PGA course breakdown and preview: Sanderson Farms Championship

PGA course breakdown and preview: Sanderson Farms Championship

Redesigned in 2009 be renowned architect John Fought, The Country Club of Jackson will feature the 7th most difficult hole on Tour outside of the majors. Its signature 16th has only given up 8% in birdies compared to 25% of bogeys or worse. Now the entire course is not drastically as difficult as this, but it will stretch out to 7,241 yards and will play to a Par of 72. Going with the trends of West Virginia last week it will also feature those gorgeous bermudagrass surfaces on the greens and surrounding areas.

Since 2015 the average driving accuracy was only 54.5%, almost a 7% lower than average among PGA Tour standards. We’ve mentioned the narrowing of the fairways, so picture a scenario where driving accuracy might drop even further. Now on the other hand because the green sizes at Jackson average around 5,000-8,500 square feet, which are quite massive, average greens in regulation here are nearly 69% among the field which is nearly 5% higher than tour average. Now what is nice about CC of J is the fact that it features FOUR Par 5’s, between 554 and 617 yards- long stretches of holes with large greens that have historically given up an average of 33.5% of birdies and rightfully so.

This course can and will be won on the Par 5’s as well as avoiding the big numbers on the more difficult holes.  Similar to last week and because this is a longer course, we will see a majority of approach shots in the 150 to 200+ range (it’s no wonder why the likes of long hitter Cameron Champ, our defender, succeeded here). There is one Par 4 in particular, the 15th, which stretches to only 330 yards and has a 33% birdie rate. We will also have a stretch of shorter par 3’s, particularly Hole 13 which plays at 168 yards and has averaged a score of 2.9, so for that, I will sprinkle in some SG Approach from shorter ranges, although the longer approach shots should be prioritized in this instance.

Again we can all get into a debate regarding putting as evidenced by many “Bad putters” having great weeks, but on larger greens such as these, I will consider the SG Putting Stats a little this time around. What many forget about course designer John Fought is that he has helped restore several Donald Ross courses. Mr. Ross is famous for having tiered and tricky greens and this influence will definitely be displayed this week as Fought has surely adopted that. The cut line at the Sanderson has had an average of Even to -2, but because the Tour has dispatched with the MDF Ruling (Made Cut Did Not Finish), the players moving forward into the weekend will be limited to only the top 65 and ties as opposed to the traditional top 70.

I will estimate a cut one or two strokes lower than the norm as there are quite a few stronger players this time around. One more scenario to consider is the fact that the Sanderson is famous for producing first-time winners, in fact of the last 4 seasons it has had 4 different first timers almost on par with the famous RSM Classic which also shares the same magic. On the next slide, I will list the stats that I prioritized in order for the week, from top to bottom.