Sanderson Farms Championship 2022

Just a few days removed from Guido Migliozzi’s final round exploits at the French Open, he shot nine under on Sunday to overcome a five-shot deficit and win by a stroke. The sheer bravery and magnificence of his final approach shot into the 18th green will remain in my mind for the foreseeable future.

We’re back in America this week at a rather depleted-looking field for the Sanderson Farms Championship. The country club of Jackson, in Jackson Mississippi will play host to the PGA tour hopefuls this week. The 7,450-yard, par 72 normally caters to golfers who plot their way around a course as opposed to the drive and gouge style players. Golfers such as Nick Taylor, Peter Malnati, and Ryan Armour epitomize this. Winning scores here usually hover around twenty under and this year should be no different.

I’ve selected just the four names this week as I struggled to find any other that jumped off the page and appeal to me enough to justify picking.

JT Poston 1.5pts ew 25/1 (8 places Powers)

The postman has really come into his own since the beginning of last season, JT began the season missing his first six cuts but found himself going from strength to strength in the closing months of the season, highlighted by his second PGA Tour win at the John Deere Classic back in July. Poston also arrives here on the back of five consecutive paydays all resulting in finishes of T35 or better. Similarly, here in Jackson, his record is better than most in the field this week as he has made the weekend in five of his six visits with a third place in 2020 his best effort and given the form he ended last season in I would be shocked if he doesn’t give a decent run at the title as well this week.

Denny McCarthy 1.5pts ew 25/1 (8 places William Hill)

A frequent selection by me in these previews as I feel he still hasn’t fully reached his potential yet on the PGA Tour. But last season he finished a high 43rd in the FedEx Cup and connected for five top 10 finishes over the course of the year and I believe that now at 29 years old it’s time for Denny to fulfill that untapped potential and prove that he is more than just a great putter. Two particular results I’ve noticed from last year were back-to-back weeks for McCarthy where he finished 5th and 7th at two hugely challenging tracks at the Memorial and US Open.

I hope he can draw on these finishes as he looks to force that maiden win and here is as good a place as any as he has made the cut in each of his last four visits here with finishes of 7-18-6-17 in that spell. Hopefully this week he can finish the quest for that breakthrough win.

Harris English 1pt ew 45/1 (8 places Ladbrokes)

A former winner for us in the early days of my previews, but since that win, Harris has suffered injury setbacks and a lack of form since his comeback. Finished out last season with three consecutive missed cuts and looked slightly out of sorts, but in the meantime, he took six weeks off to prepare for the new season and it looks to have paid off as he looked much more solid two weeks ago at the Fortinet where a closing 66 has given me hope that he could be getting back to the player he was all those months ago. Harris also holds a 6th place finish here in 2019, his best effort by far in three visits here. If he can ride the confidence, he must have from his last outing both on tour and here he can be a major force this and could very well be overpriced at 45s.

Sepp Straka 1pt ew 45/1 (8 places Ladbrokes)

A winner for us earlier in the year at the Honda here he chased down Shane Lowry to produce a stunning win at 100/1 for this group. Since the said win, Sepp seems to have lost his form somewhat and lately looked to lose it completely. From mid-June to the start of August Straka missed six consecutive cuts with far too many scores in the high seventies and even an eighty-one for good measure. But as the FedEx playoffs began Sepp appeared to figure out something in his game finishing second in the St. Jude, before registering four rounds in the sixties around East Lake, no easy feat for a debutant there.

I know it normally goes against everything I normally harp on about in these previews but Sepp's course form here is abysmal missing the cut in all four efforts but looking back at previous winners here many have won with no form here in Jackson to speak of and just like the way Straka re-found his form at the end of last season perhaps he can find his form here this week.