The CJ CUP Byron Nelson 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Jason Day returns to TPC Craig Ranch to defend his CJ Cup Byron Nelson title. The Australian’s career has been blighted by chronic back pain but he has worked hard to make some swing changes and, for the first time in years, is playing without discomfort.

The tournament has a new sponsor and can look forward to a bright future, and Day will be hoping to help kick that off in style. His success 12 months ago was his first since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. He shot a final round of 62 for a one-stroke victory over Austin Eckroat and Si Woo Kim.

Day, winless in 105 starts, took the lead with a chip-in for birdie at the par-4 12th. It was the second-toughest hole of the week.

Playing on Mother's Day a little more than a year after losing his Mum to cancer, an emotional Day finished on 23 under while ending his victory drought the week before the US PGA Championship, a tournament he won in 2015. He has won 13 times on the PGA Tour, the first of which came at the Byron Nelson 14 years ago.

C.T. Pan finished at 21-under 263 with two eagles on the back nine in a career-low 62, driving the green on the par-4 14th and making a 24-foot putt. His eagle at the par-5 18th got him within a shot of Day. 

Scottie Scheffler finished at 20 under with a final-round 65 after a par on 18, where a day earlier his second shot hit the lip of a fairway bunker and stayed in it on the way to a bogey. Ryan Palmer, the 46-year-old Texan who lives not far from Craig Ranch, shot 68 and finished four strokes back.

With the heaviest rain coming down near the end of an off-and-on rainy final round, Day put his approach at the final hole inside three feet. Kim's short birdie putt forced Day to make his easy tap-in before he greeted his kids and wife. 

I am fascinated to see how Ryan Fox gets on this week. The big-hitting New Zealander is still finding his feet on the PGA Tour and has had a pretty torrid ride in 2024 but he is a hugely gifted golfer and will believe that he can turn things around.

His form this year will have come as a shock to his system after a wonderful run of form on the DP World Tour.

Fox was born in Auckland in January 1987. His father is Grant Fox, who helped the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup in 1987 and his grandfather played cricket for New Zealand. 

Fox turned professional in 2012 and joined the Tour of Australasia, winning the Western Australia Open in 2014 before adding the Queensland PGA Championship in 2015. He joined the Challenge Tour in 2016 and finished fourth in the order of merit, securing his DP World Tour card in the process. 

He had to wait until February 2019 for his first victory, at the ISPA Handa World Six, when he became the first New Zealander to win on the DP World Tour in 10 years since Danny Lee. Fox won his second title in February 2022 at Ras Al Khaimah Classic. He also lost in a playoff at the Dutch Open to Victor Perez and was runner-up to Adrian Meronk at the Irish Open.

He capped a terrific 2022 by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and crowned it all by winning the BMW PGA Championship in 2023, a performance that effectively secured his playing rights on the PGA Tour for 2024.

Joel Dahmen is also in the field and finds himself under the microscope.

After the first series of Netflix series Full Swing, Dahmen became a cult figure after admitting that he was happy to be the world’s 90th best golfer while his caddie, Gino Bonnalie, told anybody who was prepared to listen that Dahmen could achieve anything he wanted in golf if only the player himself believed it.

Dahmen was happy enough to be making a comfortable living without being one of golf’s superstars. He didn’t go to the gym and he did not spend much time working on his game. But he was recording decent results. 

The story is now rather different. Dahmen has become a fan favourite, constantly surrounded by adoring fans looking for an autograph. Bonnalie also became something of a celebrity in his own right.

But on the the course it has all been something of a struggle. 

Dahmen is now a father and his priorities have changed. Last year he seemed even less interested in playing golf. And Bonnalie cut an incredibly frustrated figure, pointing out that his friend was drinking too much and falling to apply himself. There was also plenty of foul language from Dahmen when he got out on the course,

Dahmen lost his mother and Bonnalie told Full Swing that he failed to deal with it. He urged his player to hire a sports psychologist but Dahmen was not interested. The penny finally dropped for Dahmen after he missed the cut at the 2023 US Open. On the flight home, he and Bonnalie had a heart to heart. Dahmen vowed to start putting in the work and he recorded three top-10 finishes to keep his card.

But his best finish to date in 2024 has been a tied 11th place at the Players Championship. He needs to start turning things around quickly or else he faces the very real prospect of losing his playing privileges.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Steven Bowditch, in 2016 by Sergio Garcia, in 2017 by Billy Horschel, in 2018 by Aaron Wise, in 2019 by Kong Sung-soon, in 2021 and 2022 by KH Lee and last year by Jason Day.

The Course:

TPC Craig Ranch is a par 72 measuring 7,438 yards. Designed by Tom Weiskopf, it opened in 2004. It is a parkland course featuring plenty of trees and Rowlett Creek comes into play on 11 holes.

Form Guide:

Jason Day has been showing some excellent form. Now 100% fit after making some swing changes, he remains one of the best ball strikers on the planet. But Tom Kim is the most exciting young talent in the field.

To Win:

Tom Kim. Ready to win again

Each Way:

Ben An. Enjoying a superb season

Each Way:

Jason Day. Fit again

Five to Follow:

Tom Kim. Prodigious talent

Ben An. Has found form and consistency

Jason Day. None better when in full flow

Min Woo Lee. Terrific ball striker

Robert MacIntyre. Imperious on the greens