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CJ Cup: What you need to know for Shadow Creek's PGA Tour debut

Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The PGA Tour remains in Las Vegas for another week, but it transitions to one of the most exclusive clubs in the United States for the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek Golf Course.

The tournament was supposed to be played in South Korea, but it was relocated to the desert due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a no-cut event that features 78 top-tier players, including a handful of South Korean pros as part of its ties to the Korean Professional Golf Association.

When: Oct. 15-18
Where: Shadow Creek Golf Course, Las Vegas, Nevada

How to watch

Date Channel Time (ET)
Thurs. Oct. 15 Golf Channel 5-8 p.m.
Fri. Oct. 16 Golf Channel 5-8 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 17 Golf Channel 5-8 p.m.
Sun. Oct. 18 Golf Channel 5-8 p.m.

The field

Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm headline the small group in Vegas. Of the top 20 ranked players, 16 will be in action this week, with Bryson DeChambeau most notably sitting out.

Brooks Koepka, the 2018 CJ Cup champion, is returning to the Tour after taking nearly two months off due to a knee injury. Xander Schauffele, Matthew Wolff, Tyrrell Hatton, and Collin Morikawa are also competing for the $1.8-million purse.

Dustin Johnson withdrew Tuesday after testing positive for COVID-19. Tony Finau is also skipping the event as he continues to recover after testing positive prior to last week's tournament.

Featured groups (all times ET)

Group: Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Wolff, Jon Rahm
Thursday - 1:29 p.m.
Friday - 2:35 p.m.

Group: Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Si Woo Kim
Thursday - 1:40 p.m.
Friday - 2:46 p.m.

Group: Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland
Thursday - 2:35 p.m.
Friday - 1:18 p.m.

Group: Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Sungjae Im
Thursday - 2:46 p.m.
Friday - 1:29 p.m.

The full list of groups and tee times can be found here.

The course

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Shadow Creek Golf Course is a 7,527-yard, par-72 track that Tom Fazio designed, and it's hosting a PGA Tour event for the first time.

The last and only real opportunity for golf fans to see Shadow Creek was during the Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson head-to-head match in November 2018. The $9-million showdown revealed that this course doesn't feature a traditional desert layout. Instead, it's a lush piece of land with an abundance of trees and manufactured water features.

This doesn't look very natural, does it?

Either way, the allure of Shadow Creek should be enough to interest passionate PGA Tour followers, and the stacked field should create a unique and rare event for the month of October.

Past winners (all in South Korea)

2019: Justin Thomas (-20) over Danny Lee
2018: Brooks Koepka (-21) over Gary Woodland
2017: Justin Thomas (-9) in a playoff over Marc Leishman

Betting corner

Jon Rahm +1100
Justin Thomas +1400
Rory McIlroy +1400
Xander Schauffele +1400
Patrick Cantlay +2000
Matthew Wolff +2200
Brooks Koepka +2500
Tyrrell Hatton +2500
Collin Morikawa +2600
Hideki Matsuyama +2800
Daniel Berger +3000
Tommy Fleetwood +3500
Abraham Ancer +4000
Scottie Scheffler +4000
Viktor Hovland +4000
Harris English +4500
Louis Oosthuizen +4500
Matt Fitzpatrick +4500
Sungjae Im +4500

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

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