CJ Cup: Fitzpatrick a fine fit for unique Fazio design

• Fascinating Fazio design set to test the best
• Defending champ Rory can start well
• US Open winner Fitzpatrick to enjoy venue again

Tournament History

The first three editions of the CJ Cup were played at the Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island in South Korea but since the pandemic, the event has been staged in the US and this year we're off to the Congaree Golf Club in South Carolina.

The CJ Cup is a restricted field event with only 78 starters and no halfway cut.

Venue

Congaree Golf Club, Gillsonville, South Carolina

Course Details

Par 71, 7,655 yards
Stroke Average at the Palmetto Championship 71.74

Congaree is a unique-looking Tom Fazio design that only opened in 2017. It was voted Golf Digest's best new private course for 2018, as well as being named the best golf course built during the decade of 2010-19.

Situated around 40 miles north of Harbour Town, home of the RBC Heritage, Congaree was designed and built to resemble the courses found across the Sandbelt region of Melbourne, Australia.

Sitting within a 3,200-acre site that was once an 18th-century rice plantation, thousands of pine trees were removed to create playing corridors that are sand capped to promote firm and fast playing conditions and a number of open expanses were created to produce large, sandy expanses.

Large open-fronted greens with closely mown runoff areas will result in players putting from off the greens, although it's not an entirely links-like scenario as some greens are elevated.

Water is in play on 10 holes and there is no rough but as you'll see here in the PGA Tour's hole-by-hole flyover, there's plenty of sand!

With Bermuda fairways and greens that are expected to run at 13 on the Stimpmeter, Congaree looks like a cross between a links style course and the US Open venue, Pinehurst, where Martin Kaymer cruised to victory in 2014.

Congaree was the host venue for last year's Palmetto Championship, won by Garrick Higgo.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 22:00 on Thursday. Featured Group coverage begins at 17:45.

First Five event winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2021 - Rory McIlroy -25 23.022/1
2020 - Jason Kokrak -20 120.0119/1
2019 - Justin Thomas -20 9.08/1
2018 - Brooks Koepka -21 13.012/1
2017 - Justin Thomas -9 9.617/2

How did the Palmetto pan out?

At over 7,600 yards and with wide fairways, it's perhaps not surprising that the Palmetto Championship, staged last June, was won by a big hitter in the shape of Garrick Higgo.

Having finished tied for 64th at the USPGA Championship in his first start on the PGA Tour, the South African, who went off at 60.059/1, became the first player since the 1980s to win on his first regular PGA Tour appearance. Higgo gained entry to the event via a commissioner exemption but he hasn't qualified here.

Having won a couple of events on the DP World Tour, this was the then 22-year-old's third victory in six starts so he was bang in form.

We must bear in mind that we're looking at just one tournament staged here, and one that was staged more than four months earlier in the year, but for what it's worth, here's the top-10 and ties.

Garrick Higgo -11
Chesson Hadley -10
Tyrrell Hatton -10
Doc Redman -10
Hudson Swafford -10
Bo Van Pelt -10
Jhonattan Vegas -10
Ryan Armour -9
David Lipsky -9
Matthew Fitzpatrick -8
Dustin Johnson -8
Pat Perez -8
Erik Van Rooyen -8

And for what it may be worth (not a lot, I suspect), here's the average statistical rankings for the top-10 and ties at the Palmetto Championship.

Driving Distance 27.5
Driving Accuracy 27.5
Greens In Regulation 26.6
Scrambling 17.6
Putting Average 19.7
SG-Tee 24
SG-App 24.7
SG-ATG 26.5
SG-T2G 16.3
SG-P 23.6

That isn't a typo. The Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy stats for the top-10 and ties did average exactly the same but I'd definitely favour length over accuracy from the tee.

With the likes of Doc Redman, Ryan Armour and David Lipsy all finishing inside the top-10, it's clearly not a venue exclusively favouring the bombers and Higgo only actually ranked 23rd for Driving Distance for the week but this is a far stronger field and, if there's to be one factor to separate the field, I fancy it could be length off the tee.

The only two players listed above that play this week are Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick, although Harris English, who finished tied for 14th, is in this week's field and he traded at odds-on here last year. See In-Play Tactics below.

Away from the stats, one thing of note is how well the international players fared. This is a quickie layout and not your usual PGA Tour set up.

Other Fazio designs to consider

The only Tom Fazio designed course that we visit season after season at present is the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship course in the Dominican Republic, but the last two editions of this event have been played at two separate Fazio-designed layouts - The Summit Club (2021) and Shadow Creek (2020) in Las Vegas.

Fazio also designed the Caves Course, which hosted last year's BMW Championship, won by Patrick Cantlay in extra-time after he and Bryson DeChambeau had reached 27-under-par.

Fazio also designed another BMW Championship venue - Conway Farms - where we've witnessed wins for Zach Johnson (2013), Jason Day (2015) and Marc Leishman and he also designed Eagle Point, the host venue for the Wells Fargo Championship for one year only in 2017.

Going back even further, Atunyote Golf Course, which hosted the now defunct Turning Stone Resort Championship between 2007 and 2010, and Grayhawk Golf Club's Raptor Course in Scottsdale, Arizona, which hosted the inaugural Frys.com (now the Fortinet Championship) are both Fazio designs.

Fazio has reworked plenty of famous tracks and they include Augusta National, home of the US Masters, Quail Hollow, the Wells Fargo Championship's venue, the Seaside Course at Sea Island, which hosts the RSM Classic and Riviera Country Club, home of the Genesis Invitational.

In-Play Tactics

If the Palmetto is anything to go by, this could be a great event to trade in-running as we witnessed all sorts of carnage last June.

The pre-event favourite, Dustin Johnson, who eventually finished tied for 10th, was matched at just 1.454/9 when he drew alongside pre-event 600.0599/1 chance, Chesson Hadley, with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 in round two, Harris English was matched at 1.618/13 when he tied the lead after three holes of round four, before eventually shooting a three-over-par 74 to finish tied for 14th. Poor Hadley hit a low of just 1.171/6 when he looked like limping over the line, leading by two with three to play.

Weather delays affected the Palmetto and, having had to wait around for hours on Saturday evening to finish the 18th hole in round three, both English and Hadley were fatigued on Sunday (Hadley had led by five through 53 holes!). Looking at the forecast, that shouldn't be an issue here.

Market Leaders

Having won the Tour Championship in August, Rory McIlroy returned to Europe to finish inside the top-four in the BMW PGA Championship, the Italian Open, and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the little break may well have done him good.

There's no reason to think Rory won't enjoy the venue and with mild conditions forecast, he's a worthy favourite.

If you do like the defending champ, it's well worth bearing in mind that he's led five of his last 24 events after round one. So he's often a better bet in the First Round Leader market at bigger odds or better played as back-to-lay vehicle.

On those last five occasions he's led after the opening round he's finished fourth, sixth, 13th, eighth, and 19th!

He's an industry best 18/1 with six places up for grabs in the First Round Leader market with the Sportsbook which looks more than fair. I've also had a small bet on the Betfair Exchange at 8.88/1 with a view to laying him back should he start nicely.

Jon Rahm has been putting a bit better of last and his form's improved as a result. He arrives in South Carolina fresh off his impressive and historical third win at the Open de España and he too should love the interesting venue.

Selections

I wanted to back Tyrell Hatton, but I've missed the price. He was matched at a high of 70.069/1 yesterday but he's now only 46.045/1 so in addition to the Rory McIlroy wagers detailed above, I'm having just one other very small bet before the off, although I will have at least two here in the Find Me a 100 Winner column tomorrow.

The US Open winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, has been a bit disappointing after losing a playoff at the Italian Open, finishing only 22nd at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship before missing the cut when defending his Andalucía Masters title last week.

He didn't do an awful lot wrong last week and as he put it, he just got 'Valderrammed' on Thursday. He had too much to do after that and had to chase after it a bit on Friday to make the weekend and that seldom works around that intricate layout.

With rounds of 71, 70, 69 and 66, Fitzpatrick improved every day here in the Palmetto, suggesting he warmed to venue as the week wore on.

He arrived here 15 months ago having missed two of his last three cuts so he clearly took to the place and now that he's hitting it further off the tee, I can see him contending.

Selections:
Matt Fitzpatrick @ 28.027/1
Rory McIlroy @ 8.88/1 (back-to-lay bet)
Rory McIlroy @ 19.018/1 (each-way) 1st Round Leader

I'll be back later with the Mallorca Open preview.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter