The field for the 2020 CJ Cup is absolutely loaded. Fifteen of the top-20 golfers in the world are on the board this week and that should make for some drama, both on the course and at the betting window.
Jon Rahm, who opened as the second-choice at +1000, is now the tournament favorite with Dustin Johnson out of the field. Rahm hasn’t played since the U.S. Open where he finished T23, but the Spaniard was nothing short of spectacular during the summer months.
Rahm has plenty of elite company at the top of the board, including Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy. The in-form Matthew Wolff, fresh off his runner-up finish at the Shriners, is also listed among the favorites at +1800.
With so many big names in town there are a bunch of tantalizing matchup bets on the board for the CJ Cup. Here are our favorites:
Jason Sobel
Louis Oosthuizen (-118) over Harris English
This isn’t a WGC event, but it certainly has the feel of one, with an elite field and no two-round cut. Louis tends to play exceedingly well in WGCs, with results of 6th-51st-3rd-20th-5th in his last five.
After a year of serving as one of the game’s most consistent players, I’m hardly writing off English after a single MC (especially when he shot 68-69), but I do think there’s some value here in taking Louis over him.
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Josh Perry
Collin Morikawa (-106) over Hideki Matsuyama
I am a little surprised that Morikawa is a small underdog against Matusyama. Both players are coming off MCs at the Shriners, but Morikawa was just a shot off the number and lost three strokes putting. Matsuyama gained 2.5 strokes with the putter last week and was still behind Morikawa.
Outside of the U.S. Open, Matsuyama's ball-striking numbers haven’t really jumped off the page and it’s been a lot of strong work on or around the greens that have propped up Hideki’s results.
Morikawa has hit a small bump in the road with a couple missed cuts recently, but I’ll take him here and hope his superior ball-striking will carry him for four days.
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Chris Murphy
Matthew Wolff (+110) over Xander Schauffele
This is purely a price play. Matthew Wolff has been one of the best golfers in the world over the last two months, including top-4 finishes in both majors.
Wolff finished fourth at the PGA Championship, second at the U.S. Open, and then second last week at the Shriners which was also held in Vegas.
I certainly get that Xander Schauffele is also a top player in the world coming off of back-to-back top-5 finishes, and thrives in these limited field, no cut events, but I see this matchup as being much more even than the odds suggest.
I’m happily running to the ticket counter for plus-money on Wolff.
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Matt Vincenzi
Viktor Hovland (-110) over Daniel Berger
Hovland had an excellent showing at Winged Foot for the U.S. Open. He gained strokes in all categories, including an impressive 4.3 strokes on approach. His biggest weakness is putting and he seems to have figured that out of late. He has gained strokes putting in 5 of his past 7 events.
The only two tournaments where he lost strokes putting were on Bermuda, so he seems to have found a strong preference for bentgrass greens which we will be seeing this week.
We have seen fellow young stars Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa show their excellence of late, and I think it’s Hovland’s turn at Shadow Creek.
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