CJ Cup 2022 standings, scores: Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy started hot, just sitting out of the lead at Congaree
All one wants from a major golf tournament that took place on Thursday in Round 1 of the 2022 CJ Cup. Some stars played well, while others missed two legs. A player hits his own iron better than almost anyone in the past two decades. The media room’s two darlings earlier in the week shot a combined double below face value.
And of course, the Congaree Golf Clubs appeared in their first PGA Tour appearance since the summer of 2021.
Trey Mullinax and Gary Woodland share the lead at 6th after a quarter of the tournament run, but they will have some problems making it to the list of the top 25 players in the world who will turn when week passed. Regardless they are the two we’ll be focusing on as we take a look at what happened Thursday at the biggest PGA Tour event of the fall in the CJ Cup.
Leader
1. Trey Mullinax, Gary Woodland (-6): These two have had an uncanny resemblance to each other. Both deal damage by playing and placing their irons, and together they combine to make 15 birdies of the day. Woodland summed it up well (and succinctly): “I had all three aspects of driving, tackle, kick, and it was a good day,” he says.
Whether either can keep it rolling all four laps is another question. Mullinax ended the season playing some of his best golf games. He won the Barbasol championship and finished in the top 15 in two FedEx Cup Playoff events. However, he has missed opportunities at each of the first two events of this season, and I rarely trust a hot hitter. Woodland seems to have more power, but he’s also not in the top 10 since the US Open in June. With the caliber of the horses just outside the top of the table, I’m also unclear about his chances of getting his first win since the 2019 US Open.
Other candidates
T3. Aaron Wise, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy, Cam Davis, Kurt Kitayama (-5)
T9. Viktor Hovland, Si Woo Kim, Taylor Moore, Tyrrell Hatton, Seamus Power, Sungjae Im (-4)
Wise will be very interesting this year. He’s not as far away from playing his way into the US Ryder Cup team as some might think, and he had a full-time day on Thursday with his ironclad play. His 5.99 hits in approach shots were so overwhelming that he fell below the school average in every other category and still shot under 5, good for a top 5 after 18 hole.
According to Data Golf, Wise’s round was the 31st best round in the past 18 years. Some of the looks he gets are our absurdity, and I’m happy to see how he backs it up over the last three days.
Tom and Rory
Following Rory McIlroy’s response to Tom Kim’s question in the press center on Wednesday ran a lot, this week officially became The Tom and Rory Show at Congaree. They formed one of the better groups on Thursday, shooting a total of 10 underdogs to make it into the top five on the leaderboard. Kim raved about McIlroy’s length, and McIlroy said Kim flushed everything he saw. A duel between those two on Sunday will be all sorts of fun.
“He really didn’t miss a shot there,” said Kim’s McIlroy, who hit the only shot either player made with five shots on the 18th hole. “He’s a very, very solid player who plays to his strengths. Do the same swing with it quite a few times, like it’s very, very consistent, very consistent. He picked it up. My brain was a little bit there in terms of training speed, and I said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ I think when he gets a little older and can touch harder, he’ll take it naturally, but I said, ‘Don’t go that route, you’re still good your way.’
Both were pretty awesome on Thursdays.
Spieth?
Jordan Spieth shot 4 more than 75 on Thursday and fool an extremely short stroke in the process. A round is not a tournament made up, but putts were an issue last year, and this course would suit him quite well. It’s not a situation to watch, but you’ll want to see Spieth get off to a better start to his 2022-23 season than the 78-man T73.
Odds, selection of CJ Cup 2022
- Rory McIlroy: 9/2
- Tom Kim: 9-1
- Trey Mullinax: 9-1
- Gary Woodland: 9-1
- Aaron Wise: 11-1
- Orange Davis: 12-1
- Kurt Kitayama: 16-1
- Viktor Hovland: 18-1
- Sungjae Im: 18-1
I won’t touch Mullinax or Woodland, and as silly as it seems to help McIlroy hit +450, it’s no different from his pre-tournament odds (+650). However, I’m looking a little further at both Holand and Im. The two together scored mostly with the putter on Thursday, but both finished in the top 10 in either of their last two starts. Should either start flagging the iron, the title hunt will begin as they sit comfortably at 18-1.
