This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Sanderson Farms Championship
Course: The Country Club of Jackson (7,461 yards, par 72)
Purse: $7,600,000
Winner: $1,368,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall points
Tournament Preview
With the Presidents Cup in the books, the focus shifts towards the FedExCup Fall with a lot of players fighting to retain full status for the 2025 season. The Sanderson Farms Championship is the second of eight fall events that runs through the week before Thanksgiving to determine status for next season. This will be one of the weakest fields we've seen on the PGA Tour all year, but for the 132 players teeing it up in Jackson, Mississippi this week, the rewards are still the same. The lone Presidents Cup participant to commit was Mackenzie Hughes, who is the co-favorite (22-1) along with Keith Mitchell. Procore Championship winner Patton Kizzire is in the field as well, along with 20-year-old and two-time PGA Tour winner Nick Dunlap.
The Sanderson Farms Championship has been thrown around the schedule for years since its founding in 1968. It was primarily an opposite-field event being played the same week as a number of different prestigious tournaments including the Masters, the Open Championship, the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup and the Tour Championship. The Sanderson Farms Championship was moved to its current home of the Country Club of Jackson in 2014 where it was played opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions until 2019 when the event was recognized as a full status event meaning the winner would receive a two-year PGA Tour exemption and an invite into the Masters the following year. That's pretty cool for a tournament that spent 24 years being played opposite the Masters.
Scoring since moving to Jackson has been fairly predictable. In 10 years the winning score has fallen between 16 and 22-under-par every time. This tournament has also seen playoffs in three of the last five years, including last fall when Luke List outlasted Ludvig Aberg, Ben Griffin, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings in a five-man playoff for his second PGA Tour win. It's expected to be a beautiful week for golf in Jackson. Day-time temperatures will be in the mid-80s and we should see a lot of sunshine for the four tournament rounds. There's a slight chance of rain on Friday, but other than that it should be dry this week with winds struggling to gust past 15 mph.
Recent Champions
2023 - Luke List (-18)
2022 - Mackenzie Hughes (-17)
2021 - Sam Burns (-22)
2020 - Sergio Garcia (-19)
2019 - Sebastian Munoz (-18)
2018 - Cameron Champ (-21)
2017 - Ryan Armour (-19)
2016 - Cody Gribble (-20)
2015 - Peter Malnati (-18)
2014 - Nick Taylor (-16)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR percentage
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- Birdie Average/Par-5 Scoring
Champion's Profile
There's a lot of different ways to get the job done at the Country Club of Jackson as evidence by the stat profiles of the five players that made the playoff last year. List was only 48th in SG: Approach, but top-10 in both SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting. Griffin led the field in SG: Approach, but was 67th in SG: Off-the-Tee. Aberg was top-five in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Around, but 57th in SG: Putting. Stallings was outside the top-30 in every SG category except putting where he was second. And lastly, Norlander led the field in driving accuracy but was 60th in SG: Approach. This is just not a tournament where we are going to see much separation at all. In those cases I tend to lean toward the top birdie-makers, or in even simpler terms, the players who hit the most greens and sink the most putts.
Distance vs Accuracy is an interesting debate at this course, but I think both work. We've seen short hitters like Peter Malnati and Ryan Armour win here, and long hitters like Cameron Champ and Sam Burns also win here. The rough at just 2.5 inches isn't overly penal, but there is still some trouble to run into by straying away from the short grass. Total driving could end up being a key stat. We also have a full quartet of par-5s awaiting the players, so the best players this season in par-5 scoring should be licking their chops.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Ben Griffin ($11,400)
There's a lot to like about Griffin this week, starting with his history in Jackson, where he has posted a T24 and T2 in two starts. Griffin made the FedExCup Playoffs after gaining strokes on approach in nine straight starts. If he can have a decent week with the driver, the 28-year-old is going to push for his first PGA Tour victory. He ranks among the top 42 in SG: Approach, SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting. Griffin is also sixth in total birdies this year.
J.J. Spaun ($10,600)
Spaun is certainly on a roll, having made the cut in seven straight starts and finishing top-10 in three of those. Spaun is one of the best iron players in this field ranking top-20 on the PGA Tour in SG: Approach, GIR percentage and proximity to the hole. Much like Griffin, Spaun just needs a decent week with the driver and he's gained off the tee in his last four starts. He has also gained with the putter in five of seven starts.
Patrick Fishburn ($10,500)
Fishburn has certainly gotten on a roll after a terrible start to the year. Fishburn has finished top-25 in nine of his last 13 starts, including four top-six finishes. He was impressive in Napa a couple weeks ago notching a solo third with great work across the board. The 32-year-old checks all the boxes for Jackson ranking seventh in SG: Off-the-Tee, 14th in total driving, third in GIR percentage, 33rd in scrambling and eighth in par-5 scoring average.
The Middle Tier
Matt Kuchar ($10,100)
It's kind of wild that the 46-year-old has never teed it up at this course, but he's playing so well right now I'm not sure it matters where he is. Kuchar is coming off his third straight top-15 finish a couple weeks ago in Napa. The veteran has really found his swing again after a terrible start to the year. Kuchar has gained on approach in six of his last seven starts. Combine that with his season-long performance in SG: Putting (18th) and SG: Around (36th), and things are certainly looking up for a great showing in Jackson.
Andrew Novak ($9,300)
In a field this bad, a player who ranks 20th in SG: Total on the PGA Tour and is gaining strokes in every category is a no-brainer in the low-$9K range. Novak has only missed two cuts in his last 17 starts with four top-10s and nine top-25s in that stretch. The 29-year-old is 19th in SG: Approach, 14th in GIR percentage and 21st in proximity. Novak hasn't played since the Wyndham Championship in early August, but that's the only reason I can think of for him being this cheap.
Henrik Norlander ($9,000)
There is something about the Country Club of Jackson that Norlander really likes having finished T4-T4-T24-T2 the last four years here. He's played a lot worse coming into this event in the past and hung up a great finish, so why can't he do it when he's coming in having put up three top-12 finishes in his last six starts? Norlander remains an elite iron player ranking 15th in SG: Approach and seventh in GIR percentage. The putter is still an issue, but these greens in Jackson clearly fit his eye.
The Long Shots
Ben Kohles ($8,400)
Kohles is consistently making the weekend, which is really the biggest thing we are looking for once we start getting down this far. The Korn Ferry Tour's top player last year has made six of his last seven cuts with a pair of top-25s in that stretch. Kohles is one of the most accurate drivers on Tour which will serve him well at this course. He has also gained on approach in six of his last seven tournaments and with the putter in seven of nine.
Greyson Sigg ($8,300)
Sigg certainly was able to use his time off to great effect after ending the regular season with six straight missed cuts. He showed up to Napa and looked refined in all areas of his game en route to a T4 finish. Even despite the poor play over much of the summer, Sigg still showed us his excellent iron play. He ranks top-20 on Tour in SG: Approach, GIR percentage and proximity. Sigg is also 25th in scrambling and excels at keeping bogeys off the card.
Matthew McCarty ($7,000)
This is just a miss by FanDuel plain and simple. McCarty is opting to play in this event after locking up the No. 1 spot on the Korn Ferry Tour Rankings following a T5 finish in Columbus a couple weeks ago. That was his seventh top-10 finish in his last nine starts, which includes a trio of victories as well. This field really isn't all that much better than your standard KFT field. McCarty being a min-price player just doesn't make sense for someone who is 59th in the DataGolf rankings, higher than everyone that's been mentioned on this list so far.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
This is a week where I think leaving salary on the table is completely valid. The top is really not the top because those players are typically down significantly further on the board. There is no safe bet for a top finish amongst those players the way it is most weeks when Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are in the field at the top of the salary board. I actually think the $9K range is quite strong and if you can make an argument some of them should be higher up than some of the players in the $10K range quite honestly. All that to say, pick the six players you feel most confident in and don't worry if you have some salary left over.
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