Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship: Top 10 power rankings
The PGA Tour stages its first international event of the 2020-2021 season at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic
The field this week won’t blow you away, but the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship is at least taking a step up this season on paper.
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The event began in 2016 as a Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) event for two years. In 2018, it made the leap to an alternate status PGA Tour event opposite the WGC-Match Play. That guaranteed no top-64 players in the world and only offered 300 FedEx Cup points to the winner as opposed to the standard 500.
This is traditionally a March event, but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed it to the fall.
It’s a full point tournament now and a spot in the 2021 Masters is on the line for the winner. The tournament moves back to March next year.
We have a field of 144 players here in La Altagracia, Dominican Republic. It’s a peaceful reprieve for the handful of players coming from the challenging conditions last week at Winged Foot.
Corales Golf Club is a par 72 design measuring 7,670 yards. The winning score has been 18-under each of the last two years by Brice Garnett and Graeme McDowell.
The course is a seaside track designed by Tom Fazio in 2010. It features paspalum greens, which are pretty rare on Tour. The OHL Classic in Mexico and Puerto Rico Open also feature this type. Corales’ greens generally run slow and are receptive unless a coastal breeze picks up.
There is’t much rough or heavy treeline, though some native areas can cost players some shots. Bunkers and sandy areas are prevalent.
Wind and length are the course’s main defenses. The proper shots are generally straight forward, so it’s a matter of executing and getting the right end of the draw if it’s breezy.
The weather forecast shows temperatures in the 70s-80s Fahrenheit with some rain possible on the weekend. It looks to be breezy but with winds capping around 10 miles per hour.
The final three holes are nicknamed “The Devil’s Elbow” and the 500-yard par-4 18th features a forced carry over the Bay of Corrales that can make for a fun finish.
Let’s dig in to 10 players who could earn a career changing win in the Dominican Republic.