The First Look: Corales Puntacana Championship

This week, the PGA TOUR will once again host an Additional Event, the Corales Puntacana Championship.

The Corales Golf Course is a tricky venue – especially when the wind blows – but it is chock-full of stunning vistas, too.

With plenty of important FedExCup points on offer this week, and the first event of the new string of tournaments making up the Aon Swing 5 for the Wells Fargo Championship, it’s going to be a key week for plenty on the PGA TOUR.

Here’s everything you need to know from Puntacana.

FIELD NOTES: Nicolai Højgaard heads from the Masters to Corales Puntacana, where he nearly broke through for his maiden TOUR title a year ago. Højgaard had the lead at the first major of the season last week before stumbling home Saturday with five straight bogeys. Alas, he’s back in action this week after his T16 at Augusta National… Francesco Molinari will make his debut at Corales Puntacana. The former winner of the Claret Jug will tee it up for the sixth time on TOUR this season… Billy Horschel will also make his Puntacana debut. Horschel has two top-10s on the season and two more top-20s… Past champ Joel Dahmen returns to Corales Puntacana looking for a new spark to his season. Dahmen finished tied for 11th at THE PLAYERS but comes into the week after two missed cuts in Texas. Dahmen won the 2021 edition in Puntacana… Seven years ago Nate Lashley won at Corales Puntacana when it was a Korn Ferry Tour event and comes into the week after three straight made cuts – including a T13 at TPC Sawgrass. Lashley also finished T3 at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Alex Fitzpatrick is back in the field at a PGA TOUR event while his brother, Matt, defends his title at the RBC Heritage. Fitzpatrick finished in the top 20 in both the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (where he teamed with Matt) and at The Open Championship, where he finished T17. Fitzpatrick, who starred alongside Matt in the second season of Netflix’s “Full Swing” docuseries, has four top-25 finishes on the DP World Tour this season… Joseph Deraney earned his way into his second PGA TOUR event after winning the Devil’s Elbow Invitational by two shots last November. The native of Kentucky is the reigning Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur champion. He also won the title in 2019, becoming just the second American in the tournament’s history to take the title… Thriston Lawrence, who has two runner-up results on the DP World Tour this season, will play his first TOUR event of 2024. He played six times last year, finding the weekend at both the PGA Championship and The Open Championship… There’s a foursome of Latin-American golfers teeing it up at Corales Puntacana as well, featuring Juan Jose Guerra, with Guillermo Pumarol and Julio Santos playing the event for the fifth time, while Hiram Silfa is playing it for the seventh time… Other sponsor exemptions include TOUR winners D.A. Points, Nick Watney, Jason Dufner and Wesley Bryan, alongwith George McNeill, Jeff Overton, Ricky Barnes and Erik Compton.

MONDAY QUALIFIERS: The Monday Qualifier for the Corales Puntacana Championship was played on April 8 at Plantation Preserve Golf Course & Club in Plantation, Florida… Thomas Longbella was the medalist with a 9-under 62. Longbella has made one prior PGA TOUR start (last year’s Corales Puntacana Championship, which he also Monday qualified for). He competed on PGA TOUR Canada in 2022 and 2023… Ryan Celano of Naples, Florida, made seven birdies and zero bogeys and got into a PGA TOUR field for the first time. He has caddied for various TOUR members in the past… Chase Johnson made seven birdies and one bogey to earn his third PGA TOUR start of the season. Johnson also competed at The Genesis Invitational on the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption and the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on a sponsor invite… Brandon Berry also made seven birdies and one bogey in the qualifier – including a run of six straight circles on the scorecard. This will be his first PGA TOUR start. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance and, impressively, an MBA from Loyola University Maryland.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: The Corales Puntcana Championship marks the first event in the Aon Swing 5 for point-earners looking to get a spot in the Wells Fargo Championship – the others being the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the AT&T Byron Nelson… The RBC Heritage, played alongside the Corales Puntacana Championship, is the fifth Signature Event of the season.

COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: After his Masters victory, Scottie Scheffler kept a stranglehold on the top spot of the TOUR TOP 10. He now has twice as many points as Wyndham Clark at No. 2… Scheffler’s 1,660-point lead is the largest with 16 weeks left in the regular season since 2009… Xander Schauffele, who finished eighth at the Masters, moved up a spot from No. 4 to No. 3… Ludvig Åberg, on the back of his incredible runner-up in his Masters debut, jumped from No. 8 to No. 4 in the standings… Will Zalatoris jumped into the TOUR TOP 10 after his Masters top 10. He zipped from No. 16 to No. 10, bumping Stephan Jaeger outside the TOUR TOP 10… Chris Kirk and Byeong Hun An remain the only two golfers to be inside the TOUR TOP 10 every week so far this season.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 300 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Corales Golf Course, par 72, 7,670 yards. One of the longest courses on the PGA TOUR, the course – opened in 2010 and designed by Tom Fazio – is open off the tee but features difficult green complexes and, often, a challenging wind. The course boasts six oceanside holes and plenty of natural beauty. The "Devil’s Elbow," the closing three-hole stretch at Corales Puntacana, will once again be in the spotlight.

72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Dominic Bozzelli (2016 Korn Ferry Tour); as PGA TOUR event: 269, Matt Wallace (2023)

18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Stephan Jaeger (second round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour), Scott Harrington (second round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour), Alexandre Rocha (third round, 2016 Korn Ferry Tour); as PGA TOUR event: 63, Brice Garnett (first round, 2018), Chip McDaniel (fourth round, 2019), Akshay Bhatia (second round, 2023)

LAST TIME: Matt Wallace made four straight birdies on the back nine last season at Corales Puntacana and won by one shot over Nicolai Højgaard, the 54-hole leader. Wallace opened with a bogey on the par-3 second but clawed his way back with two straight birdies immediately afterward. His 6-under 66 Sunday was tied for the low round of the day. Højgaard had a 20-foot birdie try on the 72nd hole that would have forced a playoff, but it missed on the low side. He won in his 80th start on the PGA TOUR. Tyler Duncan and Sam Stevens tied for third, while Austin Eckroat rounded out the top five.

HOW TO FOLLOW (all times ET):

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 8-10 a.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday-Sunday: 3-5 p.m. (NBC)