5. Jason Day

An opening round 68 at last year’s CJ Cup was the catalyst for a T11 finish, an early positive result in a two-victory, one-runner-up season for the now-30-year-old Aussie Day. Tougher going over the second half of the season led to a somewhat disappointing 16th place finish in the final FedExCup Standings, as his approach game was far from its best.

What was his best, however, was his short game, as he led the Tour in strokes gained: putting for the season, and finished fifth in strokes gained: around-the-green. That kind of touch will continue to keep him in the mix in even the most exclusive events.

Odds: 12-1
World Rank: 12th
Field Rank: 3rd
Last Six: 18, 24, MC, 20, 19, 10

4. Marc Leishman

It is not typically advisable to put great hopes on a player coming directly off a victory, which is what one would be doing by gambling on Leishman, who won last week’s CIMB Classic in record fashion, but the 34-year-old Aussie could be an exception.

It should be pointed out that in this past season, Leishman had trouble stringing together back-to-back strong results, but given that he was runner-up at last year’s CJ Cup, losing to Justin Thomas on the second playoff hole, he should be exceptionally comfortable this week. He provides a tremendous match of recent form and course history.

Odds: 14-1
World Rank: 16th
Field Rank: 4th
Last Six: 1, 21, 41, 21, 34, 71

3. Brooks Koepka

After major championship victories at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship last year, Koepka being named PGA Tour Player of the Year this past week was not anything resembling a surprise.

The bomber, who can also putt, chose Nine Bridges as his first tournament since the honor was announced, and at No. 3 in the OWGR, he is the highest-ranked player at Jeju Island this week.

Koepka ended the year poorly, finishing T26 out of 30 players at the Tour Championship, and going just 1-2-1 for the losing American side at the Ryder Cup, where he blew a late lead to Paul Casey to halve their Sunday Singles match, but if the cream rises to the top this week, as it often does, another strong performance should be expected from Koepka.

Odds: 8-1
World Rank: 2nd
Field Rank: 1st
Last Six: 7, 26, 19, 12, 8, 1

2. Justin Thomas

The 2017 PGA Tour Player of the Year, who also won three times in 2018, was hoping to notch his 10th career victory at last week’s CIMB Classic, where he had won twice before, but a final-round 7-under 65 was only able to get him into a tie for fifth, which would have been great for anyone else in the field.

Fortunately, Thomas is also the defending champion at The CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, where an opening round 63 last season set a pace the rest of the field was unable to catch up to, despite playing rounds 2-4 at even-par.

Unlike last week, Thomas will not have the pressure of being the highest ranked player in the field (Brooks Koepka), at perhaps that will keep him more at ease for the event’s four days.

Odds: 5-1
World Rank: 4th
Field Rank: 2nd
Last Six: 5, 7, 12, 24, 8, 6

1. Hideki Matsuyama

A disappointing 2018 season for the 26-year-old, five-time PGA Champion really came around near the end, as Matsuyama placed in the top 15 of the final five events of the season, including all four FedExTour Playoff events.

The strong finish, which included a T4 at the Tour Championship, gave his fans hope that the three win, three runner-up version of Hideki from 2017 will reappear in the coming season, and an excellent place for the Japan native to start would be on the Asian swing. He should be exceptionally motivated and raring to go.

Odds: 14-1
World Rank: 22nd
Field Rank: 8th
Last Six: 4, 15, 4, 15, 11, 35

Next Five: Kevin Tway, Stewart Cink, Tyrrell Hatton, Gary Woodland, Kyle Stanley