After Matt Fitzpatrick’s pitiful defence of his Andalucia Masters title, not even making the weekend, favourite backers will be praying a similar fate does not befall Rory McIlroy when the FedEx Cup champion makes his new-season Stateside bow in the CJ Cup in South Carolina.
It was Rory’s come-from-behind victory last year when the tournament was played in Las Vegas that kick-started a wonderfully consistent campaign that ended so gloriously at the Tour Championship.
Nine shots behind going into the weekend, McIlroy staged one of his now-regular through-the-field charges to edge home by a shot from Collin Morikawa with a phenomenal 25-under total and he must be disappointed the Cup has left Las Vegas and headed east to the Congaree course at Ridgeland.
McIlroy headlines the field as he defends his CJ Cup – but in South Carolina, not Las Vegas
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Tom Fazio layout, a 7655-yard par 72, has been around just five years and hosted last year’s Palmetto tournament won by the young South African left-hander Garrick Higgo, fresh from a quickfire Canaries double on the European circuit and making only his second PGA Tour start.
Congaree looks a serious test as 11-under won the day, Higgo’s total just seeing off a logjam of pursuers – England’s Tyrrell Hatton was one of six sharing second place. Surprisingly for a course of well-above-average length, eight of the first ten home did not figure high on the driving distance stats.
This is a much superior cast with six of the world’s top ten, headed by No.1 Scottie Scheffler, in the half-size line-up – for the second week running it’s a field of 78 with no cut.
Even allowing for the presence of Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Morikawa, there’s every likelihood of a European winner, either McIlroy who has gone 2-4-4 on the DP World Tour scene since that FedEx takeaway or Jon Rahm who played golf from a different planet when turning the Spanish Open, weak though it was, into a rout.
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