Sanderson Farms Championship: Expert Picks

Tournament Information

Sanderson Farms Championship
Date: October 1^st – 4th
Course: Country Club of Jackson
Purse: $6.6MM ($1.2MM to winner)
2020 Winner: Im Sung-Jae (-18)
OWGR Points: 30

Course

Country Club of Jackson — Founded in 1914, the Country Club of Jackson was designed by Tom Bendelow. This private course is a par 72 at 7,460 yards with a 75.2 rating and a 133 slope rating. The greens utilize Champions Ultradwarf Bermuda Grass. The course is fairly open with a handful of trees littered throughout. There are creeks scattered through the course (especially on holes 5-10) and slightly rolling hills provide a picturesque landscape off each tee. A number of holes on the back nine feature sloped rough going into longer grass, accuracy will be essential on those holes. The toughest part of this course are the smaller greens, good approach shots are key.

Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images

My Starting 4

Sam Burns (second selection this year) — I’m doubling down on Burns. Last week he rewarded the pick with an admirable 28th place finish. He was seventh at the Safeway Open before that and he comes to Jackson where he was 43rd two years ago and 24th last year. He’s 15th in strokes gained off the tee and 24th in strokes gained tee to green.

Cameron Percy (first selection this year) — Percy was 23rd at the Safeway earlier this month and topped it off with an 8th place at Corales Puntacana last week. He comes to Mississippi where he has progressively improved each of the last three years. He went from 42nd in 2017 to 34th the next year up to 11th last season. Percy is one of the best putters in on tour (17th in strokes gained putting) and he’s decent in driving accuracy and approaching the green. He doesn’t amass a ton of power which shouldn’t punish him too much here.

J.T. Poston (first selection this year) — Poston started last season making the cut in seven of his first eight tournaments. In four of those seven tournaments he finished in the top 15. He ended last season on a more sour note with missed cuts in four of his final eight tournaments and no finishes inside the top 15. He started this season with another missed cut at the US Open where he shot an 82 on Friday. He will look to regain the traction he had at the start of last season at Jackson, where he has finished inside the top 55 each of the last three years. He is one of five golfers to have done this, two of them aren’t playing this year.

Talor Gooch (first selection this year) — Gooch had a decent close to last season finishing in the top 25 in two of his final three tournaments. He missed the cut at Safeway early this season and comes to the Sanderson Farms Championship where he finished in the top 30 each of the last two seasons. Taylor is 63rd in driving accuracy, sixth in Greens in Regulation percentage and second in Eagles per hole. His downfall is putting where he is among the worst on tour.

My Bench 2

Sebastian Munoz (first selection this year) — Munoz comes to this as his second tournament of the new season. He finished eighth at the Tour Championship and an admirable 59th at a very difficult US Open. He has a respectable track record here finishing 35th in 2017 and 25th here last year.

J.J. Spaun (first selection this year) — Spaun is currently 31st in FedEx ranking and has back to back top 40 finishes at the Sanderson Farms Open. He’s 23rd in total strokes gained, 26th in approaching the green and 18th in tee to green strokes gained.

Fun Fact: This tournament used to be played during weeks of a major, world golf championship or a tournament like the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup hosting the remaining field but in the late 2000s it was moved to part of the Fall Series.

2020-2021 Stats

Starting 4: avg finish 49^th (32^nd percent)
Bench 2: avg finish 62^nd (42^nd percent)