Thomas seeks CJ Cup title defence with a difference

From pgatour.com

Defending champion Justin Thomas goes into a different kind of title defence mode at The CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek in Las Vegas on Thursday.

This time, JT will be seeking a third victory in four years some 10,000 kms away from one of his favourite hunting grounds in Korea.

The $9.75 million tournament was moved from Jeju Island, where Thomas was triumphant in 2017 and 2019, to Shadow Creek in Nevada for this week as a one-off.

Thomas will not only face a new challenge at Shadow Creek but also a stellar field which includes 25 of the top-30 players from last season’s FedEx Cup final standings and 37 players from the world’s top-50.

“Yeah, in terms of playing the same event, I can’t imagine being much farther apart or across the country than this, for example, but CJ does an unbelievable job of putting on a great event,” he said.

“Even here at Shadow Creek, it has the same vibes and seeing the same people involved with the tournament. I even had some Korean barbecue for lunch yesterday, which was still incredible,” said the 27-year-old.

“Obviously wish we were able to be at Nine Bridges at Jeju Island, but Shadow Creek is a pretty unbelievable alternative.”

Maiden outing

This will be the first time the Tom Fazio-designed course will host a PGA Tour event. Thomas has played leisure rounds at Shadow Creek twice previously and expects a stern test especially on the putting surfaces.

“I think it’s going to be very dependent on how it’s set up. The greens are very severe but if it’s set up hard and it gets a little bit firm, then it’s obviously going to play a little bit more challenging,” said Thomas.

With two of this year’s Asian swing events, the other being the Zozo Championship in Japan, being played in the US over the next two weeks, Thomas, who holds four victories in Asia, said he will miss the annual voyage to the East.

“The amount of support that myself and all the other Americans and just all the players get when we go over to Asia is really cool because they know everything about golf, they know everything about us, they’re huge fans.

“They would like to go out and watch golf and that’s what’s fun about it. I’ll definitely miss it, I know the players will, too,” he said.

Good memories

He recalls every bit of last year’s victory over Danny Lee of New Zealand and he was also able to also savour his second CJ Cup win with his parents, who travelled with him to Korea.

“The highlight was probably having my parents there, for them to just take the trip with me to Asia.

“They’ve never been, it was my dad’s birthday week and my mom asked what he wanted to do and he’s like, let’s go, there’s not a whole lot going on in Louisville, Kentucky, in October.

“And my mom’s never going to say no to watching a tournament. So they came and they did a little bit of exploring. They went to Korea and Japan.

“To be able to win with both of my parents in Asia is something I didn’t think would be happening, for them to both be there and coincidentally win. It was really cool to be able to share that moment with them.

“I feel comfortable out there and I feel like I know how to play it. At that point it’s just about executing and kind of picking my spots.”

Brooks is back

Other contenders this week include 2018 winner, Brooks Koepka, who returns to competition after an eight-week break to recuperate from knee and hip injuries.

Also back is world no. 2 Jon Rahm, who will make his tournament debut this week.

“A million times better …. Obviously nice to be back. Spent the last two months pretty much rehabbing, getting everything squared away,” said Koepka.

“Feel good. Started hitting balls maybe 10 days ago. Actually been pretty good. Got out here on Thursday, went out to Butch’s (Harmon, his coach) place, just hit a few balls. Then obviously just ready to get the week started.

“I’ve got my body squared away, feels a lot better. I didn’t know how bad I felt until I actually feel good.

“It’s nice to be back. I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything. I feel good now, so I’m just pleased to finally feel good. Still got a couple events and then Augusta. You know, year’s not over.”

Also read: Top PGA stars commit to relocated CJ Cup, Zozo C’ship