The PGA Tour returns to normality after a wonderful week at the Presidents Cup as the second tournament of the new season is played out when 144 of the tour stars head to Mississippi for the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Sam Burns kicked off a wonderful season with a victory here last year and he is back to attempt to defend the title he won. There is an argument to be made that he defends against a weaker field this time around too.
Recent Winners
2021 – Sam Burns
2020 – Sergio Garcia
2019 – Sebastian Munoz
2018 – Cameron Champ
2017 – Ryan Armour
2016 – Cody Gribble
2015 – Peter Malnati
2014 – Nick Taylor
2013 – Woody Austin
2012 – Scott Stallings
The Course
The Country Club of Jackson stages this tournament again. It has the same dimensions as last year, so it is a par 72 which measures 7,461 yards. When you look at the statistics of the recent winners there is a bit of a picture forming. They are all pretty solid drivers of the golf ball who can all hole putts or putted very well the week they won. Given scoring is likely to be very low this week we should have putting in mind when forming our bets.
That is very much one of my focuses this week. Length isn’t the overriding thing around here although there is no denying that it helps, but I do like authoritative ball strikers as those with club head speed tend to take these classic type setups to the cleaners these days. Greens in regulation is another statistic to look at as this tournament is all about making birdies so the more chances you get the better the likelihood is that you’ll make some.
The Field
The field this week is largely made up of seasoned PGA Tour campaigners and those graduates from the Korn Ferry Tour who are looking to get themselves into an early position for the season ahead. Sam Burns is the only man from the winning American team who played at the Presidents Cup last week who is here for this tournament and you sense that he is only here because he is the defending champion. Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the only other man who played at Quail Hollow who tees it up here.
The other notable names in the field this week include the entertaining Sahith Theegala, Russell Henley, Scott Stallings and Denny McCarthy while the new brigade on the tour is headed by the likes of Taylor Montgomery, Justin Suh and Robby Shelton among others. The Internationals didn’t fare great last week but joining Bezuidenhout from overseas are Emiliano Grillo, Dean Burmester, Adam Hadwin and Byeong-Hun An among others.
Market Leaders
Sam Burns is a 10/1 shot to make a successful defence of his title. Regular readers will know that I’m no fan of backing defending champions because of the strain on their time and that is even ore the case when they are the standout man in the field. The other thing to consider is whether last week will have taken too much out of Burns. He played all five sessions at the Presidents Cup and that included going all the way up 18 on Sunday. He isn’t for me.
Sahith Theegala is the 20/1 second favourite to win the tournament. The first issue with backing him at a relatively short price is that he is yet to win at this level and if we are being bang on about it he has bungled a couple of opportunities to do so which doesn’t encourage betting on a skinny price. Theegala was eighth here last year and sixth at the Fortinet Championship a couple of weeks ago but until he wins I’m not interested at these prices.
Denny McCarthy and Russell Henley come next in the betting at 25/1. This will be the first start of the season for Henley and while he is monstering courses from tee to green these days he continues to lose ground on the greens and in what might well be a shootout that is a massive negative. McCarthy has gone 7-18-6-17 in the last four years here but he has only gained strokes on approach in one of his last seven tournaments which doesn’t bode well. It is 28/1 bar.
Main Bet
I’ll go with the one main bet over the course of this week as I don’t really like any of the market leaders I have to say. I’m very much searching out the players with a good amateur pedigree this week and that brings me straight onto Justin Suh, who led the amateur ranks for six months four years ago. He cruised through the Korn Ferry Tour scene last season and now has his tour card for this year and I expect him to take full advantage over this campaign.
Suh flattered to deceive at the Fortinet Championship to open up his season but it might just have been the euphoria of using his card for the first time. I’m not ready to give up on the man who landed the Korn Ferry Championship. Suh ended the Korn Ferry season with five top 10s in his last six knocks and I’m not convinced a missed cut is going to dent that confidence. This doesn’t look a strong event and it might not take much winning so I’ll see if Suh performs better this week.
Outsiders
I like three outsiders this week. The first of those is Byeong-Hun An who opened up a new year on the PGA Tour with a solid effort at the Fortinet Championship. He finished fourth there where he ranked third for strokes gained from tee to green and is as pure a driver as there is when he is at his best. He was third here on debut three years ago and while he faded to such an extent that he lost his tour card, he deserves a lot of credit for winning it straight back a year later. He’ll have been inspired by some of his fellow Koreans playing well last week and he looks a big price here.
Justin Lower was another who opened up the season well at the Fortinet Championship. He finished fourth there and ranked second in driving accuracy and tenth for greens in regulation. He was 13 for strokes gained putting that week as well and was right in the mix to win the tournament before failing to get it done on the Sunday. That wasn’t his first top 10 finish in 2022 though. He registered another at the Barbasol Championship and was T16 at the Barracuda as well so he has previous of going well at this level. Lower’s putting stats have been very good for a while so if he can hit the ball well this week he shouldn’t be too far away.
Completing my set of promising amateur players is Davis Thompson, another man who went well in the California curtain raiser for the campaign a fortnight ago. He was in the top 10 at the Fortinet and did most things well, not least into the greens where nobody hit more greens in regulation on the week. He won on the Korn Ferry Tour last season so if he gets himself in contention here he should be comfortable enough to compete. Thompson has put in some decent efforts in his PGA Tour career and this feels like the sort of event he can contend in.
Tips
Back J.Suh to win Sanderson Farms Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 56.00 with Coral (1/5 1-8)
Back B-H.An to win Sanderson Farms Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back D.Thompson to win Sanderson Farms Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Lower to win Sanderson Farms Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
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