Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – 2017 CJ Cup

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2017 CJ Cup

2017 CJ Cup Fantasy Preview

The PGA TOUR’s wraparound season got off to a rather inauspicious start last week in Malaysia, with Pat Perez taking the honors in the CIMB Classic by four strokes.

In truth, Perez was rarely threatened after taking the 36-hole lead, and despite occasional bursts from the likes of TOUR Championship winner Xander Schauffele and our low-tier pick Keegan Bradley, the result never appeared in any doubt. The fact that Perez won by four from Bradley and seven from Schauffele and Sung Kang speaks volumes.

So the players are still shaking off some of the ring-rust, but there’s no rest for the wicked as the Asian swing continues at pace with a brand new event this week.

The CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, to give it its full title, sees the Tour head to Korea for the first time – that’s South Korea, rather than the North! The setting, this Nine Bridges course on Jeju Island, is as picture perfect as they come, and if nothing else offers a picturesque setting for the players to tackle a completely new venue on the rotation.

The players don’t know what to expect on the island and, in truth, neither do we, although we do know that the total purse of $9,250,000 is the highest on tour outside of the majors, the WGC events and THE PLAYERS Championship. That should help to focus the minds of the field this week!

Justin Thomas of the United States in action during round three of…

Justin Thomas of the United States in action during round three of the 2017 CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur on October 14, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Last Week’s Fantasy Results from the CIMB Classic

Last week our Top Tier pick JT fell to T17 (90 FP) while our low-tier player Keegan Bradley made an impressive run to T2 and banked 129 fantasy points.

Overall not a bad week with four of our main picks finishing in the Top 17.

Unfortunately we ran away from the Perez pick despite adding him on our FanDuel roster. In case you missed that segment, here was what our team had to say about Pat:

Pat Perez – $7,600 – Perez came out of nowhere in the 2016-17 season and was near the top of the FedExCup standings as things were winding down in the playoffs. The 41-year-old out of Arizona State followed up a rough patch in the middle of the summer with a blistering finish, placing in sixth and 12^th during the second and third rounds of the playoffs before finishing the year ranked a career-best 15^th in the final standings.

Perez grabbed his second career victory when he went 21-under at the OHL Classic and carded a runner-up in the Wells Fargo Championship and third-place in the Tournament of Champions. At his age, he is not going to blow you away with his pure stuff, but he cleans up well around the greens (0.450 strokes gained, 4^th on TOUR) behind 63.14% scrambling (18^thon TOUR).

The window for this type of production may be closing for Perez, but as long as his confidence is up, we expect him to improve on his career-best 33^rd in Malaysia.

2017 CJ Cup Field

It’s only the selected few who will get to enjoy this Nine Bridges stretch, with the top 60 from last season’s FedExCup standings offered first refusal. The likes of Perez, Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Paul Casey, Patrick Reed, and Adam Scott have taken up the organizers on their gracious offer.

Korea will be very well represented. Si-Woo Kim and Sung Kang are in town from the main tour, while the likes of Byeong Hun-An, Jeung-Hun Wang, and K.T. Kim will also be looking for some hometown glory.

The Korean PGA TOUR has been handed five spots, as have Gavin Green and Young-Han Song from the Asian Tour, while an eclectic array of sponsor’s exemptions includes Graeme McDowell, Thomas Pieters, Ernie Els, and Asian favorites KJ Choi and Sangmoon Bae.

Adam Scott of Australia and the International team on the first hole…

Adam Scott of Australia and the International team on the first hole in his match against Brooks Koepka during the final day singles matches matches in the 2017 Presidents Cup at the Liberty National… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

This Week’s Course Preview

It’s a leap into the unknown with Nine Bridges this week, given that this is the first time it has hosted a men’s professional golf tournament.

It has served as the host four LPGA events between 2002 and 2005, and is the annual location for the World Club Championship, an event which attracts some of the finest amateur players from around the world.

Nine Bridges is widely regarded as one of the finest courses in Asia, and has been included in the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World type features on many occasions.

Kiradech Aphibrnrat of Thailand in action during round three of the…

Kiradech Aphibrnrat of Thailand in action during round three of the CJ Invitational Hosted by KJ Choi, at Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Club on October 12, 2013 in Suwon, South Korea. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Weather Forecast for Jeju Island, Korea

The weather this week looks similar to that of Malaysia of the CIMB Classic, with scattered rain showers and occasional sunny spells doing battle for supremacy.

The difference is the wind speeds, with all four days looking rather breezy: Thursday (high of 18 mph – probably stronger at high altitude), Friday (12mph), Saturday (14mph), and Sunday (16mph).

The middle two days appear to be the best in terms of sunshine, with the event bookended by rainy conditions on Thursday and Sunday.

Last Year’s Results from the CJ Cup

The CJ Cup is a completely new event for the PGA TOUR wraparound season in 2017, and it is an addition to the schedule rather than a replacement of any other event.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the CJ Cup this Week

After a fairly disappointing slate of contests last week, it’s good to see that the DFS sites have raised their game for what is a more lucrative tournament for the players.

Those riches have been extended to gamers in a varied slate featuring this pair of standouts:

• PGA $125k Dogleg: There’s a whopping $15,000 top prize up for grabs in this $33 contest, and the top-ten finishers will trouser a cool $1,000 as a minimum.
• PGA $7k Albatross: It’s a bold move, but taking part in a single-entry contest when we don’t know too much about the course could be a winning strategy if our assumptions are correct. There’s a top prize of $650 in this 686-team event.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the CJ Cup

The early indications suggest that while Nine Bridges is set in a completely new host country to the PGA TOUR in South Korea, the actual assignment may be similar to that of coastal golf traditionally played on Tour. So immediately we start thinking of correlating tournaments such as the Sony Open, the OHL Classic, the RBC Heritage, and the RSM Classic, while the Shriners is played at altitude in Nevada and on Bentgrass greens.

The marketing team at Nine Bridges are determined to press upon the public a Scottish Highlands feel, and while that might be a tad spurious with the strong winds we can perhaps put some credence on form on Scottish Links tracks.

We will naturally favor those that have become acclimatized to conditions in Asia by playing in Malaysia last week – those such as Byeong Hun-An and Jeung-Hun Wang have come from the rather less humid and lower-lying Italian Open.

And while we might normally give the advantage to Asian Tour pros who are familiar playing in these conditions, just look at the leaderboard at the CIMB Classic: the top-10 were all PGA TOUR regulars, rather than those with a ‘local’ specialism. It seems that in these low scoring events the cream still rises to the top.

Of the images we have seen of the stretch, there does appear to be plenty of water and sand around, so we might put a premium on accurate driving rather than backing the bombers this week.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the CJ Cup

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the CJ Cup

*Please note that some players may not have registered enough events this early into the 2017-2018 season to have a GPFP formula created.

Top Tier Pick #1: 

Justin Thomas (Odds: 9/1, FPPG: 69.2, GPFP: 59.50 Salary: $12,100)

You’d have to say that JT was a little underwhelming at the CIMB Classic last time out, and as out top tier pick we can feel a tad disappointed with his T17 return.

But there are bright spots, and what started out as a tune-up became something rather more high quality with that final round of 67.

You don’t need us to remind you of Thomas’ extensive list of successes last season, but two you might have forgotten about were his back-to-back wins on the Hawaii leg of the Tour at the Tournament of Champions and Sony Open.

Those two host tracks – Kapalua and Waialae – look deceptively similar to Nine Bridges to the naked eye at least, so perhaps those will bring back some good memories for an elite-level player in a fairly ordinary field.

Key Stats:

• Birdie Average – 2nd
• SG: Approach-the-Green – 6th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 6th

Top-Tier Pick #2:

Xander Schauffele (Odds: 20/1, FPPG: 69.7, GPFP: 49.55 Salary: $9,800)

According to the stats, there aren’t many better putters on Bentgrass than Schauffele; a young man whose career looks set to go stratospheric in the next couple of years.

In his rookie year as a fully fledge PGA TOUR pro, Schauffele achieved remarkable things. He notched a top-five finish at the US Open, and his maiden title followed shortly after at the Greenbrier Classic.

T20 at the British Open confirmed that the youngster had not rested on his laurels, and victory at the TOUR Championship on the final day of the 2017 season is a marker of just how talented this Californian is.

Any mere mortal would probably have some time off to reflect on a wonderful year, but not this hungry young player. He’s straight back out on the course and finished T3 at last week’s CIMB Classic – an event he was well in the hunt for at the 54-hole stage.

We should probably make the most of this fine young talent in thin field events, and there’s no reason why he can’t repeat his Malaysian heroics this week.

Key Stats:

• SG: Off-the-Tee – 20th
• Greens in Regulation – 26th
• SG: Putting – 40th

Mid-Tier Pick #1:

Sung Kang (Odds: 55/1, FPPG: 70.7, GPFP: 59.29 Salary: $8,200)

There’s a healthy contingent of Korean players in the field this week, and we might expect Kang to lead the home charge.

He finished T5 at the CIMB Classic as a nice warm up, with a slightly weak 71 to finish perhaps stopping him from ending up T3 or higher.

He ranked ninth for GIR – admittedly on easy to hit greens, but that still shows his iron game is working rather nicely at present.

What a fillip that is for Kang, born on Jeju Island and a three-time winner on the Korean Tour, as he seeks what would be an incredible first victory on the PGA TOUR.

Key Stats:

• Scoring Average – 49th
• SG: Approach-the-Green – 59th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 69th

Mid-Tier Pick #2:

Stewart Cink (Odds: 110/1, FPPG: 70.5, GPFP: 68.51 Salary: $7,400)

A former Scottish Open winner, Stewart Cink finished T15 at last week’s CIMB Classic – ranking ninth for Greens in Regulation.

He also sunk 22 birdie or better opportunities, which suggests the old-timer can still hang with the young guns when it comes to breaking par.

But with high winds around, Cink’s experience could well prove vital as those more naïve players around hang their drives into water, rough and lord knows what else. Could the 44-year-old add a seventh PGA TOUR title to his resumé here?

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach-the-Green – 4th
• Greens in Regulation – 18th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 38th

Low-Tier Pick:

Charles Howell III (Odds: 150/1, FPPG: 70.8, GPFP: 64.31 Salary: $7,100)

Look, we know that Charles Howell III doesn’t win tournaments, but at this price he has been hopelessly undervalued by the sportsbooks.

Yes, he’s out of touch too, but when the conditions call for a slow and steady player CH3 is a reliable figure to turn too.

He recorded some excellent results in windy conditions in the main 2017 campaign, including T7 at the OHL Classic, T8 at the Sony Open, and T13 at the RSM Classic.

The Georgian made 20 cuts from 23 starts last season, and while this is a no-cut event admittedly it means that Chucky is capable of performing well in all sorts of set-ups.

Key Stats:

• Greens in Regulation – 52nd
• SG: Around-the-Green – 63rd
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 70th

Sleeper Pick for the CJ Cup

Branden Grace (Odds: 50/1, FPPG: 70.7, GPFP: 53.37 Salary: $8,100)

There are few better wind players on the planet than Branden Grace, and he looks ready to go in again here.

It was as recently as July that the South African backed up T15 at the Scottish Open with T6 at the British Open Championship – it was plenty windy at both, and don’t forget this is a former RBC Heritage champion as well. Grace’s low-ball flight is clearly an aid in such conditions.

He didn’t move the earth in finishing T32 at the CIMB Classic – hence his 50/1 starting price here, but he did rank sixth for Driving Accuracy and landing the ball on the fairway should be key at Nine Bridges with so many hazards around.

Key Stats:

• SG: Around-the-Green – 52nd
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 56th
• Greens in Regulation – 73rd

Alternative Sleeper Pick for the CJ Cup

Kyle Stanley (Odds: 70/1, FPPG: 70.2, GPFP: 59.87 Salary: $7,200)

We don’t quite know what to expect from Nine Bridges this week, but at least we know what we’ll be getting from Kyle Stanley.

Accurate off the tee (fifth for Driving Accuracy at the CIMB Classic), Stanley will pepper the greens (third for GIR at CIMB) and – hopefully – make some putts.

He won on the Bentgrass at the Quicken Loans National, and bagged other top-10s in 2017 at other Bentgrass events (Shriners, The Memorial), which suggests he enjoys these surfaces, and he looks a tad overpriced at around the 70/1 mark.

Key Stats:

• Greens in Regulation: 2nd
• SG: Off-the-Tee: 7th
• SG: Tee-to-Green: 11th

This Week’s Sample DraftKings Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.

This Week’s Sample Lineup

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2017-2018)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”14.29%” bar_text=”2 out of 14 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”21.43%” bar_text=”3 out of 14 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”42.86%” bar_text=”6 out of 14 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 2 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”100%” bar_text=”2 out of 2 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”78.57″ bar_text=”11 out of 14 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover Photo via Instagram