Joaquin Niemann won his first PGA Tour event at last week’s A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier. He’s a fitting winner heading into the Sanderson Farms Championship, a tournament which has regularly produced first time tour winners.
The shakeup in the golfing schedule has allowed for the Sanderson Fans Championship to be promoted to a full PGA Tour event. That’s boosted the quality of the field but it’s still the secondary tournament of the week with the BMW PGA Championship taking place at Wentworth. That provides a chance for another player to claim their maiden PGA Tour title and the red hot Scottie Scheffler could be just the man.
Top Tips
Scottie Scheffler @ 25/1
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Course Info
The Country Club of Jackson has hosted the Sanderson Farms Championship since 2014. It’s proven to be highly capable of hosting a top level professional tournament. The course is well manicured and looked after so it’s always in good shape whether the tournament falls in October or November so there is no reason to think it won’t be just as good now the tournament has moved to September.
Winning scores of around -20 show that the Country Club of Jackson holds few concerns for professional golfers. It’s not particularly long at 7,421 yards and the fairways are relatively generous and simple. Moreover, it’s not a particularly tough challenge of course management so it makes sense to expect plenty more birdies.
| Course | Location | Length | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Country Club of Jackson | Jackson, Mississippi | 7,421 Yards | $6,600,000 |
Recent Winners
For much of the Sanderson Farms Championship’s history it has been played as an alternate vent. These are a chance for some of the PGA Tour’s lesser lights to shine whilst the best players in the world were playing at a major championship, WGC event or the Ryder Cup. With the greatest will in the world, that’s reflected in the list of most recent winners. Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati Nick Taylor, Ryan Armour and Cameron Champ each won their first (and so far only) PGA Tour title.
| Year | Winner | To Par | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Cameron Champ | -21 | 4 Strokes |
| 2017 | Ryan Armour | -19 | 5 Strokes |
| 2016 | Cody Gribble | -20 | 4 Strokes |
| 2015 | Peter Malnati | -18 | 1 Stroke |
| 2014 | Nick Taylor | -16 | 2 Strokes |
Analysis: Bombers and Ball Strikers Can Succeed
Cameron Champ turned the Sanderson Farms Championship on its head last year. Before he took the driver everywhere and used his incredible power to set the record winning score at the Country Club of Jackson, it was a layout at which a more cautious approach worked.
Expect more big hitters to contend towards the top of the leaderboard in the 2019 renewal but only if they back up their power off the tee with quality wedges and irons into the greens. The best ball strikers should be able to take the majority of the chances they create as the greens are top notch.
Can Scheffler Become the Latest First Time Winner?
Away from the glitz of the top of the FedEx Cup rankings, the big storyline surrounding the end of the last PGA Tour season was the players battling to save their tour cards. A number of players lost out and will now have to earn back their status on the Korn Ferry Tour. Scottie Scheffler knows how tough but achievable that is.
Scheffler won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and did enough to get a crack at the PGA Tour. His stellar performances gave him great confidence which he has clearly taken onto the PGA Tour. Scheffler’s debut with a tour card saw him finish in a tie for seventh at the Greenbrier last week and he could go even better in Jackson.
Scheffler’s ball striking was excellent last week and the long term stats suggest that he has the right tools to go seriously low at the Country Club of Jackson. If he can make the most of the quality greens he’ll find and keep the nerves that come with contending in a PGA Tour event at bay, he may well become the next player to claim his first Tour win at the Sanderson Farms Championship at tempting odds of 25/1 with bet365.
Grillo Can Forget Putting Woes
It’s been over four years since Emiliano Grillo won his first PGA Tour title. A win this week in Jackson would feel like a first time win for the Argentine though as he has found it very tough to genuinely contend in the time since.
The main problem for Grillo is his putting. His approach play is excellent, his driving very solid but his putting little short of appalling. Grillo ranked 185th for strokes gained putting on last year’s PGA Tour whilst his short game wasn’t much better. They are not convincing stats but if Grillo is able to maximise his brilliance into the greens they shouldn’t matter as putting at the Country Club of Jackson is about as easy as it gets. Should Grillo gain some confidence from the first two days he’ll be able to put together a challenge for the title at 40/1 with Ladbrokes.
Final Verdict: Scottie Scheffler to Win
Emiliano Grillo has bags of PGA Tour experience which he will seek to maximise in Jackson this week. If he doesn’t get in the way of himself on the greens, Grillo has a real chance of PGA Tour title number two but preference goes to the in-form Scottie Scheffler who has been playing well enough for some time to win a tournament of this standing at 25/1 with bet365.