The PGA Tour Is Back With The Sanderson Farms Championship At The Country Club Of Jackson

Marianna Massey. Getty Images.

Believe it or not, the PGA Tour is back in full swing with another tournament. This operation slows for next to nothing. This bad boy is worth just as many FedEx Cup points as the vast majority of PGA Tour events, so it's a real opportunity for some of the Tour's newcomers and lower tier guys to get a head start while the big dogs nurse their Presidents Cup hangovers. Plus you won't find a bigger tournament sponsored by a poultry processing company. That's just a fact.

Thus the tournament they call the Sanderson Farms Championship down in Jackson, Mississippi. You might not have known that the Tour went to that mouthful of a state, but they've actually been going to Mississippi since 1968. No word yet on whether Brett Favre was able to sway the powers that be to make that a reality but will let you know if I hear.

Last year it was Sam Burns who edged out Nick Watney and then relative unknown Cameron Young for a 1-shot victory. Burns went on a torrid stretch to start the back 9 Sunday with birdies on 4 out of 6 holes, which gave him a comfortable enough cushion to afford to bogey the final hole. It was his first win in a season where he would go on to win 3 total. 

Last year's leaderboard and recent winners…

2021 Leaderboard

Recent Winners

The Course

Country Club of Jackson is a par 72 measruing out at 7,421 yards this week. That makes it an above average course in terms of length, but it's not long enough to keep anyone from competing here. With that said, distance is always an advantage and with relatively harmless rough, bomb-and-gouge guys should feast out here. The greens are fast bermudagrass and on the smaller side, so controlling approaches and getting them on the right portions of the green are especially important this week. Not earth-shattering stuff here but that's easiest to do when hitting shorter clubs in. Plus you've got a healthy dose of four par 5's so you can sense what type of player I'm targeting this week.

Best Hole - 16th hole Par 4, 479 yards

Michael Cohen. Getty Images.

The 16th is the signature hole at CCoJ, and is a slight dogleg left measuring 479 yards. You've got junk and swamp all down the left side, and then a carry over the swamp on your approach with a bunker protecting the right side of the green. Looks like a challenging hole for us simpletons, but not all that much for these pros. They're gonna smoke one down the right side and have little trouble hitting this green regardless of fairway or rough. Either way, looks like an awesome setting for a golf hole down the stretch.

The Coverage

The Weather

Sunny.

The Trophy

Sam Greenwood. Getty Images.

Quite literally, a chicken. I'm all for it. If you're gonna be a low tier tournament, embrace that shit. Corporate sponsor the shit out of that thing. If you're going to sink a bunch of money into a PGA Tour event, you midas whale get every dime out of it and make sure the viewers know exactly what you're about. Sanderson Farms is all about one thing: birds. And this right here… is a bird. 6/10.

The Board

Predictably defending champion and highest ranked player in this field Sam Burns is the clear favorite at +1000 at the Barstool Sportsbook. He's the only American from the Presidents Cup team to be playing this week (Bezuidenhout is here for the Internationals and Sebastian Munoz withdrew on Monday) and he'd probably be resting this week if this wasn't a title defense. It's a course he's got good memz at and a weak field, so why not try to run it back? Plenty of time to rest in the coming weeks and months.

He's my pick this week too. I could easily see that line being shorter than +1000. He's head and shoulders above the rest of this field and he really didn't play all that poorly last week despite going 0-3-2. All of those defeats but one came on the 18th hole and he went toe to toe with Hideki Matsuyama on Sunday and was able to cancel him out. Sometimes guys just play great golf against you and 3 of his matches were with Scottie Scheffler, who clearly wasn't his normal self. That's just match play.

Despite playing 5 rounds last week, I'm confident Burns has what it takes to post a quality start here. Take Sam Burns +1000 and Top 10 +163 and thank me later.

Other Plays

Sahith Theegala To Win +2000 - He's been knocking on the door and this is a place where he contended last year, finishing 8th. Big opportunity for his break through this week and he hits it as long as any of these guys.

Straight Forecast - Burns/Theegala +25000 - Midas whale try to hit a 1-2 combo here.

Straight Forecast - Theegala/Burns +25000 - Midas whale box it.

Taylor Montgomery To Win +2500 and Top 10 +300 - Dude hits absolute bombs and has great recent form. Top 10'd his last 4 Korn Ferry starts to earn his PGA Tour card and then placed 3rd at the Fortinet. He's a rookie to keep an eye on this year.

Luke List Top 10 +500 - Hasn't made a lot of noise since winning at Torrey last year but is a bomber and has a 2nd place finish here a few years back

Sepp Straka To Miss The Cut +150 - 0/4 on cuts at this course.

Albatross in the Tournament +1400 - Four par 5's? Let's have some fun with this one.

And that's what I got this week.

Enjoy the Sanderson Farms Championship.