We head to the Country Club of Jackson (par 72, 7,461 yards, Bermuda greens) in Jackson, Missouri, for the Sanderson Farms Championship. The CC of Jackson has hosted every Sanderson Farms Championship since 2015 and Kevin Yu (-23) won this event last season after defeating Beau Hossler in a playoff. There will be 132 players competing this week and a standard top-65 and ties cut after the first two rounds.
Below, I have featured my two favorite bets for the Sanderson Farms Championship on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Michael Thorbjornsen to win (+2200)
Thorbjornsen is playing the best golf of his career right now, advancing to the weekend in 10 of his last 12 solo starts and producing five top-25 finishes during this stretch. Most notably, Thorbjornsen finished runner-up to Garrick Higgo by one shot at the Corales Puntacana Championship in April and Thorbjornsen finished T-4 at the Rocket Classic in June, which is a low-scoring event similar to the Sanderson Farms Championship. The Stanford product also just finished T-13 at the Procore Championship two weeks ago, which hosted an unusually strong field for this fall event, as 10 of the 12 members of the USA Ryder Cup team competed.
Thorbjornsen faces a much weaker field at the Sanderson Farms Championship this week and he ranks first in total strokes gained when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds. On top of the field-best form, Thorbjornsen finished T-8 in his first start at the CC of Jackson last season and he carded a career-low 9-under 63 in the first round of this event.
This was the first of back-to-back T-8 finishes for Thorbjornsen last fall and when we compare this field’s results at fall events, the 24-year-old impressively ranks first in strokes gained per round. Another encouraging stat is that Thorbjornsen ranks third in strokes gained per round when we compare this field’s last 50 rounds at courses with Bermuda greens, which is the type of putting surface he will compete on at the CC of Jackson this week. The promising young player is the top pick to win this week and Thorbjornsen is an excellent bet at this +2200 price.
Cameron Champ for a top-20 finish including ties (+175)
Champ has been extremely successful at the CC of Jackson. In his four starts at the par 72, Champ has finished first, T-28, T9 and MC, in that order. That victory in his first attempt at the CC of Jackson was a four-shot win and among the players in this field that have competed at this venue more than once, Champ ranks first in strokes gained per round.
The 30-year-old’s elite skills with his driver makes him a great match for the lengthy CC of Jackson and while Champ is coming off a missed cut at the Procore Championship, he has made 7-of-12 cuts this season and five of these finishes have been top-20 results.
Champ ranks fifth in total strokes gained when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds – including first in SG OTT – and these +175 odds are simply too long for his chances of finishing inside the top-20 this week.
