CJ CUP Byron Nelson: Everything you need to know
TPC Craig Ranch plays host to the PGA Tour for a fourth consecutive year, with the CJ CUP Byron Nelson…
After three weeks in the southeast, the PGA Tour returns to Texas for the CJ CUP Byron Nelson.
The tournament was first played almost eight decades ago, dating back to its original edition in 1944.
The event has been played at several venues over its 80-year history, with TPC Craig Ranch first playing host to the 2021 edition of the competition.
With the PGA Championship just a couple of weeks away, those playing this week will be aiming to get their games heading in the right direction before flying to Valhalla.
Recent winners of the the CJ Cup Byron Nelson include Jason Day (below), K.H. Lee and Sung Kang.
CJ CUP Byron Nelson: The Details
- Dates: May 2-5, 2024
- Course: TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
- Par: 71
- Length: 7,414 yards
- Prize purse: $9.5 million
- Defending champion: Jason Day (-23)
Everything you need to know about the 2024 CJ CUP Byron Nelson
Check out our coverage of the 2024 CJ CUP Byron Nelson – from frequently asked questions, to the competition’s unique heritage, and how the course is shaping up – by reading and clicking on some of the links below.
Frequently Asked Questions about the CJ CUP Byron Nelson
When and where will the CJ CUP Byron Nelson take place?
The 2024 edition of the CJ CUP Byron Nelson will take place between May 2-5, with the event being played at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
Who won last season’s tournament?
Australian Jason Day was the victor at TPC Craig Ranch in 2023, winning with a joint-record 261 aggregate, finishing the event 23-under-par.
What is the history around the CJ CUP Byron Nelson?
The event dates back to 1944, when Byron Nelson won the title at Lockwood Country Club, winning by an incredible ten shots and as the only player under par at the end of the four-day tournament.
Sam Snead and Ben Hogan won the event over the next two years, but it was a decade before the tournament was hosted again. The event has since run every year (bar three) since 1956, when there were actually two editions of the competition.
Lakewood was the first of many venues for the tournament, with the Dallas Country Club, Brook Hollow, Preston Hollow, Glen Lake and Oak Cliff all hosting before the end of the 1950s.
Preston Trail, Las Colinas Sports Club and TPC Las Colinas, Trinity Forest and finally TPC Craig Ranch have all hosted the event, with the tournament moving to its current home in 2021.
The event was named the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in 1968, and his name has remained as part of the tournament name ever since, no matter the sponsor. The event is now known as the CJ CUP Byron Nelson.
Tom Watson is the only four-time winner of the tournament, including winning the event in tree consecutive years from 1978 to 1980. Sam Snead has won this event three times, while Jack Nicklaus, Bruce Lietzke, Sergio Garcia, K.H. Lee and Jason Day are all two-time winners.
Plenty of other big stories have happened over the years at this tournament. The Byron Nelson Classic was the event where Tiger Woods‘ incredible run of 142 consecutive cuts made came to an end in 2005.
Five years later, a 16-year-old Jordan Spieth became the youngest person to ever play in the tournament. He went on to make the cut and finish inside the top 20. In doing so, he became the sixth-youngest player ever to make a cut at a professional tour event.
How do golfers qualify to play at TPC Craig Ranch?
As with most full-field events on the PGA Tour, there is a system for determining who will feature in every event. These factors include the current season’s Priority Ranking, along with other exemptions and qualifying categories.
Here are the categories of entries for the 2024 CJ CUP Byron Nelson:
- Winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament or Genesis Invitational in the last three years
- Winners of a PGA Tour event in the last two years
- Former winners of the CJ CUP Byron Nelson
- Top 30 in the current season’s FedEx Cup Points List
- Top 70 in last season’s FedEx Cup Points List through the FedEx Cup Playoffs
- Top 125 in last season’s FedEx Cup Points List through the FedEx Cup Fall Series
- Top 10 and ties from the previous event
- Top 10 in last season’s DP World Tour
- Top 30 in last season’s Korn Ferry Tour Points List
- Top 5 and ties from PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry
- Tournament, sponsors and other exemptions
What are the odds for the 2024 CJ CUP Byron Nelson?
Betting for the 2024 tournament is live via bet365.
Take a look at who we think are the players to put your money on here.
Is there a cut at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson?
The CJ CUP Byron Nelson is a Full-Field event on the PGA Tour, meaning that there will be a cut.
Those that are within the top 70 and ties will make it through to the weekend to have a shot at winning at TPC Craig Ranch come Sunday evening.
Can LIV Golf players play at TPC Craig Ranch?
No, they cannot. With the CJ CUP Byron Nelson being an official PGA Tour event, we won’t be seeing any LIV Golf players teeing it up in Texas.
Two previous winners of the tournament – Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson – now ply their trade in the LIV Golf League.
How can I watch the CJ CUP Byron Nelson?
The event will be broadcast around the world by various broadcast partners. In the United Kingdom, action from all four days of the tournament will be shown live on Sky Sports – with the following schedule:
- Thursday 2nd – Sky Sports Golf from 12:45pm, Sky Sports Main Event from 10:15pm
- Friday 3rd – Sky Sports Golf from 12:45pm, Sky Sports Main Event from 10:45pm
- Saturday 4th – Sky Sports Golf from 1pm
- Sunday 5th – Sky Sports Golf from 1pm
Comprehensive coverage, including live scoring, shot-by-shot data, and player highlights, will be available on the PGA Tour’s website and app.
How much will the winner take home from TPC Craig Ranch?
The winner of the the tournament will pocket $1,710,000 from the total prize purse of $9,500,000.
Are you excited to see who will win the CJ CUP Byron Nelson once again? Who do you think will take the title? Let us know with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
