CJ Cup Event Overview
There’s a new course hosting the CJ Cup 2022 this week so there’s not a lot of data to get stuck into but as ever we will break down the key stats to provide the best chance of success.
78 players will fight it out, over recent years this event has seen the world’s best ball strikers flourish with wins for Rory Mcllory, J T Poston and Mark Brooks all having success in recent times.
Congaree Golf Club is not your typical golf club as it is located in the lowlands of South Carolina. The Tom Fazio-designed course, which opened in 2018, is located on more than 2,000 acres of former rice plantation land with lakes and untamed woodland. It should prove the stiffest challenge of the fall season so far for players.
The famed Australian sand belt courses are referenced in the architecture, and with any luck after all the recent birdies feasts the course will play fast and firm as designed. With a lot of sand waste areas and little rough, this course is undoubtedly different from your typical Tour stop-off.
Although fairways are generous in width, straying can result in balls crashing into hazards of all shapes and sizes. One thing to note for those tuning in this week, players are allowed to ground their club on address at any time on any sandy stretches at Congaree because they are all considered natural areas.
The greens this week are in the main raised from the fairways and have little to no rough surrounding them, meaning lots of run-off area which will test the short games of all players teeing it up. Think of links like greens and run-off areas and that’s what the players will have in front of them.
Event & Course Details:
| Course: | Congaree Golf Club |
| Location: | South Carolina |
| Date: | Oct 20-23, 2022 |
| Par: | 71 |
| Yardage: | 7,650 |
| Purse: | $10.5 Million |
| Fairways/Rough: | Bermudagrass |
| Greens: | Bermudagrass |
| Defending Champion: | Rory Mcllroy 2021 |
Key Skill Sets Required:
01. SG T2G
A proper test of golf faces the players this week, a long demanding track with a winning score expected in the mid-teens means the T2G game must be firing on all cylinders if you wish to compete. This test of golf requires all the clubs to be working and there is no better indicator than T2G performance both short-term and long-term.
02. SG Off The Tee
With a course playing over 7500 yards as a par 71 it will be imperative to gain strokes off the tee box. Doing that will take the pressure of the long approach shots. Looking at the top 5 of the Palmetto Championship in 2021 this track showed the importance of gaining strokes off the tee. 4 of the top 5 ranked in the top 10 off the tee for the week, expect more of the same this week.
03. SG Approach Play 175+
The majority of second shots will take place from this distance this week, significantly more than the average at a PGA Tour event. We want players onside who have good long iron games, this test is not for the faint-hearted.
04. GIR
On a challenging test like this week it makes sense to consider players who are hitting plenty of greens in regulation and therefore giving themselves plenty of outside birdie looks and the chance to roll in plenty of putts. The winner here in 2021 finished 3rd for GIR gained, and the runner up 5th for GIR gained. I expect a similar trend this week.
05. SG Scrambling
A long course with a high percentage of approach shots over 175 yards out means the greens are missed regularly here at Congaree Golf Club. Scrambling well protects the scorecard and making pars on the difficult holes here is not a bad thing. It’s so important to get up and down 70% of the time throughout the week, without doing so puts victory out of reach.
06. Putting
Bermudagrass greens facing the players this week and that will be to the liking of many especially the world’s elite like Rory McIlroy, JT Poston and Jordan Spieth to name a few who have over 15 combined wins on these surfaces alone. When making your final portfolio this week pay particular attention to those who excel on this grain of grass.
