Tag: 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship

Sam Burns remains on a heater, grabs clubhouse lead in Shriners Children’s Open

Sam Burns continued his torrid ascension toward the elite ranks in the game in Friday’s second round of the Shriners Children’s Open.

LAS VEGAS – When Sam Burns missed the cut in the American Express, his first start in the 2021 calendar year, he fell to 168th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Now he might be the second best player on the planet.

World No. 1 Jon Rahm is the undisputed best player in the world, but Burns is certainly in the conversation for second best. He continued his torrid ascension toward the elite ranks in the game as he kept on assaulting par in Friday’s second round of the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin.

With an 8-under-par 63, Burns moved into the clubhouse lead at 13 under. It was his eighth consecutive round in the 60s, with four of those coming last week en route to his victory in the Sanderson Farms Championship.

He’s moved to No. 18 in the world and is in good shape to win his third PGA Tour title, his first coming in May at the Valspar Championship.

Burns is two shots clear of six players.

“I feel comfortable,” Burns said. “At the end of the day it’s golf. It’s not anything crazy. So I just try to keep it as simple as I can. I think for me, just coming out here and enjoying myself, having fun, that’s what we’re supposed to do out here, right?

“So I’m just trying to do that.”

Despite moving up 150 spots in the world rankings in just over 10 months and winning two PGA Tour titles and finishing runner-up twice, Burns hasn’t heightened his expectations. He’s still the same guy who woke up 168th in the world, the same guy intent to improve week by week.

“I don’t really view it as what do I expect out of myself on the golf course. It’s what I expect of myself in preparation, making sure that I’m doing the hard work and making sure that I’m not leaving any leaves unturned,” Burns said. “Just trying to make sure that we’re preparing the best we can.

“I think there’s a lot of great people on our team. They have done a really good job of just trying to help us improve, help us get better in certain areas, and so that’s what we’ve been looking at, just trying to improve in those certain areas and just continue to try to get better.”

After opening with a 66, Burns nearly holed out from the fairway on his first hole in the second round – the par-4 10th – and settled for a tap-in birdie. He added seven more and has 15 birdies against a lone double bogey on the week.

Burns didn’t burn himself out celebrating last week’s win. He had a nice celebration with friends and family in the clubhouse Sunday night, drove home and saw his parents.

And then he started getting ready for this week.

“Last week’s last week,” Burns said. “This week is Shriners and preparing for this week, trying to make sure Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, that we are giving ourselves the best opportunity to play well this week. That’s been the biggest thing, is just trying to move on from last week. Obviously incredibly honored that I won last week and such a fun time, but just trying to kind of leave that there, come here, and just preparing the best that I can.”

It’s worked so far.

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How Nick Watney is cashing in on a one-time ‘lifeline’ this season on the PGA Tour

Nick Watney benefits from an “amazing lifeline” to try to resurrect his PGA Tour career via a one-time PGA Tour top-50 career earnings exemption.

Nick Watney calls it “an amazing kind of lifeline.” After finishing 204th in the FedEx Cup Standings last season, failing even to make the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Watney is playing this season on a one-time-only use of a top-50 PGA Tour career money-list exemption. Watney’s rank on the career money list entering the 2021-22 season? No. 50. In other words, it was now or never to use it.

“To have that was incredible,” he said.

Watney, 40, is making the most of it in the early going of the new season. He followed up a respectable T-29 at the season-opening Fortinet Championship with a tie for second Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship, shooting a final-round, bogey-free 65 to finish with a 72-hole total of 21-under 267, a stroke behind winner Sam Burns.

“This is why I play golf,” Watney said, “to be nervous and pull it off.”

Watney once was among the top players in the game, cracking the top 10 in the world in 2011 and winning five times between 2007 and 2012. But he’s endured a victory drought, 3,325 days and counting, since the 2012 Barclays and hit rock bottom last season when he missed 13 cuts in a row and 18 in a span of 19 starts to plummet to No. 660 in the world entering the Sanderson Farms Championship.

“Last year there were some low times that kind of, I asked myself some really tough questions,” he said. “You know, do I want to keep playing? Do I enjoy this?”

Watney’s soul searching cut to the bone, eventually getting around to this realization: “I’ve played long enough that I don’t really know anything else, you know?”

All that time on the road with nothing to show for his efforts made leaving his family unbearable. That had to be factored into the equation, too. So, what was the answer to the tough question of whether he still loved the nomadic life that is the PGA Tour?

“I really do,” he said.

He decided to go back to the grindstone. Watney began working with his longtime instructor Butch Harmon to try to recapture the magic that made him one of the best in the game. Watney may not have gone home with the Sanderson Farms signature rooster trophy, but he departed with a confidence boost – his first top-10 finish since a T-10 at the 2019 Safeway Championship and best result since tying for second at the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship – that could be the difference as he tries to make the most of his one-time career money-list exemption.

“I think this proves to myself that what I’m working on is the right thing,” he said. “There was definitely some lean times, especially last year, but I mean that’s, I’m not trying to think about that any more, I’m trying to continue to get better and this was a great step this week.”

How much money each PGA Tour player earned at Sanderson Farms Championship

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour, folks. Just ask Sam Burns.

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour, folks. Just ask this week’s winner, Sam Burns.

The 25-year-old Louisiana native and former LSU Tiger made his professional debut on Tour at the 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship and came full-circle on Sunday, winning the 2021 event at Country Club of Jackson at 22-under following a 5-under 67 in the final round. The win is the second of Burns’ career on Tour following the Valspar Championship last May. The victory earns Burns a cool $1,260,000 million and those ever-so-valuable 500 FedEx Cup points.

Check out how much money each player earned this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Sanderson Farms: Scores | Yardage book | Winner’s bag

Sanderson Farms Prize Money

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Sam Burns -22 $1,260,000
T2 Nick Watney -21 $623,000
T2 Cameron Young -21 $623,000
T4 Hayden Buckley -20 $280,000
T4 Andrew Landry -20 $280,000
T4 Trey Mullinax -20 $280,000
T4 Henrik Norlander -20 $280,000
T8 Si Woo Kim -19 $204,750
T8 Seth Reeves -19 $204,750
T8 Sahith Theegala -19 $204,750
T11 Cheng-Tsung Pan -18 $162,750
T11 Cameron Tringale -18 $162,750
T11 Harold Varner III -18 $162,750
T14 Tyler Duncan -17 $127,750
T14 Roger Sloan -17 $127,750
T14 Will Zalatoris -17 $127,750
T17 Corey Conners -16 $86,683
T17 Nate Lashley -16 $86,683
T17 Luke List -16 $86,683
T17 Denny McCarthy -16 $86,683
T17 William McGirt -16 $86,683
T17 Taylor Moore -16 $86,683
T17 Brendan Steele -16 $86,683
T17 Matthew Wolff -16 $86,683
T17 Grant Hirschman -16 $86,683
T26 Nick Hardy -15 $54,250
T26 Stephan Jaeger -15 $54,250
T26 Aaron Wise -15 $54,250
T29 Russell Knox -14 $49,000
T29 Adam Long -14 $49,000
T31 Sung-jae Im -13 $42,788
T31 Mito Pereira -13 $42,788
T31 Alex Smalley -13 $42,788
T31 Kevin Streelman -13 $42,788
T35 Mackenzie Hughes -12 $35,613
T35 Chris Kirk -12 $35,613
T35 Davis Thompson -12 $35,613
T35 Kyle Reifers -12 $35,613
T39 Paul Barjon -11 $28,350
T39 Dylan Frittelli -11 $28,350
T39 Emiliano Grillo -11 $28,350
T39 Charley Hoffman -11 $28,350
T39 Ryan Moore -11 $28,350
T39 Taylor Pendrith -11 $28,350
T45 Chesson Hadley -10 $20,846
T45 Adam Hadwin -10 $20,846
T45 Lee Hodges -10 $20,846
T45 Kurt Kitayama -10 $20,846
T45 Jimmy Walker -10 $20,846
T45 Eugenio Chacarra (a) -10 N/A
T51 Joel Dahmen -9 $17,234
T51 Peter Malnati -9 $17,234
T51 Andy Ogletree -9 $17,234
T51 Sam Ryder -9 $17,234
T51 Michael Thompson -9 $17,234
T56 Brice Garnett -8 $16,380
T56 Doc Redman -8 $16,380
T58 Joseph Bramlett -7 $15,890
T58 Doug Ghim -7 $15,890
T58 Lucas Glover -7 $15,890
T58 Brandon Hagy -7 $15,890
T58 Andrew Novak -7 $15,890
T63 John Huh -6 $15,400
T63 Chad Ramey -6 $15,400
T65 Sung-Hoon Kang -5 $15,120
T65 Vincent Whaley -5 $15,120
67 Austin Cook -4 $14,910
68 J.J. Spaun -1 $14,770

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Winner’s Bag: Sam Burns, Sanderson Farms Championship

Sam Burns won his second PGA Tour event using a bag filled with Callaway gear. See which clubs he used to win in Mississippi.

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The golf equipment Sam Burns used to win the PGA Tour’s 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship:

DRIVER: Callaway Epic Speed (10.5 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Blue 7X shaft (From $529.99 at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s)

FAIRWAY WOOD: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (17 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft (From $199.99 at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s)

HYBRID: Callaway Apex (23 degrees), with Fujikura Atmos Blue Hybrid 8X shaft (From $269.99 at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s)

IRONS: Callaway Apex TCB (4-9), with Project X 6.5 shafts

WEDGES: Callaway JAWS MD5 Raw (46, 50, 56, 60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts (From $149.99 at Carl’s Golfland)

PUTTER: Odyssey O-Works Black #7S

BALL: Callaway Chrome Soft X (From $47.99 at Carl’s Golfland and Dick’s)

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Back-nine birdie streak leads Sam Burns to Sanderson Farms Championship win

Burns feels right at home at Country Club of Jackson, and it showed all week long.

JACKSON, Miss. — In a tournament known for its low scores the players put on quite a show Sunday at Country Club of Jackson.

Thirteen players were within two shots of the lead at one point during the final round of the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship, and then Sam Burns made the turn. The 25-year-old birdied Nos. 11, 13, 14 and 15 to take a two-shot lead with three holes to play and was nails down the stretch en route to his second PGA Tour win following May’s Valspar Championship.

Burns, who only missed nine greens over his four rounds, was riding the good vibes all week in his first start of the new Tour season, finishing the week at 22-under following his final-round 5-under 67, one shot clear of Nick Watney and Cameron Young. The Louisiana native and former LSU Tiger feels right at home on Mississippi’s Bermuda grass, not to mention he made his professional debut on Tour in 2017 at the Sanderson Farms, where he finished T-43.

Sanderson Farms: Scores | Yardage book | Photos

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Sanderson Farms Championship: Round 3 winners and losers in Mississippi

Who’s in position to win, and who failed to get it done

The players in the Sanderson Farms Championship separated themselves in Saturday’s third round at Country Club of Jackson.

Here are the winners and losers from Day 3:

Winners

Sahith Theegala

The 23-year-old remained atop of the leaderboard for the third straight day after carding 5-under 67. Theegala scored his second-consecutive 67 to get to 18 under, one shot better than a quartet of players entering Sunday. Theegala has continued his streak of “playing well” only two weeks after he earned exemption on the PGA Tour.

Matthew Wolff

Wolff used the momentum from his 36-foot putt to make the cut on the nose on Friday to to climb up the leaderboard Saturday. Wolff birdied six times in the third round to score 65, his lowest score since last season.

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COMEBACK SEASON:How Matthew Wolff found his game again at Sanderson Farms Championship

GUESS WHO’S BACK:The alligators are back at the Sanderson Farms Championship

PGA Tour rookie Sahith Theegala leads Sanderson Farms Championship after low-scoring Saturday

22 players shot 5-under or better Saturday at the Sanderson Farms, including 54-hole leader Sahith Theegala.

JACKSON, Miss. — If you were watching the Sanderson Farms Championship on Saturday, you probably shot 67 from your couch.

A whopping 22 players shot 5-under or better during the third round at Country Club of Jackson, including 54-hole leader and PGA Tour rookie, Sahith Theegala. The Pepperdine product, after a “pretty wild” round, holds a one-shot lead at 18 under over Cameron Tringale, Denny McCarthy, Sam Burns and Cameron Young.

Theegala, the undisputed men’s college player of the year in 2020, is off to a strong start in the professional ranks following his made cut at the Fortinet Championship two weeks ago, the first event of the new Tour season.

“I started off playing really well, really solid, just missed a few makeable putts, but felt like my game was good,” Theegala said of his bogey-free round. “Then I started to hit some — I got a few to go in at the start of the back nine — and them I hit some wild drives, I mean way right, so was really happy to escape with a couple pars. It just felt like a grind those last five, six holes there. Obviously really happy with how I ground that out.”

Sanderson Farms: Scores | Yardage book | Photos

Theegala made five birdies and 13 pars in his round, and was as close to an eagle as you can get on the 303-yard par-4 15th. When his drive ran off the back of the green, leaving an 84-foot pitch to the hole, Theegala ran one right at the cup and suffered one of the more-brutal lipouts you’ll see.

“I can’t wait to see the replay of that to see what happened because it literally looked like more than a 360,” Theegala said of the shot. “I didn’t have the greatest vantage point, but it was literally going right at the stick, and I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s in, with good speed.’ But yeah, I can’t believe that lipout. That was like, people saw that lipout of Spieth at the Ryder Cup, that might have been worse.”

Still searching for his first win on Tour in his 311th start, Tringale shot the low round of the day, a bogey-free 10-under 62 to match his career best. Tringale went birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle on the par 5’s Saturday.

“I was just in control, in complete command of the ball and those are fun days, definitely didn’t feel that way starting out the week, but I feel like I’ve gained a little confidence each day,” Tringale said of his week in Mississippi. “I would say this was a combination of hitting a lot of good shots and having good breaks just on the same day.

“I love playing, obviously I’ve been out here a long time, I haven’t won, but I love competing and I just want to see if I can keep beating guys … I’m kind of a journeyman to this point and I’m enjoying the journey.”

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McCarthy and Burns each shot 7-under 65 while Young signed for a 5-under 67. Seth Reeves sits T-6 alongside Trey Mullinax at 16-under after a career low 9-under 63. Aaron Wise (67) and Roger Sloan (68) are T-8 at 15 under.

While 15 players are within four shots of the lead entering Sunday’s final round, according to the Tour, the Sanderson Farms Championship is the only event on Tour where each of the last four 54-hole leaders or co-leaders have converted for the win: Ryan Armour (2017), Cameron Champ (2018), Sebastián Muñoz (2019) and Sergio Garcia (2020).

“Definitely a little nerves in there for sure, but I think people have said before pressure’s a privilege and I’m trying to use those nerves to my advantage,” Theegala said of the pressure and nerves on the course. “I’m just having a good time with (caddie Carl Smith) out there and regardless of the golf that’s what it boils down to, golf’s a game and try and enjoy it as much as I can.”

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Learning from a difficult last year, a happier Matthew Wolff rockets up leaderboard at Sanderson Farms Championship

Wolff went low on Saturday and is beginning to look like world-beater fans thought he’d become.

This time last year Matthew Wolff was cruising.

The rising star on the PGA Tour had put together consecutive runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open before a nagging right hand injury aided a poor run of form– five missed cuts, two WDs and a disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard in 20 events with just four top-25 finishes – that plagued the rest of his 2020 super-season.

The 22-year-old looked more like the world-beater golf fans thought he’d be on Saturday at Country Club of Jackson, shooting a 7-under 65 from the morning wave to climb into contention at the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship. In fact, Wolff is using the same set of TaylorMade P7MC irons he used at the U.S. Open and Shriners after he switched to the P750’s in the summer, according to the PGA Tour’s Sean Martin.

“I think that I’m just kind of putting everything in perspective a little bit,” said Wolff, who made a 36-footer on his final hole Friday to make the cut on the number at 5 under.

Sanderson Farms: Scores | Yardage book | Photos

“I’m getting a little older and a little more mature and unfortunately last year was really hard for me and I wasn’t in a happy spot but I think at the end of the day I’m going to learn from that and I already have learned from it and definitely know in the future I think it’s going to make me a better player,” explained Wolff, “because I guarantee you that’s not the last time I’m going to have a little hiccup in my career and having that so young I feel like I’ve already learned so much more than maybe some guys who have had an easier career and stuff, even though it’s not easy to have a good career throughout the entire time.”

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Expectations were high for the Oklahoma State product coming out of school, and rightfully so. Wolff turned pro after a sophomore year in Stillwater that featured a program-record six wins, including the individual national championship. He won on Tour just a month later, outdueling Bryson DeChambeau and fellow rookie Collin Morikawa at the 2019 3M Open with an eagle on the 72nd hole.

The California native who now resides in Jupiter, Florida, added that he’s working on the right things and that’s led his game to make a turn back to the positive side. His happier mental state certainly helps, too.

Wolff took advantage of little-to-no wind during most of his Saturday morning walk, and got into a rhythm alongside Luke List, who shot a 4-under 68. He birdied his opening hole and added two more on Nos. 4 and 6, with his lone bogey of the day sandwiched in-between on the par-5 5th.

Another birdie on the 9th put Wolff at 3-under 33 at the turn, and the train kept rolling with a two on the par-3 10th and a two-putt birdie from 28 feet on the par-5 11th. He added two more on Nos. 14 and 15 to put to bed his lowest score since his Saturday 61 at last year’s Shriners.

“I’m really happy with where I put myself and looking to have fun and just go out there and do my best tomorrow,” said Wolff.

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Defending champion Sergio Garcia highlights PGA Tour players who missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship

Who’s going home early from the Sanderson Farms?

JACKSON, Miss. — With just one player ranked inside the top 25 of the Official World Golf Ranking in the field at the Sanderson Farms Championship this week, a group of hopeful rising stars on the PGA Tour have taken advantage of the opportunity to reach the leaderboard.

Last season’s Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris took the early lead at 13 under after setting the course record (and tying the tournament mark) with a bogey-free 11-under 61 on Friday at Country Club of Jackson. Later in the evening he was joined atop the leaderboard by Nick Watney (6-under 66) and Sahith Theegala (5-under 67). Zalatoris’ former teammate at Wake Forest, Cameron Young, sits T-2, one shot back at 12 under alongside Mississippi local Hayden Buckley.

On the flip side, toward the bottom half of the leaderboard, you may be surprised when you see some of the notable players to miss the cut.

Sanderson Farms: Scores | Yardage book | Photos

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Watch: Gators are making the rounds at Sanderson Farms Championship

With the return of the Sanderson Farms Championship comes … the return of roaming alligators at the event.

With the return of the Sanderson Farms Championship to The Country Club of Jackson comes … the return of roaming alligators along The Country Club of Jackson at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

A live alligator was spotted on the sixth hole at The Jackson Country Club on Friday afternoon. The club’s PGA professional Jason Prendergrast said Fuzzy was the name given for the only alligator he had encountered on the course before in 2020. Prendergrast has been with The Country Club since 2004 and came across his first alligator in two years. As of 2020, about 10-known alligators occupy bodies of water at the course.

With the animals on the course, The Country Club’s junior program began with two names: “Crocs,” for ages 3-9 and “Gators” for ages 10-and-up.

Last year, an alligator snacking on a turtle made the rounds during the event.

An alligator is seen eating a turtle on the sixth hole during the second round of the 2020 Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson on October 02, 2020, in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Sanderson Farms Championship: Winners and losers from Day 1 in Mississippi

Round two of this year’s Sanderson Farms Championship continues through Friday evening. Will Zalatoris was the leader after the early wave of players.

Contact Rashad Milligan at 601-862-6198 or Jmilligan@gannett.com. Follow @RashadMilligan on Twitter.

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