Congaree Golf Club has one chance to put on a show. The Palmetto Championship is set to be a one-year replacement for the RBC Canadian Open, but a well-received course with good attendance and good support would go a long way in getting the course located in tiny Gillisonville, SC another event down the line.
Congaree fell short of the votes needed to host the 2026 Presidents Cup, but you never know what the future might hold after this weekโs tournament.
What we know about this week is that the field is weak, but there are a few top players looking to iron out the wrinkles before going to Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open next weekend. We also know that DraftKings Sportsbook is the best place to bet golf and you can sign up and get up to a $1,000 Deposit Bonus with your initial deposit.
Palmetto Championship Odds
The top-heavy field is headlined by six big names. Dustin Johnson is probably the biggest, but he is the unquestioned tournament favorite at +775 per DraftKings. Brooks Koepka is the second choice at +925 coming off of his runner-up at the PGA Championship. Brooks wonโt have to worry about Bryson DeChambeau ruining his time at the tournament, as DeChambeau is prepping for the U.S. Open.
The other names are Tyrrell Hatton at +1200, Matthew Fitzpatrick at +1300, Sungjae Im at +1700, and the relatively overpriced Tommy Fleetwood at +2650. Fleetwoodโs number is a big one, especially since Im is not in a good form cycle right now, yet has a much smaller price.
The 25/1 to 50/1 group usually features a lot of really good, really interesting names. That isnโt really the course this week. Alex Noren and Ian Poulter are both +2800. Harris English and Lucas Glover are both +2900. Spoiler alert: Shop around for Glover this week because better prices are out there.
Congaree Golf Club โ What to Expect
Congaree Golf Club is longggggggggg. This is a par 71 that comes in at over 7,650 yards, so it sort of fits the mold of a lot of todayโs courses. You better go long off the tee and you better be able to go long with your second shot. There are two par 4s over five bills and a par 5 in the 600s.
Remember when we marveled at the length of Kiawah Island? At least that was a major. Now we just have a regular event the week before a major coming in with a long track.
This is a very flat course. You wonโt find many undulations on the fairways or the greens. It is a pretty standard course for the southern U.S. with a lot of trees, specifically pine, and then a lot of dirt. A ton of dirt. Even the bunkers here are pretty flat, like places where grass just decided not to grow.
The course should play fast and firm, depending on the weather forecast. It is the south in mid-June, so there is a chance of thunderstorms every day. It will be hot and humid, too.
Palmetto Roses
We have no course form data here, so we donโt know who has played this course or who has played well here. We know a few things. There are a few Clemson golfers in the field and some other Carolina kids. Dustin Johnson is a SC guy, as we know. Lucas Glover, Doc Redman, and Bryson Nimmer all played at Clemson. Matthew NeSmith went to Alabama, so maybe he ran into this course at some point.
We could say the same about the Georgia contingent in the field. This course is about 30 miles north of Savannah, so maybe some of the Sea Island/St. Simonโs Island guys or the Hilton Head guys have played here.
JT Postonโs swing coach is the Director of Golf for the Congaree Foundation, so he might have a leg up on the field as a result.
A lot of people will look to draw parallels with other southeastern courses like Harbour Town, Sea Island, Kiawah, and the like. The course is also said to be a lot like Australian courses or some of the drier, flatter courses in Europe.
Whoโs Playing Well?
Honestly, not many of the players in this field. DJ hasnโt had a top-10 finish since February. Koepka was second at Kiawah, but had only played two events in several weeks prior to that and missed the cut in both.
Hatton has played well, making four straight cuts with a couple of top-20 finishes. Fitzpatrick has missed two of three cuts. Im has missed three of four and four of six. Fleetwood has missed two of his last three cuts. Kevin Kisner missed five in a row before finishing 40th in his last start. Si Woo Kim was ninth last week, but withdrew the week prior and missed a cut the week before that.
Branden Grace was fourth last week, but withdrew the week prior. Patton Kizzire was third in back-to-back events, but missed the cut last week. Itโs a hard week for those looking for recent form.
Alex Noren has five top-25 finishes in six events, so thatโs pretty strong. Charley Hoffman had a run of six top-20 finishes snapped last week at the Memorial. David Lipsky is now stateside with four top-25 finishes in his last seven starts.
There just arenโt a lot of guys that stand out this week.
Palmetto Championship Best Bets
Keep an eye out for matchups at DraftKings Sportsbook and also daily matchups once the tournament gets going, seeing as how weโre all going into this event blindly.
There are better prices out there in the betting world on Lucas Glover, but heโs on the list this week at +2900. Shop around. Thatโs always important. Glover probably has the most experience here and that should count for something this week.
Doc Redman is another Clemson kid sitting at +7500 this week. Surely heโs played a lot of courses like this and he is a pretty solid ball-striker. Thatโs a big enough price in a pretty weak field to take a look.
Rory Sabbatini is the other one at +11000. Sabbatini has played golf all over the world and has to have seen these kinds of flat, almost arid sorts of courses. This isnโt a complete dryland, but the flatness of the course and the lay-flat bunkers are pretty unique.