Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2021 CJ Cup at Summit

2021 CJ Cup at Summit Fantasy Sleeper Report

Opportunity knocks during these early season events, and Sungjae Im was one of the first to walk through the door at the Shriners Children’s Open last time out.

It was his second PGA TOUR win in his 100th start, and for a player of his prodigious talent you could argue that such a ratio is pretty low. However, the class he showed in the heat of battle on Sunday suggests there is plenty more to come.

You want to get off to a good start when you’re in the mix at the top of the leaderboard, right? Well, Im took that idea and ran with it, birdieing nine of his first thirteen holes to render the notion of competition obsolete.

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The Korean even had the pleasure of playing his last five holes in level par, with his winning margin still a very comfy four shots to the chasing pack.

This week we’re just up the road in Las Vegas for the CJ Cup, which finds a new – and presumably temporary – home at The Summit, a course within a stone’s throw of the famous strip. Can Im go in again?

He’ll need to beat some quality company this time around. Several of America’s successful Ryder Cuppers are back in action, including Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, who will have Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay on his bag for the first time.

The European contingent will be represented in this 78-man field by the likes of Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Shane Lowry, and you wonder if they will feel they have something to prove after their demise at Whistling Straits.

It’s a bit of a leap into the unknown for everyone this week, given that The Summit has never hosted a senior level event. Those that play it say that it’s a quality assignment that will test all-round game, and it certainly looks the part – the lush green playing surfaces, irrigated to some tune, looking almost Eden-like against the desert-style backdrop.

We don’t know a great deal about The Summit other than to say Tom Fazio was on design duty, and the green complexes from the content we have seen look similar to those at some of his other layouts such as Riviera and PGA National.

The greens are laid to Bentgrass, the same as last week, and so we can perhaps expect some continuation from the action that unfolded at TPC Summerlin. Otherwise, it will be a learning experience for everyone, apart from Morikawa perhaps, who calls The Summit amongst his home courses. It will be interesting to see how he fares on familiar ground.

Maybe the ‘newness’ of The Summit, and the smaller 78-man field, will lend itself to a long-odds winner, and so we can dive right in to our CJ Cup sleeper report.

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2021 CJ Cup at Summit Fantasy Sleeper Report

Joaquin Niemann – 55/1 – There were clear signs of rust for Joaquin Niemann at the Shriners, although it was notable just how well he putted on the Bentgrass greens.

That perhaps confirms our suspicion that these surfaces are where he is at his best, and assuming the Chilean kicks on from tee-to-green now that he’s made his seasonal debut we can hope for a much-improved showing.

Three runners-up finishes in 2021 confirm that he’s a player that can get into the mix, and Niemann does look to have the ability of a player that can step up to golf’s top table on a more regular basis.

Justin Rose – 60/1 – There’s a sense of déjà vu in writing about an apparent ‘renaissance’ in Justin Rose’s game – there have been false dawns in the past year, but the Brit has definitely looked a bit sharper.

T10 at the Wyndham Championship was followed by a T6 at the BMW PGA Championship, and so Rose must at least feel as though his game has turned a corner.

No stranger to success on Bentgrass greens, Rose is a proven winner – we know that – and who knows, maybe the 2021-22 campaign will be the time that his career gets back on track.

Aaron Wise – 66/1 – Four top-30s in a row confirm that Aaron Wise is on the up, and the young gun continues to impress with his ball striking.

Victory at the 2018 Byron Nelson feels, and is, a long time ago, and so it’s about time that Wise stepped up to the plate on a more consistent basis once more.

But his performance at the Shriners was his best in quite some time, ranking top-30 for every single Strokes Gained category at TPC Summerlin. It’s certainly a eye-catching lead in.

Russell Henley – 66/1 – Iron game truly on point at TPC Summerlin, Russell Henley just needed to putt better to improve upon his T21 effort.

Historically, Henley has been pretty reliable with the flat stick, and so now that the cobwebs are off we expect much better from him in this department.

A winner on Tom Fazio golf courses, Henley can mix it with elite company and he has all of the right credentials to thrive at The Summit.

Talor Gooch – 70/1 – Here’s a player that looks ready to make the step up to the next level in his career.

Talor Gooch has often shown glimpses of quality ball-striking, but just lately he’s been doing it on a more consistent basis – T4 at the Fortinet Championship, backed by T11 at Shriners testament to that.

Gooch looks poised and ready to become a tournament contender these days, and while he needs to step up in grade once more, 70/1 seems more than generous for a player that is showing some elite levels with his irons.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the CJ Cup at Summit here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”6.67%” bar_text=”1 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “13.34%” bar_text=”2 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”13.34%” bar_text=”2 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=0.00%” bar_text=”0 out of 3 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”33.33%” bar_text=”1 out of 3 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”33.33%” bar_text=”5 out of 15 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram