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Sanderson Farms Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Country Club of Jackson

By Mike Randleman

JACKSON, MS - OCTOBER 30: The trophy during the Final Round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson on October 30, 2016 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
JACKSON, MS - OCTOBER 30: The trophy during the Final Round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson on October 30, 2016 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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JACKSON, MS – OCTOBER 28: Sam Burns plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 28, 2018 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)
JACKSON, MS – OCTOBER 28: Sam Burns plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 28, 2018 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images) /

Sam Burns just keeps collecting solid start after solid start.

A rough Saturday at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship took him out of contention, but three otherwise nice rounds led to T-28th. His play in the Dominican Republic netted him his seventh top-32 finish in 10 starts since June.

The 24-year-old from LSU graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour in his first year as a pro in 2018. He was also making some starts on exemptions on the PGA Tour by way of his stellar collegiate career highlighted by 2016-17 NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year honors. Did I mention he was an AJGA Player of the Year, too, in his junior days?

Burns finished T-8th at the 2018 Honda Classic in just his eighth PGA Tour start. That got him into the Valspar Championship where he finished T-12th a couple weeks later. He went on to earn enough FedEx Cup points as a non member to earn special temporary membership for the next season.

Burns got off to a great start to the 2018-19 campaign with T-3rd in his second event at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Two more top-10s and a slew of made cuts qualified him for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but a broken ankle suffered while playing pickup basketball set him back for nine weeks.

His return didn’t yield great results to close 2019 but he rounded a corner after the new year. Burns posted T-6th at The American Express to kick start five made cuts in his next six starts and nine of the next 11. He went on to actually play in the first round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs this time.

Burns has proven he can play well at a variety of courses and is becoming a favorite among daily fantasy players. The next step is getting over the top and winning like he’s done at every level prior.

This is a good week to do it against a weak field and at a course where he’s comfortable. Bermuda is a familiar putting surface for someone who already can roll it well at 30th in strokes gained putting in 2019-2020 (.409).

Distance is rewarded at Country Club of Jackson and Burns has it. He ranked eighth on Tour at 312 yards a pop. One of his weaknesses is his short game, though there is not a ton of trouble out there to test his wedges.

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