2021 CJ Cup: Can Jason Kokrak Go from First to Worst?

Jason Kokrak is the defending champion this week at the CJ Cup. He earned his first, and so far only, PGA Tour win last season in the event.

However, this week is a little bit different for the entire field. Last year’s event was played at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. This week’s event is being played at the Summit Club.

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Kokrak, for one, wishes that it was back at Shadow Creek. Not only did he have success there last year, beating Xander Schauffele by two shots, but Kokrak’s week at the Summit is not off to a great start.

His Thursday round started off well enough. Kokrak carded pars on the first and second holes. Then, on the par-5 third hole, he got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to record his first birdie of the day.

However, the good mojo did not last. On the very next hole, the par-4 fourth, Kokrak got into some trouble. He hit his drive into a fairway bunker on the left and was forced to blast out with his second shot.

His third shot, which was about 100 yards from the green and in the rough, got him to the left edge of the green. He needed two putts to get in from there, recording a double bogey in the process.

After three straight pars, Kokrak bogeyed the eighth hole, then parred the ninth. That left him with a 2-over par 38 on his first nine.

Things got worse for the defending champ on the back nine.

He parred the 10th hole, but then bogeyed the 11th to drop to 3-over par. Then, things really got worse.

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On the par-4 12th hole, Kokrak hit his drive in the water, eventually made the green, then three-putted for a triple-bogey seven. He was 6-over at that point in his round.

He would go on to shoot a 5-over par 77 and currently sits in 78th place. That’s last among this week’s competitors. Kokrak is hoping to not pull of the rare first-to-worst scenario this week.

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