Quick look at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

• FIELD: See the entrants for the event • COURSE: The Club at Nine Bridges, 7,196 yards, par 72. Located on Jeju Island, a resort destination just south of the Korean mainland, Nine Bridges opened in 2001 and is the only Korean course ranked among the world’s top 100. Designers Ronald Fream and David Dale deftly incorporated the layout into rolling pineland beneath Mount Halla, a dormant volcano that formed Jeju Island. The club was one of the first Asian venues on the LPGA schedule, with Se Ri Pak capturing the first tournament in 2002. Nine Bridges also is the longtime host of the biannual World Club Championship, where champions from top-level clubs around the world gather to contest a global title. The course actually features eight bridges – the ninth is metaphorical as a link from the club to members and guests. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. • CHARITY: The CJ Welfare Foundation and CJ Culture Foundation, supporting a wide range of projects from aiding retirees to fostering up-and-coming young artists and athletes. Among the initiatives is the “Silver Deliveryâ€� project, which gives part-time delivery jobs to retired seniors and resulted in CJ’s recognition by Fortune magazine among 56 companies “changing the world.â€� A new joint effort with UNESCO aims to expand education among girls in underdeveloped nations. • FIELD WATCH: Justin Thomas, making the second start of his FedExCup defense, and THE PLAYERS titleholder Si Woo Kim headline a limited field of 78 players set to tee it up in the CJ Cup’s debut. … TOUR Championship winner Xander Schauffele is one of 17 entrants who were at East Lake last month by virtue of making the top 30 in last season’s FedExCup points race. … The event has attracted 10 of the top 30 players in the world rankings, with No. 4 Thomas and No. 9 Jason Day heading up that list. … Kim, Day and Adam Scott are among 10 members of the International squad that competed in the Presidents Cup at Liberty National. Thomas is one of three U.S. Team members, joined by Daniel Berger and Patrick Reed. … Thomas and World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els are among 10 major championship winners coming to Nine Bridges. • 72-HOLE RECORD: Debut event. • 18-HOLE RECORD: Debut event. • STORYLINES: The PGA TOUR expands its Asian outreach with its first standard event in South Korea, creating a three-week swing on that continent. The CJ Cup arrives just two years after a successful Presidents Cup near Seoul, where the International team nearly upended the favored Americans. … K.J. Choi, winner of eight TOUR titles, and Kim are among 16 Korean pros seeking to give the event a homegrown winner in its very first edition. The list also includes former U.S. Amateur champion Byeong Hun An and three-time European Tour winner Jeunghun Wang. … Also among the Korean faction is Sangmoon Bae, who tees it up for the third time since returning from mandatory military service in his homeland. He has missed the cut in both starts of his fledgling comeback, including the Safeway Open two weeks ago. • SHORT CHIPS: Two CJ Cup entrants have won debut events in the TOUR’s not-too-distant past – Scott (Dell Technologies Championship, 2003) and Choi (The National, 2007). … A total of 21 players will make their third start in as many events of the new 2017-18 season. Emiliano Grillo is playing a fourth consecutive week when you factor in the Presidents Cup. … Nine Bridges wound up serving as LPGA host for four years, with Korean pros winning all four editions. After Pak won the inaugural crown, Grace Park made it one of her six LPGA titles. • TELEVISION: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 p.m. – 2 a.m. ET (Golf Channel). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: None.

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Each week during the fall, PGATOUR.COM will highlight one of the rookies playing on the PGA TOUR during the 2019-20 season. This week: Kristoffer Ventura, who’s in this week’s field at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Age: 24 Birthplace: Puebla, Mexico Resides: Norway; Palm Beach Gardens, Florida College: Oklahoma State TOUR card gained by: Finishing 8th in the Korn Ferry Tour regular season standings. TOUR starts/Best finish: 9 (including five this season). Best finish was T18 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open this fall. Has made three of five cuts this season. Pro highlights: Began last season with no status on Korn Ferry Tour but got sponsor exemption and finished T3 at BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation. … Shot a final-round 65 and beat Joshua Creel on third playoff hole at last season’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank, his first victory on the Korn Ferry Tour. … After two straight missed cuts, notched second victory at the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Chevrolet, giving him two wins in just four weeks and his PGA TOUR card for this season. … Followed Pinnacle Bank win with a solo third at WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by KraftHeinz. … His first top-20 of his career was a T18 this fall at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, as he shot four rounds in the 60s to finish at 15 under. Amateur highlights: Along with fellow newly minted TOUR pros Matthew Wolfe and Viktor Hovland, Ventura was a member of the Oklahoma State team that won the 2018 NCAA national championship. … Played for losing European team in the Junior Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2010, when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas played for the U.S. squad. Interesting tidbits: Started playing golf at age 2 when he received a set of plastic clubs for Christmas. … Estimates he won 25 consecutive junior events from age 6-11 in Mexico. … Father is Mexican, mother is Norwegian, and the family moved from Mexico to Norway when he was 12 to help with his golf development. … When he broke through at the Utah Championship, it was only his fifth career start on the Korn Ferry Tour and third of 2019. … Needed appendectomy just days before Q School last fall and wound up missing his Korn Ferry Tour card, necessitating Monday qualifiers. … Speaks three languages fluently (English, Spanish, Norwegian). Ventura says: “Everything we did in Mexico came out of my parents’ own pockets. They really sacrificed a lot. In Norway, those supporting me took me under their wing and I was able to travel the world and develop. Without that, I wouldn’t have played college golf. I wouldn’t be here.� For more on Kristoffer Ventura, click here.

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