The CJ Cup preview: Odds, leaders and underdogs
Following its inaugural outing in 2017, the CJ Cup — which is sponsored by the CJ Group — has quickly become one of the key events to watch in the professional golfing calendar. Despite there only having been five editions of the tournament so far, it is now a hotly anticipated event.
With another edition just around the corner, fans of sports betting online are already beginning to make their predictions for how they think this year will play out. But for those of you who have yet to put their wager down, what can we expect from the 2022 edition of the CJ Cup?
CJ Cup 2022: What can we expect?
This year’s edition of the CJ Cup will be held in South Carolina. It will be held at the Congaree Golf Club, which will be the second time Congaree has hosted a PGA TOUR event. To secure the hosting rights to the event, South Carolina made a sizable financial commitment. According to the local tourist authorities, $6m in 2021 and $5m in 2022 was committed to the event.
The 2022 edition of the CJ Cup will feature 78 players, including five players designated by the Korean Professional Golfers Association, and the best three players of Korean nationality as ranked by the Official World Golf Ranking.
This effort to feature Korean players is part of the CJ Group’s commitment to develop the sport of golf in Korea. The remainder of the roster will be made up of the leading players as ranked by the 2021-22 FedExCup points list, in addition to special exemptions.
In this stroke play format tournament, the full roster of players will compete for the lion’s share of the whopping $9,750,000 prize fund.
Given both the size of the prize fund and the prominence the tournament has already achieved in the golfing world, it is little surprise that this year’s edition of the CJ Cup is expected to draw in its most star-studded, high-profile player roster yet!
The 2021 CJ Cup: What went down?
The fifth edition of the CJ Cup held in 2021 was one of the most matched events of the golfing calendar and was held at the Shadow Creek Golf Course.
The winner of the 2021 edition was Rory McIlroy who narrowly beat out a top three field including Morikawa and Mitchell. After putting in a blazing performance in which he went 25 under par with 263 strokes, McIlroy secured his 20th professional win.
One to watch: Justin Thomas
One former CJ Cup winner we should definitely not discount in Justin Thomas. Thomas won the inaugural CJ Cup at the Nine Bridges in 2017. This was followed up in 2019, once again at the Nine Bridges. However, in the 2021 edition Thomas only managed to secure an 18th place finish.
Despite this, we should not count Thomas out of the competition just yet, particularly in light of some of his most recent performances! Thomas had a solid run in the 2021-22 PGA Tour in which he secured a major win at the PGA Championship. Perhaps most notably, Thomas overcame a 7-shot deficit to beat Will Zalatoris. Thomas has also had some decent outings in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season so far. This includes qualifying for the 2022 Presidents Cup, where he won four matches as a pair.
Will McIlroy clinch it again?
Arguably the name that most people are putting forward as a potential 2022 CJ Cup winner, is Rory McIlroy. While this might seem like an obvious selection to make, there are many good reasons that so many have already identified him as a winner.
