JACKSON, Miss. — David Skinns of England set a personal best and a course record with a 12-under 60 to lead the Sanderson Farms Championship on Thursday. And he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.
Skinns ran off six birdies on the back nine and six more on the front nine at the Country Club of Jackson, and he faced one last birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on his final hole. It never had a chance, missing on the low side.
Skinns, 42, still had a three-shot lead over Michael Thorbjornsen.
“How many 9-footers are you going to get to shoot 59?” Skinns said. “I’m sure I’m not going to get many. Tough not to be a little bit disappointed, but I really want to just look back on how in control mentally I felt, how I kept attacking. Wasn’t really thinking about the future at all, which is kind of the thing I’m going to take away from today.”
The future is a big part of the Sanderson Farms Championship, one of eight PGA Tour events in the “FedEx Cup Fall” that determines the 125 players who keep a full card for next year.
Skinns was at No. 108, and his 60 gives him a big step in the right direction.
Former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, making steady progress from brain surgery a year ago, played-bogey free for a 64 and was tied with Ben Griffin.
Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time since the British Open because he missed the FedEx Cup playoffs and his wife gave birth to their second daughter, hit two shots in the water and rallied for a 69. Fowler is at No. 110 but has another year of full exemption from winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic last year.
Skinns hit only five fairways, but he was rarely out of position. The two times he was not on the putting green in regulation he made birdie. He also holed birdie putts of 55 feet and 25 feet during the round, and five other birdies outside 10 feet.
“Great to see a couple go in that maybe some days don’t,” Skinns said. “Just kind of catapulted, and I was able to keep the momentum going, which is what I was most pleased about. I never really thought about the score too much, just where I was going to hit the next shot.”
Matt McCarty opened with a 66 in his first start as a PGA Tour member. He won three time this year on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn a promotion.
Mackenzie Hughes, Lucas Glover and Patton Kizzire, who won the first FedEx Cup Fall event at the Procore Championship, were in the large group at 67. Hughes won the Sanderson Farms Championship two years ago when he was left off the Presidents Cup team. He is playing this year a week after he made his Presidents Cup debut.
He is No. 51 in the FedEx Cup and will get into the first two $20 million signature events if he stays in the top 60. The Canadian doesn’t plan to play for a month, so not even coming off the Presidents Cup was going to stop him.
“Monday was basically sober up; Tuesday recovery and rest, travel here; Wednesday was just a light day with the pro-am and a bit if practice,” Hughes said. “Felt like Wednesday evening I had caught my breath and was ready to come out here today. Obviously it’s a big high to come off from last week, but my job is still here and I was ready to go.”
Thorbjornsen finished No. 1 in the PGA Tour University ranking, meaning the Stanford grad already has a full card for next year. Finishing the year in the top 125 would improve his priority to get into tournaments.
As for Skinns, he left the Country Club of Jackson thinking about one putt that missed and determined to remember the 12 that went in.
“I had it about probably a ball outside the cup. If I could do it again I’d have it a cup outside. Just broke way more than I thought,” Skinns said. “Just so happened that that was for a 59. But there were a lot out there that I got right, so I’m going to focus on the ones that I got right.”
Reed Hughes opened with a 76, notable because he is the oldest man in the field at 71. Hughes qualified for the Sanderson Farms Championship by winning the PGA section championship for the Gulf States.