With all the top pros descending on Harbour Town Golf Links this week, the Corales Puntacana Championship provides the perfect opportunity for some post-Masters decompression.
2024 US PGA Tour
Corales Puntacana Championship
Corales Golf Club
18 – 21 April
With all the top pros descending on Harbour Town Golf Links this week, the Corales Puntacana Championship provides the perfect opportunity for some post-Masters decompression. I have always enjoyed the slightly more relaxed atmosphere of these opposite-field events (though the participants will tell you there is nothing relaxed about this week).
Players are desperate to play their way into future Signature Events and they need to make hay while the stars are away. And players just battling to retain their tour cards will be looking to make a strong impression this week.
Corales Puntacana Championship
The tournament began life on the Korn Ferry Tour back in 2016. It was elevated to full US PGA Tour status in 2018 (it has always featured as an opposite-field event). It actually holds the distinction of being the first full US PGA Tour event played in the Dominican Republic.
Last year it was played in conjunction with the now-defunct WGC Match-Play and this year it will play second fiddle to the RBC Heritage.
Corales Golf Club
The Tom Fazio-designed Corales Course is a stunning resort layout renowned for low-scoring conditions. Measuring in at a touch over 7,600 yards, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was some quasi-US Open-type setup. But that yardage obscures just how simple this test is.
This Paspalum layout has flat, generous fairways and painfully slow greens. It is a gettable coastal course whose principal defence is the wind. Six of the holes flank the Caribbean Coast and it makes for some truly jaw-dropping vistas.
The final three holes- ominously known as the ‘Devil’s Elbow’- all played over par in the last two editions. The final hole is a real piece of work, requiring a forced carry over the Bay of Corales. So, the closing three holes almost feel like another golfing universe and ensure that we should see some drama this week.
I think this event will all boil down to the putter. That’s generally what happens in these simple, coastal affairs. Look for players who find plenty of greens and make plenty of putts.
The Contenders
Last year’s runner-up, Nicolai Hojgaard, will be looking for a strong week to offset a disappointing final round at Augusta. The Dane was right in the mix and would have fallen one shot behind Scheffler if he had matched the American’s imperious 4-under-par final round.
But he struggled to a dispiriting 4-over-par and had to settle for a T16 finish. Hojgaard hasn’t looked the same player since a runner-up finish at Torrey Pines and he could do with a strong showing at Corales.
Alex Noren has picked up some decent results of late and is arguably the most in-form player in this field. Former FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel has enjoyed a smattering of positive results this season and he will always enjoy some healthy crowd support.
Aaron Rai and Victor Perez offer some European flavour in what is an understandably sub-par field.
Past Winners
2023: Matt Wallace (-19)
2022: Chad Rahmey (-17)
2021: Joel Dahmen (-12)
2020: Hudson Swafford (-18)
2019: Graeme McDowell (-18)
To Win Outright:
Nicolai Hojgaard 12/1 | Alex Noren 14/1 | Billy Horschel 20/1 | Aaron Rai 22/1 | Davis Thompson 33/1
Value Bet
Ben Martin- To Win 40/1 | To Place 17/2
Veteran 36-year-old Ben Martin is just the sort of player to surge out of nowhere and contend in a week such as this. The one-time PGA Tour winner also happens to be playing some really consistent golf of late, coming into this event off the back of making four straight cuts. His last two results were a 31st at the Players Championship and a seventh at the Valero Texas Open. He is currently 106th in the FedEx Cup standings and this week could present him with a perfect opportunity to propel himself further up the rankings. He has always done well in these opposite events, finishing third at the 2014 Puerto Rico Open and sixth at the 2017 Barbasol Championship. And he crucially has a spectacular record at Corales, finishing in the top ten in each of the last three renewals (including an emotional runner-up finish in 2022). The combination of course form and current form makes him an irresistible option this week.
The Man to Beat- Doug Ghim- To Win 35/1 | To Place 15/2
Ghim arrives in pretty nondescript immediate form, missing back-to-back cuts before missing out on the Masters last week. But prior to that he had picked up four consecutive top 16 finishes in fields much stronger than this. I think Ghim should feel a bit liberated this week without the pressure of trying to qualify for the Masters. He is near the top of the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He also finished T16 in his second appearance here last season.
