Sanderson Farms Championship
Course: Country Club of Jackson (7,461 yards, par 72)
Purse: $6,000,000
Winner: $1,080,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall Points
Tournament Preview
It's back to your regularly scheduled programming this week following all the dramatics at Bethpage Black for the 2025 Ryder Cup. The Europeans got off to an incredible start once again, but the Americans did not quit on the final day. The U.S. Team made it a far closer match than anybody really thought going into Sunday, but ultimately Team Europe would retain the Ryder Cup again by a score of 15-13. While it feels like a lot of this year led up to last week at the Ryder Cup, there's still plenty of consequential golf left in 2025, and of course an optimal DFS lineup for us to try and find for this week's Sanderson Farms Championship.
The Country Club of Jackson has hosted this event since 2014. The Parkland style course stretches over 7,400 yards and incorporates some of the classic design ideas by Donald Ross. This event was for a long period of time held opposite of a number of different bigger events, but in 2019 became a full status event on the PGA Tour. Unfortunately, as is the case with all seven fall events on the PGA Tour this year, this will be the first time since becoming a full status event that the winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship will not receive an automatic invite to The Masters. That said, there will still be OWGR points available as players try to work their way into the Top 50 at year's end and earn an invite for the first major of 2026 that way.
The biggest focus throughout the FedExCup Fall is the battle to get inside the Top 100 in FedExCup points. All those players will have full status on the PGA Tour in 2026. After a strong third-place showing in Napa a few weeks ago, Lanto Griffin holds that coveted 100th spot in the FedExCup Fall standings. Andrew Putnam, Vince Whaley and Max McGreevy are the names knocking on the door.
Last year in the final round, Kevin Yu birdied the 18th hole in regulation and then again in the playoff to defeat Beau Hossler and earn his first PGA Tour victory. Playoffs have become common place at the Sanderson Farms Championship of late with the last three editions requiring extra holes to decide a champion.
The 2025 field includes four players ranked inside the top 50 in the OWGR, led by Akshay Bhatia at No. 34. There's also a total of five players who ranked inside the top 50 of the FedExCup standings, which means they are locked in for all the signature events in 2026. Rasmus Hojgaard is the lone Ryder Cup player in this field, but at 87th in the standings, he needs a few solid events to ensure he keeps full playing status for 2026 on the PGA Tour. His twin brother Nicolai Hojgaard will also join him in this field, and he sits 74th in the standings.
This tournament might be starting in October, but it's going to feel like we are in the dog days of summer this week. Temperatures for each of the four tournament rounds will top out in the high-80s. We also aren't expecting to see much precipitation, with Sunday being the only likely chance. The wind should blow consistently in the 8-12 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. It should be a pretty solid test for these players as long as the course dries out and we see those bigger gusts of winds. The winning score has fallen between 16 and 23-under-par for each of the 11 previous editions at the Country Club of Jackson.
Recent Champions
2024 - Kevin Yu (-23)
2023 - Luke List (-18)
2022 - Mackenzie Hughes (-17)
2021 - Sam Burns (-22)
2020 - Sergio Garcia (-19)
2019 - Sebastian Munoz (-18)
2018 - Cameron Champ (-21)
2017 - Ryan Armour (-19)
2016 - Cody Gribble (-20)
2015 - Peter Malnati (-18)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/Proximity 50-125 Yards
- SG: Putting/Putting Inside 10 Feet
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- Par-5 Scoring
Champion's Profile
The Country Club of Jackson has traditionally been a course where players are always on the attack. This week I think we have to put a heavy emphasis on scoring opportunities and taking advantage of them. Approach play and putting should reign supreme, and in particular I'll be keying in on approaches from 50-125 yards in putting from inside 10 feet. A number of the par-4s at this course are on the shorter end and it has a potential to turn into somewhat of a wedge contest.
I'll tend to lean towards distance over accuracy this week. The rough is not going to be that penal, especially considering the dry summer that the area faced. Last year CC of Jackson yielded the third-lowest fairway hit rate among all courses, and Kevin Yu still set the 72-hole aggregate scoring record of 23-under-par. In recent years big-hitters like Luke List, Sam Burns and Cameron Champ have found their way into the win column. The par-5s here also are very key to take advantage of, despite the fact that this quartet has played quite stingy over the years relative to PGA Tour average.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Akshay Bhatia ($12,000)
Bhatia is the highest priced golfer in the field this week and is deserving of it. His iron play has been exceptional over the last few months. That will give him a lot of birdie chances around this course. His putting has been a little harder to figure out, but he is coming off a great performance on the greens at the Procore Championship where he finished T11. That was actually his third top-15 finish in his last four starts. Given the strength of this field, I'd be shocked if he didn't collect another one in Jackson.
Davis Thompson ($11,800)
Thompson was a player I was very high on going into 2025. That was because in 2024 he scored his first career win at the John Deere Classic and had two other runner-up finishes on his way to ranking eighth in SG: Total for the year. Safe to say he didn't live up to that in 2025. That said, he's coming off two straight top-20 finishes and this reset should help him get back to that form of old. When he's on Thompson is a brilliant driver, strong with his irons and sharp around the greens. He played here most recently in 2023 when he scored a T16 finish.
Michael Thorbjornsen ($11,600)
The second half of 2025 was much better than the first for Thorbjornsen. It can be hard to find your footing as a rookie, but he seems to be much more comfortable with four top-25s in his last six starts. Thorbjornsen has been one of the best drivers on Tour all season, and he should be able to use his length to attack this course. He also has gained strokes on approach in 7 of his last 10 starts, and ranks fourth in GIR percentage on the season. Thorbjornsen had his best putting week on the PGA Tour at the Country Club of Jackson last year en route to a T8 finish.
The Middle Tier
Emiliano Grillo ($10,500)
Grillo checks a lot of boxes this week. He ranks 20th in total driving, sixth in approaches from 50-125 yards and 31st in SG: Putting. Grillo is coming off a T4 finish in Napa, which was also his 11th made cut in his last 12 starts. He's played in Jackson on six previous occasions and only missed the cut once to go along with a T5 in 2022 and a T11 last year.
Beau Hossler ($9,800)
Hossler has started to find his stride over the last few months with top-15 finishes in four of his last six starts. He remains elite around the greens and with the putter. Iron play has always been a little scratchy throughout Hossler's career, but this year he's actually been quite strong with the wedges ranking 13th in approaches from inside 100 yards. Hossler has two top-10s in four starts in Jackson, including a runner-up last year.
Mark Hubbard ($9,700)
Hubbard is not flashy at all, but you can always count on him to get the job done. He's made the cut in 11 of his last 12 starts with a trio of top-7 finishes in that span. Hubbard has gained strokes with the putter in his last 11 measured starts and sits 34th in approaches from 50-125 yards this season. CC of Jackson has been a good course for Hubbard with a T5 and a T6 in his last three starts.
The Long Shots
Lee Hodges ($8,800)
Hodges definitely struggled coming down the stretch of the regular season, but having nearly two full months off will be a nice reset for a player I think is very talented. The 30-year-old ranks 21st in total driving, 16th in SG: Approach, 25th in approaches from 50-125 yards and 23rd in scrambling. Hodges also ranks eighth in par-5 scoring average, which will be important on this tough set of long holes. He's made the cut in all four previous starts at CC of Jackson.
Antoine Rozner ($8,400)
Rozner is one of the best iron players you are going to find down this far, and he should be able to rack up a lot of birdie opportunities on this course. Rozner ranks 19th in SG: Approach, 22nd in GIR percentage and leads the PGA Tour in par-3 scoring. He is also very reliable having made the cut in 19 of his last 20 starts. Rozner is coming off a T12 at the FedEx Open de France where he had his third straight strong performance with the putter.
Ben Kohles ($8,200)
Kohles is another excellent iron player worth highlighting here. This season he ranks 10th in SG: Approach, second in GIR percentage and third in proximity. He is also one of the most accurate drivers on Tour and has finished T26-or-better in three of his last five starts. The putter is the question mark for Kohles, but this will be his third straight start at CC of Jackson and he finished T16 a year ago.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
There's all types of different shapes and sizes who have had success at this course over the years. Ideally you want someone who excels both with their iron play and with the putter, but given the strength of this field that's not the easiest thing to find, especially when you get down lower on the board. I think mixing things up and giving yourself a bunch of different high ranking traits could be a good strategy option. I've noted a few different times that wedge play, short-putting and par-5 scoring could be some other key metrics to look into. Of the higher priced options this week, I will be avoiding Kevin Yu ($11,900), Min Woo Lee ($11,400) and Rasmus Hojgaard ($11,100).
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