After Matt Fitzpatrick’s pitiful defence of his Andalucia Masters title, not even making the weekend, favourite backers will be praying a similar fate does not befall Rory McIlroy when the FedEx Cup champion makes his new-season Stateside bow in the CJ Cup in South Carolina.
It was Rory’s come-from-behind victory last year when the tournament was played in Las Vegas that kick-started a wonderfully consistent campaign that ended so gloriously at the Tour Championship.
Nine shots behind going into the weekend, McIlroy staged one of his now-regular through-the-field charges to edge home by a shot from Collin Morikawa with a phenomenal 25-under total and he must be disappointed the Cup has left Las Vegas and headed east to the Congaree course at Ridgeland.
McIlroy headlines the field as he defends his CJ Cup - but in South Carolina, not Las Vegas
The Tom Fazio layout, a 7655-yard par 72, has been around just five years and hosted last year’s Palmetto tournament won by the young South African left-hander Garrick Higgo, fresh from a quickfire Canaries double on the European circuit and making only his second PGA Tour start.
Congaree looks a serious test as 11-under won the day, Higgo’s total just seeing off a logjam of pursuers - England’s Tyrrell Hatton was one of six sharing second place. Surprisingly for a course of well-above-average length, eight of the first ten home did not figure high on the driving distance stats.
This is a much superior cast with six of the world’s top ten, headed by No.1 Scottie Scheffler, in the half-size line-up - for the second week running it’s a field of 78 with no cut.
Even allowing for the presence of Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Morikawa, there’s every likelihood of a European winner, either McIlroy who has gone 2-4-4 on the DP World Tour scene since that FedEx takeaway or Jon Rahm who played golf from a different planet when turning the Spanish Open, weak though it was, into a rout.
Now he has got his game back in order after the disruption to routine that his new baby must have caused, Senor Rahm will be licking his lips at the prospect of bringing down these top Americans.
So we know those two are in belting form whereas we can’t be sure about Scheffler, Thomas, Morikawa or Sam Burns, four of the leading Americans. Double Major winner Morikawa never contended in Japan last week, nor did Hideki Matsuyama even though he was on a course where he’d previously shone.
Keegan Bradley, put up here at 33/1 last week, and comeback man Rickie Fowler finished 1-2 in Japan, so we know their games are in good nick. This is harder. The same goes for lucky Fortinet repeater Max Homa and new kid on the block Tom Kim, a seemingly effortless winner at Sanderson Farms.
Tyrrell Hatton has course form
Hatton was only a shot away from forcing a playoff with Higgo on this week’s course and is making a bunch of birdies among the punitive double bogeys. If he can cut out the crass errors, the hot-headed Oxford battler will start winning big again.
Cameron Young and Taylor Montgomery are two sizeable units who are showing plenty of game but have yet to discover the secret of winning. I predict both will get off the mark in the next 12 months but probably in weaker company.
Shane Lowry, impressive BMW PGA champion, and US Open hero Fitzpatrick, pipped in a playoff for the Italian Open on the 2023 Ryder Cup course before last week’s flop, bulk up the European challenge while the Koreans are mob-handed, with Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Si Woo Kim, Seong-hyeon Kim (shortened to SH Kim for easier identification), Benny An and KH Lee capable of upsetting any applecart.
Korn Ferry upgrade SH Kim has opened his rookie year with some high-quality golf, getting better each week. Fourth to compatriot Tom Kim last time out in Las Vegas and 13th before that in Jackson, SH is one to keep an eye on.
Colourful Sahith Theegala has persistently looked a winner waiting to happen. The rangy Californian has made an impressive start to the new wrap-around year with fifth at the ZOZO following sixth first time out at the Fortinet.
In what looks like being a dry, sunny weekend with minimal wind and temperatures hovering around 70F, Theegala might be the biggest threat to European domination. But I’m looking for a big week for our Ryder Cup stars with that long-awaited Wentworth victory doing wonders for Lowry’s self-belief. The bluff Irishman has all the tools to be a huge success in the States to which you can now add ‘confidence to match ability’. A second American victory for Shane is surely just around the corner.
CJ Cup golf betting tips 2022
- 2pts each-way Jon Rahm at 10/1
- 2pts each-way Rory McIlroy at 8/1
- 1pt each-way Sahith Theegala at 66/1
- 1pt each-way Shane Lowry at 33/1
- 1pt each-way Tyrrell Hatton at 35/1
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