The CJ Cup preview and betting tips 2022

Can Hatton turn it on in a stacked field?

The CJ Cup Golf Tips

Tyrrell Hatton 1.5pts 40/1 6 Places

Sahith Theegala 1pt 66/1 8 Places

Jason Day 1pt 70/1 8 Places

Cam Davis 1pt 80/1 6 Places

Keegan Bradley wins for the first time since 2018 in the ZOZO Championship by beating Rickie Fowler in Japan. He was 33/1 pre-event and he was never really on my radar I must admit. Could this be a return to form for Fowler? He played really well at the CJ Cup last year albeit it was at a different course than where it is being played this week. This week we are in South Carolina at Congaree Golf Club, a 7,655 yard par 71. This course will host a PGA Tour event for the second time after it hosted the Palmetto Championship in 2021 where Garrick Higgo was the winner. Higgo ranked 8th SG: T2G and 11th on SG: Approach that week. Only three of the top nine players in the Palmetto ranked inside the top ten for SG: Putting so that stat doesn’t seem to be as important as other weeks.

We have the best field of the PGA Tour season so far this week with fifteen of the world’s top twenty and only 78 players are set to tee it up. Rory is back to defend his title after winning in Vegas last year, Jon Rahm makes his first PGA Tour appearance of the season coming off a win in the DP World Tour at the Spanish Open, world number one Scottie Scheffler is here, so is Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and many more! It’s sure to be a fascinating renewal. A lot of these top players haven’t played stroke play golf since the TOUR Championship at the end of August so it will be interesting to see who plays well after a bit of time off, I think players who have been playing in Europe over the last month do have a slight advantage as they know where their game is at right now. Another interesting fact before I go into my players to follow is that despite Congaree’s length, only two players in the top 10 on the final leaderboard at the Palmetto were inside the top 10 in driving distance for the week.

Tyrrell Hatton 40/1

The first player I was drawn to when looking into this tournament was an old favourite of mine Tyrrell Hatton, I seem to back him often and I feel as though he is a player who should win a lot more. As mentioned above, this event will be played at Congaree and he is one of the only players in this field who played in the Palmetto Championship last year, he finished second in that event. Hatton ranked 1st SG: T2G and 2nd SG: Approach that week, he just had a really bad putting performance when ranking 64th. Onto recent form and he has two top tens in his last three starts and has only actually missed two cuts all year. I think he’ll be keen to get his first win of 2022 at a course he has an advantage at against other players who haven’t played competitive golf here before. At 40/1 he represents value in my opinion.

Sahith Theegala 66/1

Next up in my portfolio is rising star Sahith Theegala and he comes in off the back of a top-five finish in Japan at the ZOZO. There were rumours he had a slight injury at the Sanderson Farms a few weeks ago so he’s swept away any injury doubts with his impressive performance last week. Even if Sahith doesn’t win this year, it’s been an incredible year for him going from 381 in the world rankings all the way up to 52nd. He’s made three starts this season on the PGA Tour and has finished 6th and 5th. He shot a fantastic 63 in the third round of the ZOZO to put himself in contention but ended up three back of eventual winner Keegan Bradley. I just feel as though I can’t let him go unbacked at prices of 60/1 and higher this week, yes the field is stronger but this is a player who has already mixed it with the big players and been in contention in some top tournaments in just one season on the PGA Tour and he is sure to get better.

Jason Day 70/1

Now this is a slightly more riskier play but I have my reasoning. Congaree correlates strongly with two courses, Quail Hollow and Torrey Pines (South), Jason Day has won at Torrey twice and he has won at Quail Hollow. He recently posted a top ten at the Shriner’s Children Open where he ranked top ten in three stats, T2G, OTT and Approach. We know he’s had his injuries through the years and hasn’t won for over four years now but I do think this appears to be a good opportunity for him to end his drought. He finished third in the Farmers Insurance Open in January at Torrey Pines and he looked the winner in that event for a long while. I’m prepared to take a chance on Day this week at 70/1 quotes.

Cam Davis 80/1

Last up for me is Cam Davis, another Aussie and two-point winner at the Presidents Cup when taking down Burns, Scheffler, and Horschel. His price just looks far too big this week and I can’t help but get involved. His stats are really promising over the last 24 rounds, 9th SG: T2G, 14th SG: Ball Striking and 18th SG: Off The Tee. Davis has been knocking on the door a little this year with several top tens on Tour and we all know he was very impressive for most of the week at the Presidents Cup. He seems to have improved as the year has gone on and his price has more than doubled from last week which I think is just too much, a value play.

Check out this weeks preview of the Mallorca Golf Open