Greetings, and welcome to a weekly feature on RickRunGood.com. My name is Andy Lack, I host the Inside Golf Podcast, a twice weekly golf betting and DraftKings show, as well as the betting preview with Rick on the RickRunGood YouTube page and 300 Yards to Unknown Podcast Feed. I am incredibly excited to provide an in-depth course breakdown for each weekly PGA Tour stop. I’ve been able to find my lane by looking at golf courses from a deeper lens, via architecture, agronomy, and so much more. Every single Monday, I will break down absolutely everything you need to know about the weekly PGA Tour venue before you make your bets and DraftKings lineups. So without further ago, let’s dive in!
The Basics
- Course: Congaree Golf Club
- Location: Ridgeland, South Carolina
- Designer: Tom Fazio (2017)
- Length: Par 71; 7,685 yards
- Hazards: Water comes into play on 13 holes
- Fairways: TifGrand Bermuda-grass
- Rough: No real rough on the property
- Greens: Champion Bermuda-grass, measuring 6,150 square feet on average, and running 11 on the stimp
The CJ Cup was first played in 2017 at Nine Bridges Golf Club in South Korea, but the tournament was moved stateside to Shadow Creek in Las Vegas for the 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions. The following year, the event remained in Las Vegas, moving to the nearby Summit Club. This year, the CJ Cup will move once again to Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Many may remember Congaree from the 2021 Palmetto Championship, won by Garrick Higgo at 11-under par. While the 2021 Palmetto is the only Congaree reference we have, there is at least strokes gained data to draw from.
Just like last week at the Zozo Championship, the CJ Cup features a field of 78 players, with 60 qualifying via the previous season’s final FedEx Cup standings. There are also a number of openings for the top players on the Asian and Korean Tour. Since the tournament was moved to America, we have seen the quality of field vastly improve. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth, and Matt Fitzpatrick, amongst others, will all be making the trip to South Carolina’s low country.
From an aesthetic standpoint, Congaree is a lot different from many of the courses we see most weeks on the PGA Tour. Yes, it is a Tom Fazio design, but I’d certainly contend that this is one of his more interesting courses. Congaree is set on over 2,000 acres of what used to be a rice plantation, and it has a similar look to many courses in the Carolina area. Pinehurst No. 2 is really the first comparison that comes to mind from a visual standpoint. Congaree even has an Australian sand belt feel to it as well. Instead of rough, the course is framed by sandy waste areas. The Fazio design plays firm and fast, and if players miss a green, they will either be in a bunker or have a chip off an extremely tight lie. This partially explains why 2021 Palmetto Championship played relatively tough. I’ll continue to shout it from the rooftops: it’s not actually length that makes courses difficult for PGA Tour pros. Firm and fast conditions remain the strongest defense of par at the professional level, and Palmetto is a great example of this. With that being said, Palmetto is no pitch and putt. Playing as Par 71, Congaree features four fairly challenging par threes, 11 par fours, and three par fives. Two of the par threes measure over 200 yards, with the 14th measuring 230 yards, yielding a stroke average of 3.25. Only two of the 11 par fours measure under 430 yards, and both measure exactly 360 yards and play as the second and fourth easiest holes on the course. The other nine par fours all play to a scoring of 3.9 or higher. Four of them actually measure over 490 yards! The par fives are really the only true birdie opportunities, and even those are no cakewalk. The trio ranked as one of the hardest set of par fives on the 2021 PGA Tour schedule.
Ultimately, Congaree should be an engaging test this week, and I expect this to be the best event of the Fall swing. I greatly enjoyed the 2021 Palmetto. There was a fair amount of drama down the stretch due to the inherent variability created from firm conditions. These conditions always tends to produce a much higher variance of scores and remove the “target golf” aspect, an increasingly tiresome trend on the PGA Tour. Let’s dive into what I’m looking for this week.
Stats
- Off the Tee
- In 2021, 23.7% of strokes gained at Congaree came from off the tee, which is comfortably above the Tour average of 15.2%.
- When diving into the Palmetto stats, I was immediately taken aback by the fact that the average driving distance was a robust 20 yards longer than Tour average. At 302 yards, Congaree had the longest average driving distance on the 2021 PGA Tour schedule. It’s truly amazing how these conditions can affect the character of a golf course.
- I also found it interesting that Congaree ranked 38th out of 40 courses in strokes gained off the tee difficulty, as Congaree features some of the widest fairways on the PGA Tour.
- A common through line between most Tom Fazio courses is that there is very little incentive to not hit driver on every single hole. Congaree ranked 18th out of 40 courses in missed fairway penalty. The only real concern for players off the tee are the sandy waste areas, as Congaree ranked fifth out of 40 courses in average difference of scores from drives that find the fairways versus drives that miss the fairway in non-rough locations. Still, driving accuracy at Congaree is 68% compared to the Tour average of 62%. Players will be induced to hit driver often, as there is a farily large margin for error off the tee. Players will find themselves in trouble with giant misses that end up in the sandy waste areas, but there is still a ton of room to operate on this course.
- While we only have one year of data to draw from, I feel pretty comfortable suggesting that distance really helps at Congaree. 17 out of the top-25 players on the Palmetto leaderboard ranked above average in driving distance. While shorter players such as Bo Van Pelt and Ryan Armour both still finished in the top-10, bombers such as Hudson Swafford, Jhonattan Vegas, Erik Van Rooyen, Dustin Johnson, Wilco Nieneber, and Will Gordon had them outnumbered on the first page of the leaderboard.
- Accuracy certainly takes a backseat at this course, and Garrick Higgo won the Palmetto ranking below average in driving accuracy. Bo Van Pelt finished runner-up ranking nearly dead last in driving accuracy. Despite less than stellar accuracy, Higgo was still able to gain over 3 strokes off the tee because of his length.
- The easiest aspect of Congaree is off the tee, which again, is very common at Fazio courses. The only off the tee metric that I believe is worth looking at is driving distance. The longest players in the field this week are Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Trey Mullinax, Jon Rahm, Kurt Kitayama, Cameron Davis, Luke List, Keith Mitchell, and Justin Thomas.
- Approach
- 31.6% of strokes gained at Congaree came on approach, which is below the Tour average of 34.7%.
- Last year, Congaree ranked 13th out of 40 courses in strokes gained approach difficulty. Despite featuring large putting surfaces, the greens in regulation percentage was right around Tour average. Congaree ranked seventh out of 40 courses in strokes gained approach difficulty inside 150 yards, and 15th out of 40 courses in strokes gained approach difficulty greater than 150 yards.
- Any course with firm and fast conditions is going to play shorter than what the scorecard suggests, but Congaree is still a long iron course through and through. Nearly 50% of approach shots come from over 175 yards, which can easily be explained by the two long par three, seven long par fours, and at least two reachable par fives. The best long iron players in this field are Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Lucas Glover, Tom Hoge, Cameron Davis, Kurt Kitayama, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, and Aaron Wise.
- Many Fazio designs turn into second shot courses based on the fact that players have a fair amount of leniency off the tee, and Congaree certainly fits that bill.
- Around the Green
- 15.7% of strokes gained at Congaree came around the green, which is healthily above the Tour average of 14.5%.
- Last year, Congaree ranked eighth of 40 courses in strokes gained around the green difficulty. It ranked sixth out of 40 courses in strokes gained around the green difficulty from the fairway and second out of 40 courses in strokes gained around the green difficulty from the bunkers. Any course with short-grass around the greens is going to rank as one of the more difficult around the green courses, and Congaree features some of the deepest and trickiest bunkers on Tour as well.
- Despite featuring fairly large greens, short game tends to matter at most Fazio courses. The fact that there is no rough is going to exacerbate the importance of around the green play even further, as there is an increased degree of difficulty on green-side recovery shots. It’s important to note that the around the green shots that players will face at Congaree are markedly different from around the green shots at most other courses. Bay Hill and Muirfield Village, for example, feature thick rough around the greens, whereas courses such as Congaree, Southern Hills, and the Concession are lined with short grass. Players will be forced to chip off tight lies, which requires an entirely different technique. For this reason, I wanted to only look at around the green play on firm courses with shaved run-off areas. The best players around the green under these conditions have been Chris Kirk, Si Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson, Jason Day, Adam Hadwin, Rickie Fowler, Tommy Fleetwood, Brendon Todd, and Matt Kuchar.
- Congaree’s bunkers present a strong challenge as well. That is not because the sand is any different, but rather the fact that it’s far tougher to get balls to stop closer to the hole on firm greens. Those who are elite at generating spin out of the bunkers this week will certainly posses a leg up. The best long-term bunker players in this field are Matt Kuchar, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark, Denny McCarthy, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Brian Harman, and J.T. Poston.
- Putting
- In 2021, 29.1% of strokes gained at Congaree came with the putter, which is comfortably below the Tour average of 35.6%. Despite providing little resistance off the tee, Congaree is still a stout test from tee to green, featuring a lower than average greens in regulation percentage. Unlike many of the tournaments during the Fall swing, this event is definitely not a putting contest.
- Last year, Congaree ranked 22nd out of 40 courses in strokes gained putting difficulty inside five feet, 15th out of 40 courses in strokes gained putting difficulty from five to 15 feet, and fifth out of 40 courses in strokes gained putting difficulty from over 15 feet. Due to the undulating putting surfaces and a large plurality of approach shots coming with longer clubs, lag putting is extremely important at Congaree. In 2021, players averaged 0.7 three putts per round, which is well above the Tour average of 0.56. Congaree features large greens with some fairly engaging contours, and a higher than average proximity distance on approach shots. Players who are elite lag putters will have a massive leg up this week. The best approach putters in this field over the last year have been Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren, Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Cameron Davis, Beau Hossler, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Russell Henley, and K.H. Lee.
- As always, I will also be looking for players that raise their baseline on Bermuda greens. The best long-term Bermuda-grass putters in this field are Adam Long, Denny McCarthy, Kevin Kisner, Brendon Todd, Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton, Sam Burns, Billy Horschel, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
- Scoring Stats
- I discussed this last week in my breakdown of Narashino, but I rarely spend much time looking at scoring stats on courses that feature a winning score of between 10 and 16 under par, which is what I am expecting this week at Congaree. This course is far from a birdie-fest, but it’s not a major championship either. I still keep coming back to the inherent difference between soft and firm golf courses, so I wanted to see which players significantly improved their baseline on courses with firmer turf. The best players in this field on firm golf courses have been Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Shane Lowry, and Viktor Hovland. Not a ton of surprises there, as the cream usually rises to the top on these types of golf courses.
- Comp Courses/Course History
- Congaree is not the most strategically nuanced course, as the game-plan off the tee is rather straightforward. Still, there is definitely some character to the greens here, and I will absolutely be giving a bump to those who played well at this course in the Palmetto. The players in this field who finished top-25 at the Palmetto Championship are Tyrrell Hatton, David Lipsky, Matt Fitzpatrick, Chez Reavie, Harris English, Beau Hossler, and Seamus Power.
- The easiest Congaree comparison we can make is Quail Hollow. Both are Fazio designs/re-designs and are in similar parts of the country. To me, Quail Hollow is still more of a parkland course than it is a Carolina course, and there are clear aesthetic differences between the two. Yet still, both are long golf courses that play firm and fast, encourage players to bomb away with driver, and feature slick Bermuda-grass greens. The best players in this field at Quail Hollow have been Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Aaron Wise, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland, Joel Dahmen, Viktor Hovland, Keith Mitchell, and Webb Simpson.
- If we want to go down the Fazio route, he has designed many PGA Tour courses that feature a similar profile in terms of required skill-set. My job is easier on Tom Fazio weeks, and as soon as I see his name as the leading architect, I know exactly the type of player that I’m looking for. Bombers off the tee who can chip and putt generally fare quite well at Fazio designs. The vast majority of his courses (at least the ones we see at the PGA Tour level) are all long, heavily bunkered, with large, fairly undulating greens. The two most recent hosts of the BMW Championship, Caves Valley and Wilmington Country Club are great Fazio reference points despite featuring different agronomy than Congaree. The Fazio course that I actually believe has the most in common with Congaree is the host of this tournament last year, the Summit Club. The Las Vegas Discovery Land property features generous fairways, large undulating greens, and very little rough. Congaree is unquestionably harder than the Summit Club, simply because it’s firmer, but it’s worth noting that generally, courses are going to be less firm at this time of year versus in the Summer because of the colder climate and fewer hours of sunlight. Remember how much softer Augusta played during the November Masters? I still believe that Congaree will play firm and fast, and it needs to play firm and fast for the golf course to actually make any sense from a strategic standpoint. In terms of Fazio courses, Quail Hollow and Summit Club are the two that I believe have the most in common with Congaree. The players in this field that finished top-25 at the Summit Club were Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Keith Mitchell, Sam Burns, Aaron Wise, Gary Woodland, Sungjae Im, Webb Simpson, Chris Kirk, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Russell Henley, and K.H. Lee.
- The Concession, host of the 2020 WGC Workday, is another great Congaree reference point, despite it not being designed by Tom Fazio. The Concession is a long, firm and fast golf course with slick Bermuda-grass greens and a ton of shaved run-off areas. The Nicklaus design features a lot more water than Congaree, but the strategy off the tee is still very similar. Both courses are extremely driver heavy with difficult and raised green complexes. I remember watching players at the Concession really struggle chipping off shaved run-off areas, and I imagine that is something we will see at Congaree as well. The players in this field that finished top-25 at the Concession were
- Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Billy Horschel, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Brendon Todd, Jason Day, Aaron Rai, Sebastian Munoz, Max Homa, and Tyrrell Hatton.
- Another course that makes a great deal of sense to me based on the area of the country of its location, its sheer length, and lack of rough, is the Ocean Course, host of the 2021 PGA Championship, won by Hi-Flyers captain, Phil Mickelson. Both courses feature expansive fairways, a large plurality of long iron approach shots, sandy waste areas throughout, and short-grass around the greens. The Ocean Course does feature a slow and sticky strain of Paspalum, which would be the strongest detractor in terms of the comparisons, but Kiawah still played firm as hell. The players in this field who finished top-25 at the Ocean Course were Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Aaron Wise, Sungjae Im, Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Billy Horschel, and Matt Fitzpatrick.
- Finally, from an aesthetic standpoint, Congaree looks the most like Pinehurst No. 2. Both play very firm and fast, have little to no rough on the entire property, vast sandy waste areas, and raised table-top greens. The last time we saw Pinehurst was at the 2014 U.S. Open, so it’s hard to put a ton of stock into any potential leaderboard crossover. Still, the players in this field who made the cut at the 2014 U.S. Open were Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley, Matt Kuchar, Brendon Todd, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, and Rory McIlroy.
Model
- Off the Tee (10%)
- Driving Distance (10%)
- Approach (31%)
- Strokes Gained Approach (18%)
- Proximity 175-200 yards (5%)
- Proximity 200 yards plus (8%)
- Around the Green (14%)
- Strokes Gained Around the Green: Firm Conditions (7%)
- Sand Saves (7%)
- Putting (18%)
- Strokes Gained Putting: Bermuda-grass (10%)
- Approach Putting (8%)
- Scoring Stats (8%)
- Strokes Gained Total: From Conditions (8%)
- Comp Courses/Course History (19%)
- Congaree (5%)
- The Ocean Course (4%)
- Summit Club (4%)
- Concession (4%)
- Pinehust No. 2 (2%)
Top 20
- Shane Lowry
- Rory McIlroy
- Justin Thomas
- Sungjae Im
- Scottie Scheffler
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Sam Burns
- Max Homa
- Cameron Davis
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Viktor Hovland
- Aaron Wise
- Cameron Young
- Mito Pereira
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Adam Hadwin
- Keegan Bradley
- Collin Morikawa
- Brian Harman
