Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 CJ Cup in South Carolina

2022 CJ Cup in South Carolina Fantasy Sleeper Report

There’s long been a trend for the PGA TOUR’s Fall season to show veterans the way back into the winner’s circle, and Keegan Bradley ended his lengthy wait for silverware just shy of the 1,500 day mark.

He showed plenty of guts and determination on the back nine on Sunday as nerves betrayed his swing and he began to rack up potentially title-ending bogeys at the ZOZO Championship.

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But a clutch birdie on the 71st hole, allied to the fact that nearest challengers Rickie Fowler and Andrew Putnam were unable to get anything going, allowed Bradley to win his fifth PGA TOUR title. Having underachieved, arguably, relative to his talent in a 14-year professional career, it will be interesting to see where this victory takes him.

That journey will begin with a strop-off in Ridgeland, South Carolina, as – assuming he doesn’t withdraw ahead of the first tee – Bradley is in the field for the CJ Cup.

He’ll be joined by a number of stars returning to action after a period away. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm will make their seasonal bows, while Presidents Cup winners Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel and Sam Burns also dust off their clubs.

The likes of Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young and Sungjae Im will be heading back from Japan – it’s always interesting to see how such lengthy travel impacts their title hopes, as will Rickie Fowler, whose new caddie-swing coach-club combination nearly paid the ultimate dividends at the ZOZO.

They will all be faced by a golf course that few of them will have ever experienced before. Congaree Golf Club has only been used once before on the PGA TOUR rotation, and that was at the low-grade Palmetto Championship back in June 2021. Lessons learned were in short supply.

Mind you, Tom Fazio appears to have made good on his plans to build an Australian sandbelt course on American soil. Sand is the main obstacle at Congaree, although the green complexes – average in size, but rich in undulations, run-offs and contours – provide an ample challenge. 

That is the principal reason why the winning score at the Palmetto was just -11….and that was in conditions where the ball was running long. Don’t expect that from a decidedly less hot and humid October in South Carolina. The sheer length of the course – 7,655 yards for its Par 71 – will be exacerbated by a lack of ball carry, and only the longest off the tee need apply this week.

With some of the big names short on competitive golf of late, and others making the long trip home from Japan, the CJ Cup feels like an event in which a long-odds pick can strike. So who has made the cut in this no-cut tournament for our CJ Cup sleeper shortlist?

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Corey Conners – 55/1 – As a supreme ball-striker, Corey Conners has advantages over many on the PGA TOUR….if he could just tidy up his short game, he could be amongst the top 20 in the world.

An excellent wood and iron hitter from 200+ yards, it’s no big shock that Conners has thrived at Augusta and courses like Memorial, where such distance brings with it a huge edge.

The Canadian seems to enjoy Bermuda greens the most, and that should (hopefully) precipitate a much-needed improvement with the flat stick. 

Emiliano Grillo – 66/1 – The remarkable case of Emiliano Grillo continues.

A monumental putting improvement has seen the Argentine record two top-five finishes within his last three starts, and at the ZOZO Championship he ranked second for GIR – for all that particular stat is worth.

But it’s all good stuff for an excellent driver of the ball who continues to knock on the door of a second PGA TOUR title. His first came at the suitably sandy TPC Scottsdale. 

Cam Davis – 80/1 – Australian sandbelt, you say?

How prescient Tom Fazio’s analysis of Congaree proves to be only time will tell, but Cam Davis will be hoping that his words are accurate.

A former winner of his native Australian Open, Davis continues to gain strokes on the field both on approach and around the greens – that’s been in the case in five of his last seven recorded starts, and if he putts as well as he generally does then the Aussie could be made to feel right at home in Ridgeland.

Keith Mitchell – 100/1 – Having not played for weeks, Keith Mitchell hit the ground running at the Shriners by opening up 65-69.

He fell away from there over the weekend – perhaps as much a lack of ‘match fitness’ as anything else, and he should heat to South Carolina in good spirits.

Length obviously isn’t an issue for big Keith, and we like the crossover form he has shown in places like Las Vegas, Arizona and Texas in the past – it’s a skillset that will lend itself nicely to success at the exposed, fast and sandy Congaree.

J.T. Poston – 100/1 – Having missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship, J.T. Poston will have been sighing with relief after a much-improved showing next time out at the Shriners.

He gained strokes on the field on approach and around the greens there, and it was that skillset that saw him win the John Deere Classic and record four more top-20s in five starts to conclude the 2021-22 season.

The Postman doesn’t always deliver, but given that he’s been playing well since the summer, he might just come up with the goods this week.

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

Sleeper Report Predictions Last Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 20 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “6.70%” bar_text=”1 out of 20 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”26.67%” bar_text=”4 out of 20 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 4 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”2.44%” bar_text=”0 out of 4 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”53.33%” bar_text=”8 out of 20 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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