit look similar in character to those at PGA National and Riviera, the two jewels in Fazio’s crown. It’s not unreasonable to expect that they will have some similarities to the real estate used this week.
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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the CJ CUP at Summit
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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the CJ CUP at Summit
Top Tier Pick #1:
Collin Morikawa (Odds: 16/1, FPPG: 75.2, GPFP: 60.17 Salary: $10,800)
This will no doubt become common knowledge soon enough, but The Summit is one of Collin Morikawa’s home courses.
He has fired a round of 62 here too, according to reports, and in a week where we have very little information to go on, backing one of the best players in the world at a layout he knows better than anyone else seems to be a savvy thing to do.
Morikawa’s form fell off a cliff after he triumphed in the British Open, but he won 3.5 points at the Ryder Cup and he is, evidently from his growing trophy cabinet, the kind of once-a-generation talent that can just click when the mood takes him.
Key Stats:
- SG: Approach – 1st
- Greens in Regulation – 5th
- Birdie Average – 16th
Top Tier Pick #2:
Louis Oosthuizen (Odds: 30/1, FPPG: 78.1, GPFP: 94.48 Salary: $9,300)
There was an eye-catching turn from Louis Oosthuizen at the Shriners last week.
Okay, so he only finished T14 up the road in Nevada, but he ranked third for SG: Tee-to-Green and was hamstrung by his flatstick – for a player who ranked first for SG: Putting in 2020-21, that’s slightly unexpected.
Maybe the South African has regressed to his mean on the greens, but if he can build his confidence on the practice green in the days leading up to this event, he will surely have all the tools to mount a title challenge.
With nine top-20 finishes in his last ten starts on the PGA TOUR, you generally get good value for money from Oosthuizen and so he is a fair pick this week.
Key Stats:
- SG: Approach – 5th
- Scoring Average – 7th
- SG: Around-the-Green – 19th
Mid-Tier Pick #1:
Max Homa (Odds: 60/1, FPPG: 60.3, GPFP: 70.56 Salary: $7,700)
In his last start Max Homa was seen winning the Fortinet Championship, and yet here he is –admittedly amongst better company – priced at the same salary as he was in the field there that was practically double the size!
In short, Homa looks to be a value play this week, and particularly so when you note that the Californian does seem to come alive on Bentgrass greens.
Long enough to make the most of the opportunities available at The Summit, Homa is a noted birdie-maker and so there’s no reason why he can’t perform admirably once again.
Key Stats:
- Birdie Average – 2nd
- SG: Approach – 8th
- SG: Putting – 16th
Mid-Tier Pick #2:
Harold Varner III (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 60.0, GPFP: 57.58 Salary: $7,300)
The improvement in Harold Varner III’s short game has been considerable in the past few months, and for a player once known for his iron play that’s a noteworthy change.
Now, we’re waiting for his ball-striking to catch back up, but when it does you wonder if HVIII will start competing more readily at the business end of events.
He seems to be getting there, slowly, with T11 at the Sanderson Farms and T16 at the Fortinet Championship perhaps a hint of what’s to come.
Key Stats:
- SG: Putting – 6th
- Scoring Average – 16th
- Approaches from 225-250 yards – 50th
Low-Tier Pick:
Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Odds: 125/1, FPPG: 58.4, GPFP:46.74 Salary: $6,200)
Like so many on TOUR, K.H. Lee is an excellent ball-striker whose game falls down when he gets to the greens.
Backing these players can feel like a moth banging its head on a neon light over and over again at times, but you know that if something clicks with the flat stick then low scores are almost guaranteed to follow.
The Korean won the Byron Nelson this year on Bentgrass greens, and he found some rhythm with the putter in the fourth round at the Shriners, so perhaps it will all come together for this talented player at The Summit.
Key Stats:
- Greens in Regulation – 9th
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 22nd
- Scoring Average – 24th
Sleeper Pick for the CJ CUP at Summit
Patrick Reed (Odds: 60/1, FPPG: 68.5, GPFP: 54.80 Salary: $8,000)
Now then. Here we have an elite operator at a throwaway price.
Make no mistake, Patrick Reed is struggling with the health concerns that largely kept him out of Ryder Cup contention, and he isn’t at his best right now.
That is why he will go under-the-radar this week, and in an event with no cut he will have a lot less pressure on his shoulders and more time to find his groove.
There’s not a lot to say about his recent form – a missed cut at Shriners came despite an opening round of par, but Reed is the kind of player that can click into the form the more he plays. He will have 72 holes worth of action this week.
Key Stats:
- Scrambling – 21st
- Birdie Average – 36th
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 45th
Alternative Sleeper Pick for the CJ CUP at Summit
Maverick McNealy (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 62.5, GPFP: 66.90 Salary: $7,300)
Although he missed the cut at Shriners, that was on the number at -4 and so it was hardly a disaster from Maverick McNealy’s perspective.
He will, however, want to make amends this week given that he is a Las Vegas native with plenty of home support.
A solo second at the Fortinet Championship offered a glimpse at McNealy’s qualities – an event he had chances to win, and for a young man of 25 that is highly-rated by many these are all useful learning experiences.
An excellent all-rounder, we anticipate McNealy’s first PGA TOUR title to come in the West of the country….so why not this week?
Key Stats:
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 7th
- Scoring Average – 8th
- SG: Putting – 63rd
This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup
Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only. Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.
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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2021-2022)
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