CJ Cup 21 Heavy Petting

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If golf research were sexual...you'd be rounding 2nd base after this.

• Par 72 / 7431 yard at elevation...aka...short par 72 with four par 5's to feast upon

• The course is wide open off the tee. It was never designed to be a PGA Tour track. It was a Fazio designed resort club. If no wind, -30 could win this thing.

• BoB and DK Scoring recent form is huge this week

• The bentgrass greens and significant bunkering is the only defense.

• Morikawa and McNealy are known members. Kawa had the course record at 62, until Mav took it with a 61.

• There are basically 3 driveable par 4's on this course for the bombers when you look at the elevation change and altitude factor.

• Top 5 SG: Total over the last 24 rounds (last 2 years)  in NO CUT events - DJ, Henley, JT, Kokrak, Xander

• Bottom 5 notable SG: Total over the last 24 rounds (last 2 years)  in NO CUT events - Leishman, Woodland, Kizzire, Grillo, Na

1. Top 10 DK points scored last 24 rounds: 1. McIIroy 2. Simpson 3. Burns 4. DJ 5. Smith 6. Spieth 7. Im 8. Wise 9. Grace 10. Lowry

2. Strokes gained putting leaders on bent grass: 1. Tringale 2. Ancer 3. Kokrak 4. Reed 5. Noren 6. Smith 7. Hughes 8. English 9. Rose 10. Na

3. Strokes gained T2G leaders the last 3 calendar months: 1.Burns 2. Im 3. Garcia 4. JT 5. Na 6. Oosthuizen 7. KH Lee 8. Gooch 9. Matsuyama 10. Wise

4. On courses that are 7400+ yards, easy scoring and bent greens, your top 10 in total strokes gained are: 1. Rose 2. DJ 3. Garcia 4. McIIroy 5. Fowler 6. Niemann 7. Finau 8. Casey 9. Matsuyama 10. Scott

5. Top 10 JUST strokes gained ball striking on courses that are 7400+ yards, easy to hit fairways, & easy scoring: 1. DJ 2. JT 3. Matsuyama 4. Scott 5. McIIroy 6. Niemann 7. Rose 8. Hovland 9. Glover 10. Hoffman

6. Top 10 in birdies or better gained the last 50 rounds: 1. Burns 2. Smith 3. Spieth 4. DJ 5. McIIroy 6. Hovland 7. Scheffler 8. Koepka 9. Hoffman 10. Kokrak

7. Strokes gained on the par 5's will be the most important this week, your top 10 the last 50 rounds: 1. Burns 2. DJ 3. Schauffele 4. Koepka 5. Casey 6. English 7. Smith 8. Spieth 9. Oosthuizen 10. Scheffler

8. Top 10 in GIR's gained the last 12 rounds: 1. Leishman 2. Burns 3. Vegas 4. Hovland 5. KH Lee 6. Bradley 7. Day 8. Finau 9. Casey 10. Kirk

9. The two highest approach shot distribution buckets this week are 150-175 & 200+, your top 10 in proximity: 1. Casey 2. Grillo 3. Bradley 4. Hovland 5. JT 6. Hoge 7. Hatton 8. Niemann 9. Leishman 10. Morikawa

10. Top 10 projected points per salary dollar (good values): 1. Casey 2. Scheffler 3. Garcia 4. Oosthuizen 5. Niemann 6. Burns 7. Smith 8. Hovland 9. KH Lee 10. Hatton

Curtis ThompsonYou probably already know that Curtis is the brother of LPGA Tour Pro, Lexi Thompson. Like Lexi, Curtis hits it a mile. Curtis earned his card after years of battling through issues with his game and desire to play by finishing 21 in the KFT order of merit last season. He actually stepped away from the game for a while after leading the KFT in Driving Distance for 3 years in a row. When he came back, he won the 2020 Evans Scholar Invitational. He's a Florida resident that played for LSU in college. He makes a ton of birdies, but can't quite avoid the big numbers on the card to match. Along with the distance, he finished 23rd on the KFT in GIR, middle of the road in terms of short game, but absolutely dumpster fire with the putter. He's a high variance player that could go stupid low with a hot putter week given the ball striking. He's been told his game better suits the PGA TOUR than the KFT. We shall see.Austin SmothermanAustin is a typical Cali kid, but now resides in Texas after playing at SMU with Bryson Dechambeau. He finished 25th in the order of merit to earn his Tour card. He won the 2021 Simmons Bank to go along with his 4 other top 10s on the season. He's a solid total driver averaging 305 off the tee, but top 20 in Driving Accuracy and top 10 in GIR. His short game and putting are lacking some, but he just hits a ton of greens. He loves hitting a draw, but he's working with his coach (Cameron McCormick) on hitting more controlled fades.  

Reed vs. Finau