CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek Preview 2020

CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek Preview 2020

Dates: October 12-18, 2020
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Course: Shadow Creek (36-36—72/7,527)
Defending champion: Justin Thomas
Purse: $9,750,000/$1,755,000
FedExCup: 500 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke play (no cut)
Field size: 78

Things to Know

• THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK moves to Las Vegas for one year after being staged in Jeju Island, South Korea since 2017
• Field highlighted by six of the world’s top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, including defending champion and two-time winner Justin Thomas
• Brooks Koepka makes his first start since August, following an eight-week break to recuperate from injury
• 11 South Koreans in the field, along with 2 additional players of Korean descent
• Shadow Creek, a Tom Fazio design, hosts a PGA TOUR event for the first time
• THE CJ CUP is one of two tournaments on the PGA TOUR that has been won by a top-five player in the OWGR in each of the last three seasons

Notes on The CJ CUP @ Shadow Creek Field

• 23 of the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including six of the top-10 players: Jon Rahm (No. 2), Justin Thomas (No. 3), Rory McIlroy (No. 4), Collin Morikawa (No. 6), Xander Schauffele (No. 8), Tyrrell Hatton (No. 10)
• Five past FedExCup champions: Billy Horschel (2014), Jordan Spieth (2015), Justin Thomas (2017), Justin Rose (2018), Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019)
• Both past winners of the event: Justin Thomas (2017, 2019), Brooks Koepka (2018)
• 11 South Korean players: Byeong Hun An, Jeongwoo Ham, Sungjae Im, Sung Kang, Hanbyeol Kim, Joohyung Kim, Seonghyeon Kim, Si Woo Kim, Jaekyeong Lee, K.H. Lee, Tae Hee Lee
• 2 players of Korean descent: Danny Lee, Kevin Na

2019 THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES final leaderboard

Pos	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Justin Thomas	68	63	70	67	268 (-20)
2	Danny Lee	67	66	68	69	270 (-18)
T3	Hideki Matsuyama	69	70	69	65	273 (-15)
T3	Cameron Smith	67	69	68	69	273 (-15)
T3	Gary Woodland	71	71	65	66	273 (-15)

• Justin Thomas picked up his 11^th PGA TOUR title and second win at THE CJ CUP
• Thomas picked up his fourth win in Asia in only nine starts
• Byeong Hun An posted the highest finish by a Korean player with T6

Current FedExCup standings (players in bold are in the field)

Pos.	Player	Points	Wins	Top-10s	Starts
1	Bryson DeChambeau	675	1	2	2
2	Matthew Wolff	575	0	2	2
3	Stewart Cink	562	1	1	3
4	Martin Laird	532	1	1	4
5	Sergio Garcia	510	1	1	4
6	Hudson Swafford	505	1	1	4
7	Peter Malnati	411	0	2	4
8	Tyler McCumber	383	0	2	4
9	Harry Higgs	300	0	1	2
10	James Hahn	265	0	3	3

Notable Players

Justin Thomas (FedExCup No. 50, World No. 3)

• Owns four victories in 10 career PGA TOUR starts in Asia (2015 CIMB Classic, 2016 CIMB Classic, 2017 THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, 2019 THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES)
• Leads the TOUR in fall wins (4) since the wraparound schedule started in 2013-14 (no other player has more than two in that span)
• Holds the best first-round score (63/2017), best second-round score (63/2019), low 36-hole total (131/2019) and the low 54-hole total (201/2019/tied with Danny Lee) at THE CJ CUP
• Making fourth start at THE CJ CUP (Won/2017, T36/2018, Won/2019)

Brooks Koepka (World No. 11)

• Making first start on TOUR since a missed cut at the Wyndham Championship
• Seven-time PGA TOUR winner, highlighted by a win at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in 2018
• After posting rounds of 69-75 in defense of his title, withdrew prior to his third round at THE CJ CUP in 2019 due to a knee injury
• Making third start at THE CJ CUP (Won/2018, WD/2019)
• Finished the 2019-20 season No. 104 in the FedExCup standings; withdrew prior to the start of THE NORTHERN TRUST due to injury

Rory McIlroy (FedExCup No. 50, World No. 4)

• 18-time PGA TOUR winner
• Making tournament debut at THE CJ CUP
• Finished T8 at the 2020 U.S. Open in September, his second consecutive top-10 at the event and fifth total
• Concluded the 2019-20 season tied for eighth in the FedExCup standings, highlighted by a win at the WGC-HSBC Champions

Sungjae Im (FedExCup No. 29, World No. 23)

• CJ brand ambassador
• 2018-19 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year
• Making third start at THE CJ CUP (T41/2018, T39/2019)
• Has collected seven top-10 finishes in each season on TOUR (2018-19, 2019-20)
• Won his first career PGA TOUR title at The Honda Classic in February, carding a final-round 66 to win by one stroke

Joohyung “Tom” Kim (World No. 125)

• CJ brand ambassador
• Making fourth career PGA TOUR start (MC/2020 PGA Championship, T67/2020 Safeway Open, T33/Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship)
• As a 17-year-old, secured three wins on the Asian Development Tour in 2019 and earned playing rights on the Asian Tour for the remainder of the season; Won the Panasonic Open India for his first Asian Tour title at the end of 2019
• Won the 2020 Gunsan Country Club Open in July to become the youngest winner on the Korean PGA Tour at the age of 18 years, 21 days

Miscellaneous Notes

• THE CJ CUP is one of two tournaments on the PGA TOUR that has been won by a top-five player in the OWGR in each of the last three seasons (other: World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational); In all three seasons, the same player won both tournaments (2017-18: Thomas; 2018-19: Koepka; 2019-20: Thomas)

Tournament records and history

• 18-hole score: 62 (Ryan Palmer/R4/2018)
• 72-hole winning score: 267 (Brooks Koepka/2018)
• Largest margin of victory: 4 (Brooks Koepka/2018)
• Holes-in-one: 1 (Paul Casey/R2/No. 7/2018)
• Playoffs: 1 (2017/Justin Thomas def. Marc Leishman)