The CJ Cup
Hey guys welcome back, i’m just going to cut to the chase and dive right in. Well guys talk about an exciting finish this past weekend. Every year the Shriners always offer an incredible finish to the event on Sunday. This year we were blessed with a three playoff between Martin Laird, Matthew Wolff, and Austin Cook. After an intense showdown Martin Laird emerged as victor after making a 21 footer for birdie on 17, the second playoff to win his first event since 2013. It’s always so amazing to see a guy like Martin, who has been grinding and working so hard to finally break through and get the win. What is even more incredible about Laird’s story is he got into the Shriners this past week on a sponsor exemption. Tyler and I say this same line all too often, “Golf is a weird game man.” We find ourselves saying that line every week, because every week the game of golf offers up something incredible, whether it's a guy who wins the event after Monday qualifying for it, or holes out on the last hole of the week to win, whatever the case golf will forever be a crazy, weird game. Hats off to you Martin, enjoy this win my friend. This week the PGA Tour heads to Shadow Creek for the CJ Cup. Tyler and I like to call this event the “unofficial, official” start to the season.
Under normal circumstances the CJ Cup is part of PGA Tour international swing, where they play the CJ Cup in South Korea, and The ZOZO Championship in Japan. However due to Covid-19 both events will be held in the U.S. Nonetheless the venue that has been chosen for the CJ Cup is absolutely magnificent. This week the PGA Tour heads to Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las, Vegas. You guys might be thinking hmmm Shadow Creek that course sounds familiar, well it should sound familiar. Shadow Creek was the gracious host for the coveted “Match” between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Unfortunately neither Tiger nor Phill will be teeing it up this week at Shadow Creek. A few other notables that will be missing this week are Dustin Johnson, World #1 who recently tested positive for Covid-19 and Tony Finau who tested positive last week. Nevertheless the field this week is still star studded. Among those stars teeing it up this week is Justin Thomas, Collin Morikowa, Rory McIlory, Justin Rose, Daniel Berger, John Ramn, and Matthew Wolff. Look for these guys to put on a show this week. This week we will also be welcoming back Brooks Koepka who has been taking some much needed time off to deal with injuries. Now Brooks appears to be very healthy and in good spirits. When he was asked what he expects out of himself, you can only guess what his answer was, “to win.” It's safe to say that the trash talking, cocky Brooks Koepka is back. Either way, we wish Brooks the best of luck this week and we are happy to have him back in action. Now recently there is one player in particular that has caught my eye along with thousands of other people across the country and world and that is Matthew Wolff. More specifically what Wolff did last week at the Shriners. His third round he was placed on the 59 watch after carding 3 eagles on the back nine. Now I watched most of his round and let me tell you he did not miss a shot. Every drive, perfect, every approach shot perfect, and it helps when you make putts from all over the place. His strong play continued and it propelled him into a playoff. Although he didn't win he showed some truly spectacular play last week. I implore all golf fans to watch him play because boy does he put on a show.
On to my favorite part of the week, my weekly picks!! Last week I missed out on the winning pick, was correct on Rickie Fowler missing the cut and my underdog pick of WIll Zalatoris wasn’t far off as he came in T-7. Not my best, nor my worst week for picks. However this week I'm feeling pretty good with my picks. (Mike)
The two things I really wanted to touch on this week was DJ getting covid and having to withdraw from the CJ Cup. Dustin Johnson has been as hot as any golfer in the world and his positive COVID result could not have come at a worse time. With The Master’s right around the corner it is imperative that he gets a few tournament reps in before trying to claim his first win at Augusta. A couple years back he looked primed to win his first Master’s, but a freak accident caused him to withdraw. Now, a pandemic is hindering his ability to get reps before heading to Augusta. Good news for him is that he should be cleared to go by the end of the month and have a few weeks to prepare for Augusta. The blog is a huge fan of DJ so we are hoping this setback does not impact himi too much and he is clicking on cylinders by this time next month.
The other is Martin Laird’s win last week. Martin Laird had been playing rather poor golf lately for tour standards and was in on a sponsor's exemption. He took full advantage by winning. He hit some of the most remarkable golf shots I have seen in recent memory with all of the pressure on. His chip in from a plugged lie in the lip of the bunker was nothing short of miraculous. He looked like a guy who is contention week in and week out and not some guy struggling to get starts on tour. If this happens to the best players in the world, of course it will happen to the everyday joe. Some days you have it all together out there and some days you do not, but golf is so silly so you really never know until it happens. Martin Laird showed the importance of trusting your game and continuing to grind and eventually things will fall your way. Just have to be as ready as Martin was to seize the opportunity. (Tyler)
Pick’s of the Week:
Mike: My winning pick for this week is Daniel Berger. Berger has been a frequent pick of mine in the past. I like his play style and he's had some time off to work on his game and work out some of the kinks. Last time we saw Berger was at Winged Foot at the U.S. Open where he finished T-34 on a brutally hard course. The one stat that really speaks to me especially this week is Berger’s strokes gained in putting. Berger is 9th on tour in strokes gained on the putting which I believe will be a crucial factor this week. The greens at Shadow are undulated and challenging and require a lot of patience, this is where Berger will succeed. As long as he strikes the ball well expect Berger to come in at 16 under par and win. This week Berger comes in with 28-1 odds to win as well.
My sleeper/underdog pick this week goes to Tommy Fleetwood. Fleetwood’s last showing on the PGA Tour was the U.S. Open where he unfortunately missed the cut. However he has been very active over in Europe on the European Tour. Fleetwood recently finished T-18 in the BMW PGA Championship, and is feeling strong and confident. Fleetwood having never won a PGA Tour event is due for a big win very soon. I believe this is his week. With 28-1 odds this week, I believe he's going to give the field a run for their money. (Mike)
Tyler: My winning pick for the week is Justin Rose. Justin Rose is another somewhat forgotten name in golf. For a good stretch he was playing the best golf in the world. He has since fallen from that level of consistent play, but for some reason I feel really good about Justin Rose this week. When he puts it all together it is a thing of beauty. Outside of a good first two weeks back after the restart he has missed a lot of cuts. He went back over to Europe after the US Open and I would like to think he will come out firing this week. He is too good of a golfer to have a prolonged slump and I like his chances to get a high finish this week if not win it all.
My sleeper for the week is Rickie Fowler. He is at the same odds as Justin Rose at 50-1, but I think many more people would be shocked to see Rickie win compared to Rose. Rickie has seemed like he is on the verge of breaking through for years and years now. The CJ Cup is not the highest profile event on tour, but it is still a really good tournament and I would love to see Rickie pull this one off. Nothing over the last six months indicates that he will break through this week as he has struggled to make cuts for the better part of the last year, but if last week shows us anything, guys can come out of nowhere and win. Rickie clearly has the game so at 50-1, I like his chances as a sleeper to pull it off this week. (Tyler)