After an incredible push in the final round of last year's event, Emiliano Grillo returns to the 2022 CJ Cup with unfinished business. Even though he's a 65-1 longshot in the latest 2022 CJ Cup odds, he enters this week's event playing well. Grillo already has two top-five finishes in the four PGA events he's played this season, but does that make him one of the 2022 CJ Cup best bets?
He faces stiff competition in the 2022 CJ Cup field, headlined by last year's champion, Rory McIlroy (13-2). Other 2022 CJ Cup contenders like Jon Rahm (9-1), Scottie Scheffler (11-1) and Justin Thomas (16-1) will be looking to nab an early-season victory as well. Before locking in your 2022 CJ Cup picks, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up over $9,500 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.
McClure's model included J.T. Poston in its best bets to win the 2022 John Deere Classic. That bet hit at +5500, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned almost $1,100. At the 2022 Masters, McClure's model was all over Scottie Scheffler's first career major championship victory heading into the weekend.
In addition, McClure's best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright at the 2021 Open Championship, even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. The model was also all over Jon Rahm's (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner.
This same model has also nailed a whopping eight majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the 2022 CJ Cup field is locked, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.
Top 2022 CJ Cup predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the CJ Cup 2022: Max Homa, a five-time PGA Tour champion and one of the top favorites at 16-1, stumbles this week and doesn't even crack the top-10. Homa started off the season with a victory at the Fortinet Championship before joining Team USA in their Presidents Cup victory at Quail Hollow.
However, Homa enters the 2022 CJ Cup ranked 137th in sand save percentage (46.15%), which doesn't bode well for his chances to win this week. That's because Congaree is loaded with finely edged Melbourne-style bunkers that sweep up to the edges of fairways and against greens, penalizing shots that are slightly off target. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in the CJ Cup 2022 field.
Another surprise: Sam Burns, a 28-1 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. Burns has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Burns began his season with a T-30 finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship, after winning the event the previous year. He followed last year's win with a T-5 finish at the CJ Cup and will be looking for a similar level of success in his return this weekend.
Although Burns didn't finish with a top result at this year's Sanderson Farms event, one area he was elite was his distance off the tee. Burns' average driving distance was nearly 18 yards longer than the median of the field, and he averaged a stroke gained per round on those shots. Last year at the CJ Cup, it was his approach play that made the difference for him, and he finished the season ranked in the top 20 tour golfers in average strokes gained on approach shots (.554). See who else to pick here.
How to make 2022 CJ Cup picks
The model is also targeting four other golfers with odds of 22-1 or longer who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big. You can only see the model's PGA picks here.
So who will win the CJ Cup 2022? And which longshots stun the golfing world? Check out the 2022 CJ Cup odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2022 CJ Cup leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed eight golf majors, including this year's Masters.
2022 CJ Cup odds, field
See full CJ Cup 2022 picks, best bets, and predictions here.
Rory McIlroy +650
Jon Rahm +900
Scottie Scheffler +1100
Max Homa +1600
Justin Thomas +1600
Sungjae Im +1800
Matt Fitzpatrick +1800
Shane Lowry +2200
Jordan Spieth +2200
Viktor Hovland +2800
Tom Kim +2800
Sam Burns +2800
Collin Morikawa +2800
Tyrrell Hatton +3500
Cameron Young +3500
Hideki Matsuyama +4000
Taylor Montgomery +4500
Keegan Bradley +4500
Billy Horschel +4500
Aaron Wise +4500
Maverick McNealy +6500
Corey Conners +6500
Brian Harman +6500
Andrew Putnam +6500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +6500
Tom Hoge +7000
Russell Henley +7000
Mito Pereira +7000
Keith Mitchell +7000
Emiliano Grillo +7000
Cam Davis +7000
Tommy Fleetwood +8000
Si Woo Kim +8000
Scott Stallings +8000
Sahith Theegala +8000
Rickie Fowler +8000
Jason Day +8000
J.T. Poston +8000
Alex Noren +8000
Adam Hadwin +8000
Taylor Moore +10000
Sebastian Munoz +10000
Seamus Power +10000
Matt Kuchar +10000
Harris English +10000
Denny McCarthy +10000
Davis Riley +10000
Kurt Kitayama +13000
K.H. Lee +13000
J.J. Spaun +13000
Webb Simpson +15000
Wyndham Clark +15000
Sepp Straka +15000
S.H. Kim +15000
Ryan Palmer +15000
Luke List +15000
Kevin Kisner +15000
Chris Kirk +15000
Alex Smalley +15000
Trey Mullinax +18000
Gary Woodland +18000
Brendon Todd +18000
Lee Hodges +20000
Byeong Hun An +20000
Brendan Steele +20000
Troy Merritt +25000
Justin Suh +25000
Danny Willett +30000
Chez Reavie +30000
Lucas Glover +40000
John Huh +40000
Yoseop Seo +50000
Yongjun Bae +100000
Sanghyun Park +100000
Sanghun Shin +100000
Chanmin Jung +100000
Yeongsu Kim +100000
