We have the second tournament of a double dip out in Las Vegas with the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek. A really strong field is set to be on hand here with only 78 players allowed in the event and no cut line. The course at Shadow Creek is one that will be unfamiliar to a lot of players and this oasis in the Sin City desert is going to play far tougher than TPC Summerlin did last week for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Some breaking news hit the wire earlier today as favorite Dustin Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 and was sent away from the tournament to undergo the mandatory quarantine period. That leaves us with Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas as the favorites at BetMGM Sportsbook in a field that is missing Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who played the pay-per-view head-to-head match here back in 2018.
Speaking of BetMGM Sportsbook, they are going to have live odds on the Golf Channel as part of this broadcast. You can read more about that here.
Shadow Creek has grown out the rough at the expense of an insanely high water bill given that it hasn’t rained in Las Vegas in 176 days as of the time of writing. This course will be feisty for the players as they look to take on a Tom Fazio design in what is a full FedEx Cup Points event.
The players that fit this course are ball strikers that can putt. Distance control will be a big deal on some multi-tiered greens where being above the hole or below the hole could be the difference between a good look at birdie and a three-putt bogey.
There are a lot of different betting angles in play for this week’s action and host Adam Burke talked about some of those with Brian Blessing on the Tuesday edition of ATS Radio.
If you didn’t get enough there, we have some more insights from Mr. Blessing on his picks for the tournament, updated odds with DJ out, and some strategies that have served him well in the past for golf tournaments in terms of picking the outright winners.
Check out his thoughts in this preview video:
