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Sanderson Farms Championship: Dark Horse Candidates

By Christopher O'Day

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC - APRIL 15: Chesson Hadley hits a shot from the sand on the 13th hole during the final round of the 2018 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on April 15, 2018 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC - APRIL 15: Chesson Hadley hits a shot from the sand on the 13th hole during the final round of the 2018 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on April 15, 2018 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Sanderson Farms was able to produce a dark horse winner last year in Cameron Champ. We look for more candidates as this year’s event approaches.

Cameron Champ earned his first PGA Tour victory last year at the Sanderson Farms event and nearly qualifies as a dark horse once again. Coming in a 50/1 odds, he is right on the cut line.

I decided to go with anyone at 50/1 as being too good of odds, as there are only 13 golfers with odds of 40/1 or better. Sorry Champ, no back-to-back dark horse wins for you.

Before we get to this week’s picks, let’s check-in and see how we did last week.

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  • Denny McCarthy – 66/1 – T-31st at -7, shot 72-61-73-67. Yeah, a 61. Nothing else though.
  • Russell Knox – 66/1 – MC, shot 72-68
  • Joel Dahmen – 80/1 – T-36th at -6, shot 69-65-71-69.
  • Jimmy Walker – 100/1 – MC, shot 65-74, as six bogeys derailed his chances on Friday
  • Nate Lashley – 125/1 – T-3rd at -14, shot 68-64-65-69.

Nate Lashley was the standout from last week’s choices. He played consistently all week, and I am always happy with a top-three finish from the dark horse picks.

This week, we are keeping it short. If you are looking for some under-the-radar golfers to make a run this week, here are the ones that I think have the best shot to do so at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Kyle Stanley – 66/1 – Stanley took the last two years off from playing the Sanderson, as he last played in 2015 and 2016. He is accurate off the tee and has a good approach game as well with both statistics ranking strongly, with accuracy at 19th, and approach at 45th.

Kevin Streelman – 80/1 – Even though he is 40, Streelman is overlooked when it comes to how well he plays off the tee. He finished last year ranked 25th in SG off the tee, hitting 68% of fairways. He is just as good on approach shots, ranking 27th in SG while hitting 69.75% off GIR. If the putter is working for him this week, I see no reason he doesn’t finish in the top ten.

Chesson Hadley – 100/1 – Hadley will be looking to get back more in line with his 2018 stats. He finished that year 9th on approach shots. When his fairway game is working, he can definitely make a run on the leaderboard, as he did back in June at the U.S. Open when he made it into the top ten, finishing T-9th.

Sepp Straka – 100/1 – Straka started making noise at the end of the 2019 season. He would end up third at the Barbasol Championship and followed it up with a 12th place finish at the Barracuda. A T-11th a few events prior at the Rocket Mortgage gave him three top 12 finishes over a five-event stretch. I see Straka carrying that heat into the Sanderson, and making a strong push to the top five.

Carlos Ortiz – 125/1 – Ortiz put together a great finishing round at the Sanderson Farms event last season, as a -8 was able to propel him all the way to a T-3rd place finish. It has been his only trip to the event so far, and I like him to do a bit better and take down the W this week.

dark. Next. Tiger Woods may have already named himself as playing captain for the Presidents Cup

Those are the dark horse picks this week to make a run at capturing the rooster at Sanderson Farms. Best of luck everyone!

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