BlogCorales Puntacana Championship Preview and Picks

The Buzz

The winner will earn enough FedEx points to advance deep into the playoffs and receive an invite to Maui for the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

On paper, this is a serious event because the second tier of PGA Tour players is on their own, able to make a splash in an event with very few marquee names.  The event is held on the Dominican Republic island, and it’s a place where people can relax, get lots of sun, go to the beach, and play a little golf.  The course is on the ocean and gets a lot of wind, which makes it challenging.  In looking at the forecast for the week, it will be stormy all four days with temperatures in the mid-80s each day.  The bad news is that winds will be between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts close to 30 mph.

In addition to PGA Tour players, 38 players from the Korn Ferry Tour and DP World Tour got a spot into this event. So, a lot of players who are looking to be future stars are in this event.

Things you need to know about the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship

The Corales Puntacana Championship started as a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2016 and ’17.  In 2018 it changed to a PGA Tour event that would be played in March opposite of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship.  This will be the eight year as a PGA Tour event.

The course is at the eastern end of the Dominican Republic in the town of Punta Cana.  The resort has 45 holes, 27 holes built by P.B. Dye, and 18 designed by Tom Fazio.  The tournament is held at the Tom Fazio, Corales Golf Club.  The course is wide open off the tee, but the green complexes are tricky, and the wind is unpredictable. The final three-hole stretch, ‘The Devil’s Elbow,’ has a dramatic forced carry of the Bay of Corales on 18 and is one of the most idyllic golf runs on the PGA Tour.

This event gives second-tier players who didn’t qualify for the RBC Heritage opportunities to play a tournament this week and gain FedEx Cup points. Unfortunately, the winner gets just about every award given to a regular winner except one crucial invite to the Masters. Augusta won’t extend an invite to the winner in the Dominican Republic this week.

Course information:

• Corales Golf Club
• Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
• 7,670 yards     Par 36-36–72

The course is at the eastern end of the Dominican Republic in the town of Punta Cana. The resort has 45 holes, 27 of which were built by P.B. Dye and 18 designed by Tom Fazio. The tournament is held on the Tom Fazio-designed course, which opened in 2010.

The course plays along the cliffs, bays, and coves of the Caribbean Sea, with six oceanside holes and inland holes dotted with lakes and quarries. It features ever-changing elevations, strategic bunkering, and large, elevated greens.

On the front nine, water comes into play on just the 390-yard, 3rd hole.  The nine also has plenty of other hazards, such as enormous waste bunkers.  The nine ends with a 175-yard par-three, in which the green sits in a rather exposed position atop of a rocky headland.

The back nine has a dramatic finish.  The last three holes play toward or along the Bay of Corales and are called the Devil’s Elbow. The 501-yard 18th wraps around the water, enticing players to bite off as much of a carry as they dare on the tee shot, but it was the 214-yard par-3 17th that catches players’ attention. It plays along the coast to a narrow green guarded by bunkers on both sides.

The course has a unique grass, Paspalum supreme, which is similar to Bermuda but can tolerate salt and low-quality water to survive. The course is very tough for the average player but very manageable for the pros who will play it this week. Since the course opened, it’s gotten a reputation as one of the best courses in the Caribbean.

The course is very private; some of its founding members are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Julio Iglesias, and President Bill Clinton.

The course played to a 70.46 average and was the 34th hardest course on the PGA Tour.  The course is unique because eight of the 18 holes played over par last year.  Two of the last three holes all played over par, the par 4 16th hole played to a 4.037 average.  Par 3 17th was the hardest hole on the course and played to a 3.228 average, while par 4 18th played to a 3.980 average.  In past years, the full array of Shotlink stats has not been done, so we have to look at regular stats to find what to look for.  The one stat that jumps out is driving distance. Last year, the course had average drives of 303.4 yards as only four courses on the PGA Tour had longer driving distances. So that means that players don’t have to worry about hitting it long and going into rough.  So this will be a bombers’ course.  Another key stat is driving accuracy; fairways are very wild, and players last year hit 79.61% of the holes as only two other courses saw more fairways hit.

Last year, the course ranked the 21st hardest on tour in Greens in Regulation, so hitting greens is not very difficult. However, sand is a problem around the greens, as there are nearly 50 bunkers. Now, the course is a resort course, but it’s still a tough test for the players.

The winning score has been the same in previous years: 18 under, so we have a benchmark to point to for this year. Last year, Billy Horschel was 23 under, the lowest winning total for the tournament.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Corales Puntacana Championship:

The key stat for the winner:

• So what vital stats is essential at Corales Golf Club?  Players who hit it long will do better; the course is a bomber’s paradise.  Because of the high winds that buffer the course, hitting greens is hard.

Here are some more key stats to look for this week:

• There is no rhyme or reason to winning this event.  It’s what you can call a throwaway event in which the top-stars in golf take this week off.  So, there are no real favorites because there are no real marquee players you know of. Yes, the field does have two major champions playing (Danny Willett and Jimmy Walker).  There are also 11 winners on the PGA Tour in the last three years (Some of them are Harry Hall, Luke List, Taylor Moore, Seamus Power, Adam Svensson, Erik Van Rooyen, and Matt Wallace)
• Will a newcomer win this week?  Probably.  It’s more about a player being in the right place at the right time.