The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits TPC Craig Ranch for the 2024 THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Designed by 16-time PGA Tour winner Tom Weiskopf, with 5-time PGA Tour winner D. A. Weibring serving as consultant, TPC Craig Ranch will play as a Par 71, 7,414 yard layout this week.
To find success at TPC Craig Ranch, it’s pretty simple. Go as low as you can. Since moving to TPC Craig Ranch in 2021, the winner has finished at a minimum of -23 for the week. The course is not a particularly penal one, featuring zoysia fairways and bentgrass greens, lots of scoring opportunities and very few hazards to cause any big numbers. Hitting bombs off the tee will help set you up for your approach shots into some receptive greens. Short hitters can contend here too, but having a few extra yards on your competitor will definitely give you the advantage given the course’s length. The approach shot is most vital this week, because if you can’t hit the green, you aren’t going to score low, and if you don’t score low, you won’t contend. So elite ball striking is truly a must at TPC Craig Ranch. Being a great putter is very important this week too, as if you aren’t converting your birdie opportunities, you won’t be a factor come the weekend. Any player can get hot on the greens any given week, so past results don’t necessarily impact this stat. Just find your groove and make your putts and you’ll be in the mix for a win on Sunday.
THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson is an iconic event on the PGA Tour, dating back to 1944. Over the past 80 years, many of the game’s greats have won this event, including Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Don January, Peter Thomson, Julius Boros, Charles Coody, Roberto Di Vicenzo, Bert Yancey, Miller Barber, Bruce Devlin, Jack Nicklaus, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Bruce Lietzke, Bob Gilder, Ben Crenshaw, Craig Stadler, Andy Bean, Fred Couples, Jodie Mudd, Payne Stewart, Nick Price, Billy Ray Brown, Scott Simpson, Neal Lancaster, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, John Cook, Loren Roberts, Jesper Parnevik, Robert Damron, Shigeki Maruyama, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Ted Purdy, Brett Wetterich, Scott Verplank, Adam Scott, Rory Sabbatini, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Sang-Moon Bae, Brendon Todd, Steven Bowditch, Billy Horschel, Aaron Wise, Sung Kang, and K. H. Lee, just to name a few.
Tom Watson has won the Byron Nelson the most times, hoisting the trophy 4 times, including 3 straight time in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Sam Snead won this event 3 times, while Jack Nicklaus, Bruce Lietzke, Sergio Garcia, K. H. Lee and Jason Day have each won this event two times each. With over a dozen courses hosting this event in its storied history, I would be here for days trying to list all of the different scoring records, but I’ll give you an abridged version, just for the sake of things. The 18 hole scoring record is 60, which was first achieved by Arron Oberhosler during the second round in 2006 at Cotton Valley Golf Course, and later matched by Keegan Bradley during the first round in 2013 at TPC Four Seasons, Sebastian Munoz during the first round in 2022 at TPC Craig Ranch and by S. Y. Noh during the first round in 2023 at TPC Craig Ranch. The unofficial 72 hole scoring record is 259 (-18), which was fired by Steven Bowditch during his victory in 2015 at TPC Four Seasons. The course initially played as a Par 70, but due to heavy flooding, the course played as a Par 69 the remaining three days. The 72 hole scoring record is 261, which was shot by Rory Sabbatini in 2009 at TPC Four Seasons and matched by Aaron Wise in 2018 at Trinity Forest Golf Club, by Sung Kang in 2019 at Trinity Forest Golf Club and by Jason Day in 2023 at TPC Craig Ranch. The 72 hole scoring record to par is 262 (-26), which was achieved by K. H. Lee during his victory at TPC Craig Ranch in 2022.
Last year’s edition was won by Jason Day, who ended a five year winless streak on tour by firing a final round 62 to beat Si Woo Kim and Austin Eckroat by a single stroke. C. T. Pan finished in fourth place after firing a final round 62 as well to finish two strokes back, while Zecheng Dou, Tyrrell Hatton and Scottie Scheffler finished T-5, three strokes back.
Blaine Hale Jr. has had a “perfect season” so far in 2024. 9 starts, 9 missed cuts. Very few highlights in 2024 for Hale, as he finished under par in only 2 of the 8 stroke play events he entered and has had 4 rounds of 78 or worse during that stretch. Not very promising as he enters an event where you have to go really low if you want a chance to even be in the hunt. Hale is also losing strokes in all 6 of the major Strokes Gained categories and there are very few, if any, bright spots in his game right now. Blaine Hale Jr. is a lock to miss the cut this week.
The 116th ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Kevin Yu can often fly under the radar due to some inconsistent play. But when he’s on, he’s on. In 12 starts this season, he’s had 3 top 10’s, 6 made cuts and 6 missed cuts, with his best finish of T-3 (-27) coming at The American Express, another events where it is imperative to go low to be in contention. Yu has never played at TPC Craig Ranch, but he excels in several areas that will be key for success. Yu ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, 42nd in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and 4th in Greens in Regulation Percentage, proving he is an excellent ball striker, but his Achilles’ heel is his putter, ranking 172nd on tour in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing -0.642 strokes per round on average. If Yu can have even an average putting week, he can most definitely make his prescence known and bring home a top 20 finish.
Another player who doesn’t get his due, and not to mention one of the content kings of social media, Byeong Hun “Ben” An is having an absolute career season in 2024, with 3 top 10’s, 6 top 25’s and just 2 missed cuts in 11 starts, highlighted by a 4th place finish in the season-opening The Sentry and a runner-up finish the following week, losing in a playoff to Grayson Murray at the Sony Open in Hawaii. An is striping the ball pretty solidly right now and making the most of it, ranking 18th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, 61st in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, 7th in Driving Distance, 18th in Greens in Regulation Percentage and 10th in Total Birdies. An also has good mojo in this event, finishing T-14 here last year after closing with a final round 65. An is still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour, but I predict he will inch a little closer to that goal by clocking in with another top 10 finish this week.
Okay, hear me out on this one, because I’m sure many of you are scratching your heads reading this. Tom Hoge has quietly put together a solid campaign in 2024, with 2 top 10’s, 7 top 25’s and just 2 missed cuts in 13 starts, good enough to rank 19th in the FedEx Cup Standings. Hoge has the ability to be a lethal player at the moment, ranking 2nd in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and 30th in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s also making the most of those opportunities, ranking 7th in Birdie or Better Conversion Percentage, as well as 2nd in Total Birdies, carding 206 total birdies on tour this season. If anything, his driver is his weakness, ranking outside the top 100 in Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy Percentage. Hoge hasn’t had a ton of success at TPC Craig Ranch, but he did finish T-17 here in 2022, which is promising. Hoge has proven countless times this season that he has great control with his approach shots and he knows how to go low when the opportunity presents itself. If he can keep the ball in play off the tee this week, there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be “Hoge Time” once again as Tom Hoge brings home the victory in THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch!
Discover more from Birdies and Burnouts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.