2021 CJ Cup at Summit picks, field grade, odds, golf predictions, best bets in Las Vegas

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There cannot be many PGA Tour events that have only been hosted in South Korea and Las Vegas, but this week’s CJ Cup at Summit is one of them. After the first three iterations of this event were held at Nine Bridges on Jeju Island in Korea, the last two have been held in Vegas. Last year’s tournament took place at Shadow Creek, and this year’s — where Jason Kokrak is the defending champion and most of the best players in the world will be teeing it up — will be played at the Summit Club.

Let’s take a closer look at this week’s contest with odds provided via Caesars Sportsbook.

Event information

Event: CJ Cup at Summit | Dates: Oct. 14-17

Location: The Summit Club — Las Vegas, Nevada

Par: 72 | Purse: $9.75 million

Three things to know

1. Premier fall event: A quick glance at the fall slate, and it’s easy to see that this is the event of the last three months. Though next week’s Zozo Championship in Japan has a bigger purse and a better defending champion (Patrick Cantlay), it will be played in Japan and travel will likely be sparse from the biggest stars in the sport. So this no-cut, limited-field event serves as the jewel of the nine-tournament PGA Tour schedule this fall, and it has the field (see below) to back it up.

2. J.T. time: This is generally the portion of the year when Justin Thomas thrives. He’s won this tournament two of the four times it has been played (although both were at Nine Bridges), and five of his first 11 wins on the PGA Tour took place in September, October or November. He has not had a great 2021, although he did come on strong at the end of last season with top-five finishes in two of his last three and elite tee-to-green play in all three. His Ryder Cup was decent (not dominating), but expectations remain sky high for the 14-time PGA Tour champion.

3. Home games: As Stephen Hennessey pointed out, Collin Morikawa is a member of Summit Club, and given the wide-open fairways this golf course presents, could certainly benefit from this tournament turning into an iron play contest. I’m not sure what to expect from him. He was low-key bad during the FedEx Cup Playoffs, although hampered by a back injury, but then he may have been the single best player at the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. One sub-story of this season is whether Morikawa can overtake Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm to become the No. 1 player in the world. Winning the CJ Cup for what would be his sixth win in 56 PGA Tour tournaments would be a very good start toward that.

Rick Gehman (RickRunGood) is joined by Sia Nejad and Greg DuCharme to preview the 2021 CJ CUP from a DFS perspective. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Grading the field

It includes seven of the top 10 players in the world and 20 of the top 25. Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay are the only players in the top 15 that will not be at Summit Club this week, which means we get our first look at Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Morikawa and J.T. since the Ryder Cup. An elite field for what should be an awesome event. Grade: A