2022 Sanderson Farms Championship: Picks; Predictions for Mississippi

The PGA Tour returns to Mississippi this week for the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson.

After a week off, the PGA is back this week for the second event of the new season. The 2022/23 season got underway in California two weeks ago and it was Max Homa who emerged victorious for the second year in a row at the Fortinet Championship.

The opening event of the season provided plenty of drama with Homa’s incredible chip-in from off the green; and Danny Willett’s excruciating three-putt miss on the final hole that handed Homa the title for a second consecutive season.

If this year’s Sanderson Farms Championship can provide an ounce of the same drama this week it will make for entertaining viewing.

Last year’s winner, Sam Burns, will look to replicate Homa’s start to the season as the Louisiana native aims to make it back-to-back victories at the Country Club of Jackson.

Fellow Presidents Cup participant Christiaan Bezuidenhout will also tee it up this week following last week’s competition at Quail Hollow. Mississippi native, Davis Riley, is also in the field this week as he looks to clinch his first PGA Tour win after some close calls over the last year.

Other notable names in the field for this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship include Keegan Bradley, Sahith Theegala, Seamus Power, Gary Woodland, Russell Henley, and Harris English.

The 144-man field this week will take on the Country Club of Jackson, a Par 72, 7,461 yard, Jon Fought design. This week’s tournament will use holes from both the Azalea and Dogwood courses at the Country Club of Jackson.

Sam Burns leads the way in the odds markets this week with sportsbooks making him the clear favorite to go back-to-back at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Here is how the top 10 favorites this week shake out over on WynnBet.

2022 Sanderson Farms Championship Favorites

(All odds courtesy of WynnBet)

• Sam Burns  (+1200)
• Sahith Theegala (+2000)
• Taylor Montgomery  (+2800)
• Denny McCarthy  (+2800)
• Russell Henley  (+2800)
• J.T. Poston  (+3000)
• Scott Stallings  (+3000)
• Davis Riley  (+3500)
• Keegan Bradley  (+3500)
• Emiliano Grillo  (+4000)
• Seamus Power  (+4000)
• Trey Mullinax  (+4000)
• Wyndham Clark  (+4000)

Pick to Top 20:  Thomas Detry  (+240)

There are not many stats to look back upon when evaluating Thomas Detry as he has spent the majority of his career playing on the DP World Tour thus far. However, having said all that, the Belgian has consistently been one of the longer hitters on the other side of the world and he regularly makes a ton of birdies.

Both are aspects that should bode well for him this week as the Country Club of Jackson rewards players who excel off the tee and are excellent ball-strikers. Detry ranks 13th in driving distance on the DP World Tour in 2022, and 33rd in birdies made.

The 29-year-old will be making his first start at the Sanderson Farms Championship this year, but he comes into this week’s event in excellent form having finished T5 and T12 in his last two starts.

Detry’s 12th place finish in his most recent start at the Fortinet Championship two weeks ago was in large part thanks to excellent work off the tee. The Belgian gained over four strokes in that department and really had everything working well with the exception of his putter.

Thomas’s style of play should translate well at the Country Club of Jackson, and if he can make some putts he should be able to put himself in contention this week.

Pick to Top 10:  Scott Stallings  (+325)

Scott Stallings looked like a completely different player on his run to close out last season on the PGA Tour. Five top 15 finishes in his last seven starts carried Stallings all the way to the Tour Championship at East Lake.

The three-time PGA Tour winner will be making his first start of the new season at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, an event he has had mixed results in over the years. Stallings missed the cut at the Country Club of Jackson last year but finished T-6th here in 2020.

Overall, he has missed the cut at this event just two times in seven appearances and there is a real case to be made that he is playing better now than ever before coming into this year’s edition.

Scott has gained strokes off the tee in all but one of those seven starts at the Country Club of Jackson and he closed out last season on the PGA Tour gaining strokes with his irons in five of seven events.

Finding success on the greens this week will be crucial in an event that figures to feature plenty of scoring. Stallings typically putts well on quick Bermuda greens like he should see this week, and with how he closed out last season I like him to carry over that momentum into the new season and be a feature this week.

Pick to Win:  Russell Henley  (+2800)

This is a pretty fair number on Henley in what is sure to be one of the weaker fields on the PGA Tour this season.

Much like Stallings before him, Russell had a nice run towards the end of last season when he picked up two top 10 finishes in his last four starts. The 33-year-old Georgia native has played the Sanderson Farms Championship on two different occasions since 2016, he made the cut in both appearances and recorded a 14th place finish here in 2016.

The Country Club of Jackson really should be the perfect locale for Russell Henley who is one of the elite ball-strikers out on Tour. Last season Henley ranked 2nd in strokes gained approach, 7th in greens in regulation percentage, and 8th in tee to green.

The story for Henley is whether or not he can drain enough putts to accompany his elite ball-striking. Another elite ball-striker throughout the years who struggled with the flat stick, Sergio Garcia, won the Sanderson Farms Championship two years ago which should tell you something about what type of players can succeed here.

Henley typically putts better on quick Bermuda greens, so if he can make just an average amount of putts this week there is little reason to believe that he can’t win the same tournament that was won by Sergio Garcia back in 2020.