The party is still raging among U.S. golf fans after the enormous Ryder Cup triumph in Wisconsin, but the new PGA Tour season resumes this week in Jackson, Miss. Even Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the defending champion at the Sanderson Farms and a rare bright spot for the European Ryder Cup team, plans to tee it up at Country Club of Jackson.
This venue will host the Sanderson Farms for the eighth time, and the list of winners has been interesting. From 2014 through 2017, we had incredibly straight drivers and good iron players win (Peter Malnati, Cody Gribble, Ryan Armour and Nick Taylor), but we’ve had longer hitters (Cameron Champ, Sebastian Munoz and Sergio) win recently. Ball-striking will propel you to success at this par-72, 7,461-yard track, redesigned by John Fought in 2008. The Bermuda rough is historically low at two inches, and the Champion Bermuda greens are not too difficult—negating the need to be a great putter.
Among the favorites, we have Sungjae Im—who lost a playoff here in 2019 to Munoz—a co-favorite at 14-1 with Sam Burns on the opening lines at MyBookie. Will Zalatoris might be the most interesting name. There was early chatter in 2021 that Zalatoris might be a Ryder Cup captain’s pick after a T-6 at the 2020 U.S. Open, a runner-up at Augusta and a T-8 at the PGA Championship. He was quiet the rest of the year—but with his PGA Tour card secured for 2021-’22, he started the season with a T-11 in Napa. Willy Z missed the cut here last year, but we’d imagine him being a popular bet this week.
Corey Conners also owns a runner-up here in 2018 in Champ’s four-stroke victory. Conners ranks first in this field in SG/ball-striking over the past 50 rounds, per Fantasy National, so he’s understandably getting respect at 18-1.
Here’s the full list of odds this week, courtesy of MyBookie.ag:
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +14000
Dawie Van der walt +17500