2021 Sanderson Farms Championship: Mito’s Time?

With the exhilarating 2021 Ryder Cup in the rearview mirror attention now turns to Mississippi and the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship.

The second event on the 2022 schedule sees the PGA return this week to the Country Club of Jackson for an 8th time for the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship. Sergio Garcia makes the journey south from Wisconsin to headline this week’s event after he won the Sanderson Farms last year.

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Other notable names in this week’s 156 man field include 2021 PGA Tour rookie of the year Will Zalatoris, winner of the 2021 Valspar Championship Sam Burns, and both Sungjae Im and Corey Conners. We can expect to see fields of this strength moving forward with the PGA’s swing season well and truly underway now.

Country Club of Jackson site of the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship

The PAR 72, 7,450 plus yard layout features similarities to Donald Ross design’s and was redesigned in 2008 by John Fought. The course uniquely combines nine holes from both the Dogwood and Azalea courses to form its championship 18 holes for the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Players with strong off the tee games will be at an advantage and with winning scores that have averaged in the high-teens to low twenties over the year’s players will need to capitalize on the four PAR 5’s and make birdies in bunches this week. The Bermuda greens are fast and tricky so as is often the case having a hot putter for the week should set you in good standing.

Previous winners of the Sanderson Farms

2020: Sergio Garcia (-19)

2019: Sebastian Munoz (-18)

2018: Cameron Champ (-21)

2017: Ryan Armour (-19)

2016: Cody Gribble (-20)

The Favorites

The odds used in this article are provided by WynnBet and are current at the time of writing. Be sure to check out WynnBet for the latest odds for the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship.

The big five previously mentioned lead the way at the top of the board this week with both Sam Burns +1700 and Will Zalatoris +1750 as favorites heading into this week. Burns hasn’t played since the Tour Championship but the LSU grad does have a 3rd place at this event back in 2018. Zalatoris picked up much where he left off to start the new season as he posted an 11th place finish in his last start at the Fortinet Championship a couple of weeks ago.

Sergio Garcia +2000, Sungjae Im +2000, and Corey Conners +2200 close out the top tier this week. Much of the focus will be on Sergio in this spot as the defending champion comes into this event after both a physical and what was surely an emotionally draining week at the Ryder Cup. I’ll bypass the top tier once again in an event that has thrown out its fair share of winners from further down the board in recent times.

2021 Sanderson Farms Championship Picks

I’ll begin this week’s card once again with the Chilean Mito Pereira +3000 who came close for us back at the Fortinet Championship a few weeks ago. I’m more than happy to back him once again at an event that has been the site to a few who have gotten their maiden PGA victory here, including Cameron Champ back in 2018.

Pereira has now recorded four top 10 finishes in his last six starts and he comes into this week’s Sanderson Farms on the back of a 3rd place finish in his last start at the Fortinet Championship. Mito has also gained stokes in both off the tee and approach categories in four of his last five starts as well.

Aaron Wise +5000 has been playing some nice golf recently and even though he was last seen at the BMW Championship he comes into this week with two top 25 finishes in two of his last three starts. The same can be said for his most recent appearances at the Sanderson Farms Championship also as he has recorded two top 25 finishes in his last three starts at the Country Club of Jackson as well. Aaron will need his putter to behave this week but if it does he should have no problem scoring in this spot as he leads the field in birdie or better percentage over the last twenty-four rounds.

I’ll add two in the 75/1 range next with the first being Canadian MacKenzie Hughes +7500 who is never far from competing in events that require putts to be made in bunches. Hughes is a terrific putter especially on quick Bermuda greens like we will see this week, over the past thirty-six rounds the Canadian ranks 5th in the field in that department.

I’m taking a bit of a risk with Mac this week as the recent form has been less than desirable, instead, I’m banking on his previous success at comparable courses especially on Donald Ross designs where he has had a good amount of success previously.  Hughes finished 14th at the Donald Ross-designed Detroit Golf Club a couple of months ago and he has also had success on another comp course at Corales for the Puntacana resort and club championship where he has finished 3rd and 2nd in his last two starts.

Keith Mitchell +7500 is another risky pick but one I’m willing to chance at this number. Keith typically is superb from off the tee where he obliterates the majority of his tee shots. Mitchell ranks second in the field over his past twenty-four rounds from off the tee and despite the fact that he has missed the cut at this event in two previous starts he should be well suited to this course. Mitchell has two top 10’s in his last four starts with one of those top ten finishes coming at the somewhat comparable TPC Twin Cities at the 3M Open in July.

I’ll finish things up and go right back to Hudson Swafford +10000 this week despite his missed cut the last time out. Even with the missed cut at the Fortinet Championship in his last start Swafford still has two top 20 finishes in his last four starts now. Like Mitchell, before him, Hudson crushes it off the tee and he ranks top ten in the field in both strokes gained off the tee and birdie or better percentage over the last twenty-four rounds. Swafford is another who has had immense success at Corales, including when he won there in 2020, he also has recorded a 26th place finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship in a previous visit as well.

2021 Sanderson Farms Championship

Mito Pereira +3000

Aaron Wise +5000

MacKenzie Hughes +7500

Keith Mitchell +7500

Hudson Swafford +10000