The PGA Tour is staying another week in Vegas for The CJ Cup at Summit. As the name of the tournament suggests, they’ll be playing at The Summit Club, a new luxury community built around a private golf course. It’s the first time the course is being played by the PGA Tour. I’ve combed the web for information and will give you everything I’ve found, but I’m sure more will come trickling out as we get into the week.
The Tom Fazio-design opened in 2017. I’ve seen it described as a perfectly-manicured parkland course with a desert background. The course features views of the Las Vegas strip and Red Rock Canyon National Park and exquisite water features. I’ve never heard of a course boasting about its water features, I hope they live up to the hype. Collin Morikawa and Maverick McNealy (both in the field) are members at the course.
The course is a 7,431-yard, par 72 with the standard four par 3s, ten par 4s, and 4 par 5s. Here is the official score card from the tournament:
Off of the tee, the fairways look ample in width. The rough is bermudagrass overseeded with rye and is average in length. According to the GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet, the maintenance staff has had a tough time getting the rye established. There are white sand bunkers in the landing zones and water comes into play on seven holes. There aren’t many trees on the course, and the ones that I have seen are located in the desert native areas, so they should only come into play on the most wayward drives. Remember, Las Vegas is located 2,000 feet above sea level, and tee balls will get a little extra distance. There also doesn’t appear to be much rain in the forecast, so the course should play firm.
On approach, golfers will hit into elevated, bentgrass greens. They’re above average in size and protected by bunkers and water on some holes.
According to SI.com’s Brian Hurlburt, a course insider says that the first seven holes could be birdie holes: the first hole is a downhill, drivable par 4; the third is a reachable par 5; the fourth is a potentially drivable par 4; the fifth is a reachable par 5; and the seventh is short par 3. On top of that, the eighteenth is a risk-reward par 5. There should be plenty of scoring.
The CJ CUP is limited field, no cut event. Here is the field:
I’ve got a travel day this week, so I’ve decided to take the week off from PGA DFS. With a brand-new course on tap, I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to go lighter on the bankroll.
If I was going to build a model this week, I would keep it generic. Obviously, there is no course history, so it would just use current form and course fit data. We’ve got plenty of current form data, but not much to go on for course fit data; I would just use SG: Off the Tee, SG: Approach, Birdies or Better gained, Proximity, and SG: Putting on bentgrass.
We learned this week at TPC Summerlin that the winds can kick up in the desert; keep an eye on the weather to see if any stacks develop or if you need to target wind specialists.
That’s all I have for now; I’ll send out some of my usual Tweets throughout the week.