2021 CJ Cup at Summit odds, picks, field, best bets: Esteemed PGA insider says back 40-1 long shot

Many of the PGA Tour’s top golfers will be back in action this week when the PGA Tour’s 2021 CJ Cup at Summit Club tees off Thursday in Las Vegas. The field of 78 players includes 45 who played last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin. The likes of Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth also are scheduled to tee up on the Tom Fazio course. Summit Club is filling in as host as the pandemic prevented a return to Nine Bridges in South Korea. Jason Kokrak won last year’s event at Shadow Creek, and the plan is for the tournament to move back overseas in 2022. It was played there three times, with Thomas winning it in 2017 and ’19 and Brooks Koepka taking the 2018 title.   

Thomas, Johnson and Xander Schauffele are the 12-1 co-favorites in the latest 2021 CJ Cup golf odds at Caesars Sportsbook, with Collin Morikawa (16-1) and Rory McIlroy (18-1) also top contenders. Spieth is priced at 22-1, while Koepka is at 25-1 along with Sungjae Im, who won last week at TPC Summerlin. Before you lock in any 2021 CJ Cup bets on the or make any PGA Tour predictions, make sure you check out what proven golf insider Sal Johnson has to say.

The media legend and esteemed golf insider has a strong track record on picks, and he knows what it takes to win on the PGA Tour. Last week before the Shriners at TPC Summerlin, he tabbed both Sungjae Im and Matthew Wolff among his players to watch. 

He cited Im’s all-around statistical prowess and quality of play last fall and knew Wolff would be in the mix with his distance. “With his great length off the tee, he can dominate at TPC Summerlin,” Johnson told SportsLine in reference to Wolff.

Im shot a 9-under 62 in the final round for a comfortable four-shot win. Wolff shot 3-under on Sunday to finish as runner-up, his first top-10 finish in almost exactly a year.

The previous week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Johnson nailed Sam Burns as his winner, and the expert comes off a stellar season where he showed his uncanny knack for gauging how players fit the courses. 

Before the Tokyo Olympics, he had Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama among his top five golfers. Schauffele won the gold medal for Team USA, while the other three made the playoff for bronze. 

He also was one of the few experts to say 55-1 long shot Kevin Kisner had a legitimate chance before he got his first stroke-play win in more than four years at the Wyndham Championship. Anyone who has followed Johnson’s advice has cashed in huge.  

Now Johnson, the first producer of “Inside the PGA Tour,” a longtime ABC Sports golf producer who worked with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, and founder of the world’s top golf stats database, has released his highly confident 2021 CJ Cup at Summit golf picks, and they will surprise you. You can only see Johnson’s expert PGA Tour picks at SportsLine.

Top 2021 CJ Cup at Summit golf predictions

In a major surprise, Johnson is fading British Open champ Collin Morikawa, who is among the favorites according to the oddsmakers at Caesars Sportsbook. The golf expert doesn’t know what to expect from the young American, who was nearly flawless in the Ryder Cup and finished T-4 at the Olympics. But he hasn’t finished higher than T-26 on tour since his win in England. He has five tour victories but has a history of fading briefly after winning. Johnson knows the talent is there and that the British Open was three months ago, but he likes several other players who might be overlooked.   

At the same time, Johnson sees Dustin Johnson’s game coming around and looks forward to seeing what that means this season. The 37-year-old dominated until February, with top-11 finishes in his first five events of 2021. That included a win at the fall Masters. He had one more top-10 until the British Open in July, but that started a run of four in his last six events. He was 31 under par over the final two, finishing T-6 at the BMW and eighth at the Tour Championship. He was second in scoring average (69.619) and 13th in par breakers (24.46 percent) last year.    

The golf expert also sees Schauffele as another breakout candidate after his gold-medal performance at the Olympics. The 27-year-old has four tour victories but hasn’t won one since January 2019. Still, he is one of the most consistent and well-rounded players and won three of his four matches at the Ryder Cup. He had four top-three finishes last season and was seventh in scoring average (69.859). He also was 22nd in driving distance (307.6 yards) and 33rd in greens in regulation (68.64 percent), and he ranked first on putts inside 10 feet (90.7 percent).   

How to make 2021 CJ Cup at Summit golf picks

For this week’s event in Las Vegas, the golf expert says a huge long shot of well over 40-1 has a real chance to win. This golfer is a great putter and makes a ton of birdies, and that is exactly what it is going to take at Summit Club. He could pull off a shocking victory this week, and anyone who backs this underdog could cash in huge. You can only get this pick and the rest of Johnson’s PGA Tour predictions and analysis at SportLine.

Who wins the 2021 CJ Cup at Summit? Where do Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele finish? And which huge long-shot is a must-back? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sal Johnson’s full leaderboard, picks and analysis for the 2021 CJ Cup, all from the insider who knows what it takes to win on the PGA Tour, and find out.

2021 CJ Cup odds, field, top contenders (via Caesars):

Dustin Johnson 12-1
Xander Schauffele 12-1
Justin Thomas 12-1
Collin Morikawa 16-1
Rory McIlroy 18-1
Jordan Spieth 22-1
Brooks Koepka 25-1
Tony Finau 25-1
Sungjae Im 25-1
Sam Burns 28-1
Viktor Hovland 28-1
Louis Oosthuizen 30-1
Cameron Smith 30-1
Scottie Scheffler 30-1
Abraham Ancer 33-1
Webb Simpson 33-1
Hideki Matsuyama 33-1
Harris English 35-1
Paul Casey 40-1
Shane Lowry 40-1
Tyrrell Hatton 40-1
Tommy Fleetwood 40-1
Marc Leishman 45-1
Jason Kokrak 45-1
Joaquin Niemann 45-1
Si-Woo Kim 50-1
Adam Scott 50-1
Max Homa 50-1
Justin Rose 50-1
Patrick Reed 50-1
Sergio Garcia 50-1
Kevin Na 55-1
Aaron Wise 55-1
Cameron Tringale 60-1
Talor Gooch 60-1
Russell Henley 60-1
Alex Noren 70-1
Charley Hoffman 70-1
Maverick McNealy 70-1
Brian Harman 80-1
Jason Day 80-1
Harold Varner 80-1
Ian Poulter 901
Keegan Bradley 90-1
Kevin Streelman 90-1
Gary Woodland 100-1
Emiliano Grillo 100-1
Rickie Fowler 100-1
Erik Van Rooyen 100-1
Jhonattan Vegas 100-1
Branden Grace 100-1
Cameron Davis 100-1
MacKenzie Hughes 125-1
Chris Kirk 125-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 125-1
Kevin Kisner 125-1
Matt Jones 125-1
Carlos Ortiz 125-1
Patton Kizzire 125-1
Charl Schwartzel 150-1
Rasmus Hojgaard 150-1
Stewart Cink 150-1
Sebastian Munoz 150-1
Lucas Glover 200-1
Tom Hoge 200-1
Byeong Hun An 200-1
Keith Mitchell 200-1
Harry Higgs 250-1
Sung-Hoon Kang 250-1
Hudson Swafford 250-1
Robert Streb 300-1
Joohyung Kim 300-1
Hanbyeol Kim 400-1
Minkyu Kim 500-1
Sanghun Shin 500-1
Seong-Hyeon Kim 500-1
Jaekyeong Lee 500-1
Yoseop Seo 500-1