BlogSanderson Farms Preview, Picks

The Buzz:

So while the bulk of marquee players are China playing in the WGC-HSBC, those that couldn’t get into that event are in Mississippi for the Sanderson Farms Championship.  It’s a good week to earn of few dollars more and add up some FedEx Cup points to your total.  In the past this event had been in July opposite of the British Open, now it’s changed to November.  Along with the change is a new course, after 19 years at Annandale Country Club in Madison, Miss., the Sanderson Farms Championship moved locations to the Country Club of Jackson three years ago so it will be played for the fourth straight year. Prior to that, the tournament spent eight years in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Here are some tournament and course information:

This event has been played in Mississippi since 1968.  In the beginning it was an unofficial event and became an official event on the PGA Tour in 1986.  In it’s first year and until 1993, it played opposite to the Masters.  It was called the Deposit Guaranty and was played at Hattisburg C.C. in Hattiesburg, Miss.  Not only did the date change to July and opposite the British Open, in 1994 the event moved to Madison, Miss and the Annandale Country Club.  It again was moved in the schedule in 1999 when  it was opposite the Tour Championship, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.  In 2011 it switched back to July and the same week as the British Open with Sanderson Farms taking over in 2013.  Not only did the date change but the course will be different for the first time in 20 years as it is moving to The Country Club of Jackson.

The course wasn’t the whole reason for the change, Unlike Annandale the country club offers more than 120,000 square feet of roofed infrastructure which means more money will be donated to charity.  The course is also terrific and has gone through a lot of changes since the summer.  The biggest change is the fairways have been narrowed and a second cut added with the rough being allowed to grow in.

The course is a John Fought design that features “Golden Age” architectural features with pushed up greens and closely mown run off areas. If the course stays dry, the greens will be treacherous and could make things interesting.

The site had an interesting history because it was better know in Mississippi not for golf but were in 1966 it was the site of a famous raid that caused liquor to be legalization in the state.  So the Country Club of Jackson will this week be remembers as the site that changed the last dry state in the United States instead of for the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Sanderson Farms Championship:

• With a new course it’s always up for grabs, nobody has any history and it will take a few years before we see who gains an advantage playing here.  But we learned a lot the last three years it’s been played there, first that hitting greens is important. C.C. of Jackson ranked 37th hardest of the 50 courses last year, 46th in 2016 and 38th in 2015 so players tended to hit lot’s of greens. Of the 34 that finished in the top-ten the first three years, 19 of them were in the top-ten in greens hit with last year’s winner Cody Gribble finishing T-29th in Greens hit But in 2016, winner Peter Malnati finished T-4th in greens hit while runner-up William McGirt finished T-4th and in 2015 winner Nick Taylor finished T-3rd while runnerup Jason Bohn finished T-1st. So to seems, you have to hit lot’s of greens.
• On the face of it we’re looking at a pretty long golf course, with the par-five fifth hole able to stretch beyond 600 yards before the difficult-looking sixth at close to 500 (482). Holes 14 and 15 would look to offer up birdie opportunities before a tough closing stretch, on the Dick Wilson design course in which the finishing hole is a 505 yard, par 4.  Oh, for the record there is no let-up on the par-4s, only one the 15th is under 400 yards so maybe a power hitter is the player to look for.  The par 5s played tough last year as they were the 15th hardest par 5s on the PGA Tour.
• This is also one of those courses that you have to hit it long and straight.  Last year it ranked 33rd in driving distance but in 2016 it was 2nd and in 2015 it was 10th.  But in looking at our three winners at C.C. of Jackson most of them were short hitters, so this is not a bombers course.
• The weather is going to play an important role in this week’s event as a cold front has moved in and temperatures will be warm on Friday at 61 degrees but on Thursday it will be 51 and over the weekend the high will only get into the high 40s.  Also look for winds at 10 mph and showers all day on Saturday.