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The creation of this event speaks volumes for the growing presence of Korean golfers on the PGA Tour. The nation has long been a hotbed of LPGA golf and its golfers are playing on the men’s tour in ever-increasing numbers. The sport is not quite as mainstream in Korea as we are often led to believe, but, and here the country reveals is similarities with the rest of the world rather than differences, the people who spend corporate money play it – so it makes perfect sense that the PGA Tour has been attracted. What’s more it enables the circuit to place a foothold in a market that is already important and will surely be vital to its future prosperity. That said, the tour is not foolish. It knows that galvanising its huge American player base to up-sticks and travel to Asia is not going to work, so this event, like the CIMB Classic, is an elite field – just the 78 players. The Club at Nine Bridges on Jeju Island is situated in a national park and is said to have been inspired by the Scottish Highlands. Whilst that is not quite as strange as it first sounds (there is rolling terrain, lots of hills and a surrounding forest), the reality is that this is an American parkland track and the trees are well set-back from play. Ronald Fream and David Dale were the designers, it opened in 2001 and plays to a par of 72 and a yardage of 7,196. The inaugural event saw Justin Thomas win with a total of 9-under 279, a total that all 13 of the players who finished T10 or better a year later bettered. 2018 winner Brooks Koepka won with 21-under 267 (by four). That first event was, through the final three days, very blustery and the penal rough impacted on scoring. The rough was deemed less difficult last year and the wind wasn’t up either. The greens are another key course defence. Justin Thomas said: “The hardest part is that you just have to play smart. You can't be too aggressive and short-sight yourself or have the putt above the hole. You want to try to leave it below the hole and have as many makeable putts with as little break as possible that you can out there.” Rather startling are the (conventional) stats of the winners. Koepka ranked no better than 20th for any category (Distance was not measured admittedly) and Thomas was fifth for Putting Average, but not better than 34th elsewhere.
Angles to consider 1/ Driving Distance We’ve established that the number was not measured in the two runnings, but we don’t really need to be told that Koepka and Thomas hit the ball a long way. So do others who thrived: Gary Woodland and Jason Day last year, Luke List in 2017. Don’t discount players who perform well at tracks said to favour long-hitters either – sometimes the challenge, or having favourite clubs in their hands more often, triggers them. 2/ Undulations The fairways are wide and the big hitters can hit distant downslopes, clear doglegs and avoid pesky fairway bunkering. So, too, can smart players. The two winners and the two runners-up (Gary Woodland and Marc Leishman), too, have played Plantation well in the Tournament of Champions. 3/ Wind It’s been a factor so you want a player who is not going to be fazed if it gets blustery.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Jordan Spieth Whilst he’s not a huge hitter, he’s always enjoyed the Plantation test (first, second, third and ninth in his four visits), perhaps because picking lines activates his brain. He repeatedly says something similar about putting so Thomas’ words about the greens are interesting: Spieth much prefers a test on the greens which involves big slopes. Marc Leishman Last seen a couple of weeks ago finishing like a train in the Safeway Open (a weekend run of 67-65 for third). He’s a play-off loser on the venue and has been seventh and fourth the last two times he played Plantation. Not afraid of wind. Matthew Wolff His win last season was on an Arnold Palmer design and Arnie’s design principle was to favour those taking an aggressive line from the tee box. Add that to Wolff’s length and the fact he opened the 2019-20 season with a neat T18th in Las Vegas.
Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Jordan Spieth at 25/1 (Skybet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 8th 1pt e.w. Marc Leishman at 33/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair SB 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 43rd 1pt e.w. Matthew Wolff at 40/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair SB 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 74th
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