The golf world was treated to a thrilling three-man playoff finish at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Martin Laird (275/1) was victorious over Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook after birdieing the second hole of the playoff. All three golfers finished at 23-under-par in an absolute shootout at TPC Summerlin. Laird claimed his fourth career PGA Tour win and first since his 2013 victory at the Valero Texas Open.

Due to COVID-19, the PGA Tour will not be making its regular trip to South Korea for the Asian swing this season. The CJ Cup will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada at Shadow Creek Golf Course. This course played host to the Tiger/Phil match in 2018, but otherwise, there is little course history to go off of. As per usual, the event will only feature 78 golfers and all players are guaranteed four rounds.

An extremely stacked field is set to tee it up this week in Vegas. Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele are the five highest-priced golfers on Draftkings. Brooks Koepka makes his 2020/21 debut after recovering from multiple injuries. Tony Finau has made a full recovery from COVID-19 and will be set to compete. This is an event that has been dominated by Justin Thomas, as he has won two of the three CJ Cups in South Korea.

Here are the past three winners of the event:

• 2019 Justin Thomas (-20)
• 2018 Brooks Koepka (-21)
• 2017 Justin Thomas (-9)

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Course Preview

Shadow Creek Golf Course is located in North Las Vegas, Nevada. A Tom Fazio design, this desert golf course is unique in many regards. He added numerous rolling hills and canyons from the original desert design and there is plenty of water and trees in play. It will play as a Par 72, and it will measure around 7,500 yards this week. The greens at Shadow Creek are made of Bentgrass and many analysts compare the layout to that of Augusta National. Par 5 scoring will be a key stat to zero in on with five on the scorecard.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green
• Par 5 scoring
• Opportunities Gained
• Performance on Bentgrass Greens

Favorite Cash Game Plays

Dustin Johnson ($11,100)
D.J. owns the course record at Shadow Creek with a six-under 66. He has also been perhaps the hottest golfer on the planet over the last few months. Johnson has two wins (Tour Championship, Northern Trust) and two runner-ups (BMW Championship, PGA Championship) over his last five starts.

Editor’s Note: Johnson has withdrawn from the event.

Matthew Wolff ($10,000)
The 21-year-old continues to impress more and more. With two consecutive runner-ups to start his season (U.S. Open, Shriners Open) Wolff is playing some phenomenal golf. He is the best par 5 scorer in the field this season and should be able to use his distance to his advantage this week once again.

Sungjae Im ($8,600)
The Korean is trending in a very good direction over his last few starts. Last week at the Shriners Open, Im led the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee and Greens in Regulation en route to a T13 finish. He putts the ball really well on Bentgrass and this may be the edge he needs after struggling in that department at TPC Summerlin.

Joaquin Niemann ($7,500)
Niemann has really played some excellent golf over his last five events. A third-place finish at the BMW Championship, a 23rd at the U.S. Open, and a T13 at the Shriners Open last week, Niemann is in good form. The Chilean averaged 349 yards off the tee at TPC Summerlin and will need this distance at Shadow Creek. Bentgrass is his best putting surface.

Si Woo Kim ($7,100)
Kim has made 11 of his last 12 cuts and has high finishes of 3rd, 8th, and 13th. He rates out very high in my rolling stats model in several key metrics. Kim is a top-10 in the field in opportunities gained, Par 5 scoring, and strokes gained: tee-to-green, over the last five weeks.

Favorite GPP Plays

Justin Thomas ($10,800)
You can’t deny the fact that Thomas has won this event in two of the past three seasons. He will go to another course that favors longer hitters and excellent par 5 scoring. Thomas checks all the boxes once again and is the third-best golfer on Bentgrass in the past 5o rounds.

Xander Schauffele ($10,300)
Schauffele has zero weaknesses in his game and had a streak of eight consecutive top-25s to end his 2019/20 season. Over the last 50 rounds on Bentgrass, Schauffele ranks second in strokes gained: total. He always shows up in stacked fields.

Tony Finau ($9,400)
Finau may come in at a decent ownership percentage with owners timid to roster him due to his recent COVID-19 diagnosis. He is a tremendous player on Bentgrass surfaces. Ranking first in the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green over the last 50 rounds, Finau shouldn’t go overlooked. He has finishes of fourth, fifth, and eighth in his last five events.

Editor’s Note: Finau has withdrawn from the event.

Justin Rose ($7,800)
It’s not too often you will get the former world number one at this price. Despite the lack of strong recent form, Rose still rates out very high on Bentgrass. Over the last 50 rounds, Rose ranks third in DraftKings points on Bentgrass greens. He played at the BMW PGA Championship last week and posted a respectable 37th place.

Ian Poulter ($7,400)
The pesky Englishman has two straight top-10s (BMW PGA Championship, Scottish Open). He rates out very well in my rolling stats model and rolls it very well on Bentgrass. Poulter has three consecutive top-20 finishes at the CJ Cup.

Ryan Palmer ($6,700)
Despite this being a very strong field, I feel this is a misprice for a player of Palmer’s caliber. Palmer has proved he can compete in strong fields with finishes of second at the Memorial and eighth at the Northern Trust last season. He is an excellent Par 5 scorer who is great with his long irons.

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Nic Turner is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nic, check out his archive and follow him @sportzbandit.