The first two rounds of the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson are complete. It’s the second event of the PGA Tour’s 2022-23 season. Scores were lower during the second round, as numerous players climbed up the leaderboard to put themselves in position ahead of moving day.
Thomas Detry fired his second consecutive round of 5-under 67, and he leads at 10-under 134. Mackenzie Hughes caught fire Friday, shooting 8-under 64, and he’s one back of Detry. Sepp Straka is tied with Hughes after his round of 6-under 66.
The cut was 2-under 142. There are 78 players moving on to the weekend.
Here’s a look at a few notable names who missed the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship:
“No matter what my game brings, I’m not too worried about it. I’m just happy to be here.”
JACKSON, Miss. – A lot has changed for Sahith Theegala since the last time he was at The Country Club of Jackson.
He has become one of the fan favorites on the PGA Tour. The 24-year-old from Orange, California, who now plays out of The Woodlands, Texas, qualified for the Tour Championship as a rookie last season, one of only two rookies (Cameron Young) to hold that honor. He led the Tour in birdies (433) last season, too.
But most importantly, Theegala has been thrown into the fire. A year ago at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Theegala led or co-led after the first three rounds. He shot 1-under 71 on Sunday to finish in a tie for eighth, three shots behind eventual winner Sam Burns.
Yet Theegala found himself in contention plenty of times during his rookie campaign, including a T-3 at the WM Phoenix Open while playing on a sponsor exemption and a T-2 at the Travelers Championship. He wasn’t able to hoist a trophy come Sunday, but Theegala has grown leaps and bounds since he was last in Jackson.
“I’m still a little. … I don’t think I’m ever not going to be nervous. … I’m still a little nervous,” Theegala said. “It’s the start of the season, everyone wants to play well in the fall to kind of set themselves up for the spring. But like I mentioned earlier, I’m just a little bit more comfortable. I’m more comfortable just kind of being myself out here, not trying to copy other guys or trying to be like other guys or play like other guys.
“Mostly because knowing that my good golf is good enough to be on the PGA Tour, and I think just having that in the back of my mind, it frees me up a lot more, but also last year was a really incredible year. I’m about as free as I can be right now.”
That freeness has helped him become a better golfer. Two weeks ago at the season-opening Fortinet Championship in Napa, California, Theegala found himself again near the top of the leaderboard. He finished tied for sixth, a great start to his second season.
Yet Theegala is searching for more. And being back at the Sanderson Farms is a place where he believes he can find it.
“I love being back here. I made it a point in the fall schedule to definitely be back here,” Theegala said. “One of the first events that I got a spot into. I can’t thank (tournament director) Steve Jent enough for giving me a spot when I had no status or anything, so that was cool. A lot of good memories being back here.”
Two years ago, Theegala made his debut and missed the cut while having only two bogeys. Last year, he led for the first time on Tour. Now, he’s hoping to continue the upward trend.
Theegala spent time in Houston last week practicing while the Presidents Cup was going on at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two things he’s focusing on are dialing in his driver and being more precise with his wedges.
Last season, he ranked 91st in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. At the Fortinet, he ranked 23rd in that category, gaining more than two strokes against the field.
Sahith Theegala tees off on the 18th hole during the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
The Country Club of Jackson is playing close to 7,500 yards as a par-72 layout. Theegala said hitting his driver well and making plenty of putts on “some of the best greens on Tour, if not the best greens on Tour,’ were keys to his success last year.
But he has found his niche and knows what it takes to be successful on Tour. That’s why he’s satisfied with his current position.
“I just feel really comfortable,” Theegala said. “I think that’s the main thing. No matter what my game brings, I’m not too worried about it. I’m just happy to be here.”
Denny McCarthy has four straight top-20 finishes in Jackson, including two top 10s.
After an exciting, and let’s be honest, closer Presidents Cup than expected, the PGA Tour returns to its regularly scheduled programming at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Defending champion Sam Burns, who may still be fending off the victory hangover from Quail Hollow Club, is the betting favorite at +1000. Sahith Theegala, who grabbed a top-6 finish at the Fortinet Championship to open the new season, is next in line at +2000, as are Russell Henley, Denny McCarthy and J.T. Poston.
The winner at the end of the week at The Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi, will earn 500 FedEx Cup points and over $1.4 million.
The Country Club of Jackson | Par 72 | 7,461 yards | Bermuda greens
The Country Club of Jackson hosts the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship. (Photo by Joe Ellis/The Mississippi Clarion Ledger)
Key stats
Total driving
Strokes Gained: Putting: Bermuda
Data Golf Information
Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. Atunyote Club, 2. Corales Golf Club, 3. Torrey Pines (North)
Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Sam Burns (5.4 percent), 2. Taylor Montgomery (4.2 percent), 3. Wyndham Clark (2.8 percent)
“We all know what you’re going through right now, and on behalf of everyone we just want to say we’re all with you.”
The PGA Tour on Monday posted a touching video of encouragement to Golfweek and USA TODAY golf writer Steve DiMeglio, who is battling cancer. Eighteen players took the time to speak on camera, wishing DiMeglio the best in his fight in the video posted to YouTube and the Tour’s social media platforms
DiMeglio, who has covered golf since 2007 for the national newspaper and also for Golfweek, announced on social media after returning from the British Open in July that he has Stage 4 rectal and liver cancer. The 61-year-old has since shared his sometimes harsh experiences with chemotherapy as he tackles the illness head-on with grace and often humor.
“We all know what you’re going through right now, and on behalf of everyone we just want to say we’re all with you,” Rory McIlroy said to DiMeglio in the Tour’s video. “We’re pulling for you. We’re fighting alongside you. We all wish you the best on this journey, but we just want you to remember that we’re all thinking of you.”
Other players who commented include Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Adam Scott and Jon Rahm.
“Steve, what’s up, man. Or should I say Big Man?” said Justin Thomas in the video, referring to DiMeglio’s propensity to call everyone Big Man. “We all miss you, man. We’re so, so bummed with what’s going on with you. But we know you’re going to stay strong, you’re going to keep fighting, you’re going to keep texting me about Alabama football and positivity. I’ve always appreciated not only how you’ve treated myself and all the players, but my family. I know that’s something that’s very important and cool to me because you don’t need to take the time to do that. And we’re all pulling for you and hoping for the absolute best.
“More important, I really want you back out here because I love giving you grief more than anybody else.”
Steve DiMeglio at Augusta National in 2020 (Photo courtesy Steve DiMeglio)
– On behalf of this Golfweek writer and all of DiMeglio’s coworkers, we would like to thank you, the players and producers of the video, for the moving tribute to one of the most-read voices in the game.
After several close calls last season, keep an eye on Theegala in Napa.
And just like that, we’re back. It’s time for the start of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season and the boys are in Napa, California, for the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course).
Understandably, Homa enters this year’s event as the betting favorite at +1300 (13/1). Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Conners are next on the list, tied at +1500 (15/1). Last year’s runner-up, McNealy, sits at +2000 (20/1).
Let’s dive into our first Tour preview of the season.
Silverado Spa and Resort (North) | Par 72 | 7,123 yards
A general view of the course during round one of the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa on September 16, 2021, in Napa, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Key stats
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
Total driving
Data Golf Information
Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. Annandale GC, 2. Memorial Park Golf Course, 3. TPC Scottsdale
Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Max Homa (4.8 percent), 2. Corey Conners (4.7 percent), 3. Taylor Pendrith (3.7 percent)
The PGA Tour announced Monday the finalists for its Jack Nicklaus Award and Arnold Palmer Award for the 2021-22 season.
The Jack Nicklaus Award is given to the Tour’s Player of the Year while the Arnold Palmer Award goes to the Rookie of the Year.
The finalists for Player of the Year are Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith. For Rookie of the Year, it’s Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young.
McIlroy, 33, had three victories, including the Tour Championship, and he finished in the top eight at every major. Scheffler, 26, had a breakout year, winning four times, including the Masters, and he finished runner-up to McIlroy at the Tour Championship. Smith, 29, won the Players Championship, the Open Championship as well as the Sentry Tournament of Champions and had the second-lowest scoring average behind McIlroy.
Kim, 20, became the second-youngest player to win on Tour since World War II with his victory at the Wyndham Championship. That earned him a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and he finished 35th in the standings. Theegala, 24, had five top-five finishes and finished T-2 at the Travelers Championship and T-3 at the WM Phoenix Open. Young, 25, was the runner-up at the Open Championship and also finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship, The Genesis Invitational, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He also qualified for the Tour Championship.
The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with Tour members who played in at least 15 official FedEx Cup events during the 2021-22 season eligible to vote. The voting will close on Friday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced at a later date.
Four players who started the week outside the top 30 moved in.
WILMINGTON, Del. – When Sahith Theegala finished his final round at the BMW Championship, he was projected to qualify as one of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points standings. But there were too many players still on the course for him to celebrate.
“It would mean the world to make the Tour Championship and stand along 29 of the other best golfers in the world,” he said.
“A dream season,” is how Theegala, who a year ago was sweating out getting into the Korn Ferry Tour Finals when he boarded a plane for Boise not knowing whether he was in the field.
He entered Sunday sitting on the bubble and knowing what he had to do. That sort of pressure can do funny things to some golfers.
“I was like, I’m in 30th place out of 70 people, and I’m as nervous as if I were near the lead,” he said. “I had a little bit of the shakes warming up. I couldn’t hold my hands still.”
Theegala made birdie at the first hole to settle the nerves temporarily, but as he put it, his round was “a wild ride.”
He was one over for the day through 11 holes when strung together three straight birdies and then drained a 37-foot birdie at 17. Still, he’d hit only 1 of 14 fairways all day, dead last in the field, and tried something different, anything to find a fairway.
“I don’t know why I tried to hit a draw. My natural shot is a cut. Tried to draw a 5-wood, and it started 20 yards right of my target and then cut, so I hit it 50 right,” Theegala said.
He caught a good lie in order to slice one up near the green, but left himself a 7-foot par putt that was worth at least $500,000 – last place money next week where the rich get richer.
“That was such a grind,” he said after drilling the putt to shoot 3-under 68 and finish T-15.
His “dream season” continues another week as he improved to No. 28 in the FedEx Cup points standings, one of two rookies along with Cameron Young to make it to Atlanta and East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship.
“It’s another step for me to feel like I really belong because I still don’t feel like I’m really there at the top of the game,” he said.
Next week, he’ll be alongside 29 of the best in the world.
Here’s a look at others who are in the field at the Tour Championship and those who aren’t:
Plenty of players are looking to punch their tickets to East Lake Golf Club.
The second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs begins Thursday at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, at the BMW Championship. That means only the top-70 players from the PGA Tour FedEx Cup standings qualified and are shooting for the season-long prize, the FedEx Cup.
Only 68 players will tee it up, and from there, only the top 30 in the standings advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The winner of the FedEx Cup Playoffs will take home $18 million and the FedEx Cup.
Cameron Smith, No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings and into next week’s field, won’t tee it up at the BMW Championship, withdrawing Monday.
Here’s a closer look at some names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including those who are on the bubble and others who need a big week to make the Tour Championship.
MEMPHIS — Sahith Theegala was busy sizing up his pending chip shot on No. 17 at TPC Southwind during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Meanwhile, his parents, Karuna and Muralidhar, were weighing in on the 24-year-old’s non-golf goals from the gallery. Mom and Dad – one calm and collected, the other affable and emotional – weren’t yet aware that Theegala wants to invest in a new car and a new wardrobe.
Theegala still drives the same Volkswagen Passat he’s had since high school.
“He loves that car, so that surprises me,” said Karuna.
With the California native and former Pepperdine star playing the way he has in Memphis, he won’t have much trouble gettinga new ride in the very near future. Theegala got off to a roaring start Thursday with a first-round 63, walking off the course third on the leaderboard. A few rough patches on the back nine Friday slowed his pace some. The Tour rookie safely made the cut but will need to rebound. He enters Saturday at 7 under, at least three strokes off the lead.
Sahith Theegala’s family – including his father, Muralidhar, and mother, Karuna (third and fourth from left) – pose for a photo during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Friday at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Theegala is one of a handful of golfers in Memphis this week taking part in their very first FedEx Cup Playoffs, joining Cam Young, Davis Riley, Joonhyung “Tom” Kim and Mito Pereira. But he’s the leader of the rookie pack. He also might have the densest and most fervent cheering section – dubbed “The Theegala Squad” by the official PGA Tour Twitter account – of the bunch.
Karuna and Muralidhar have been joined this week by a handful of family members, close personal friends and figures instrumental in their son’s career development. Theegala, whose father introduced him to the game at three years old despite having practically never played it himself, is used to the support during tournaments closer to his home state.
Having so many familiar faces in such unfamiliar terrain, however, has made a difference, he admits.
“I have my (collegiate) head coach and his boys here, which is awesome to have them out,” he said Friday. “See my parents and a couple uncles and friends, so I probably have a crew of 10. This might be like the third time, second or third time all year where I’ve had my full – like, I had my swing coach here and my trainer and my agent. So it’s kind of nice. It feels comforting to have everyone around.
“Yeah, it means the world to me that they’re here.”
A relative unknown, Theegala is no stranger to favorable leaderboard positions. He’s now made 24 out of 30 cuts. He missed a playoff at the Waste Management Phoenix Open by a single stroke. A double-bogey on the final hole of the Travelers Championship cost him his first Tour victory.
Between his early success and his gregarious traveling party, Theegala’s profile and fan base are on the rise. Garry Frank, Rob Edwards and Michael Urban made the trip from St. Louis this week with plans to watch as much of the field as possible. On Friday, the group found themselves following Theegala throughout the majority of his round, chatting up and fist-bumping his family the whole way.
“Right, because they’re so nice,” said Frank, a meteorologist for KSDK. “His whole family is just the nicest. Like, ‘This is such and such and this is so and so. And this is my best friend of 40 years (Raj Menon, a former plant manager for Cummins in Memphis). He’s telling us stories, talking to us. Just very nice.”
Theegala (40th in the FedExCup standings) is still focused on finishing strong in Memphis, hopeful it’s enough to advance to next week’s BMW Championship. Maybe after that, he’ll concentrate on a new set of wheels.
“(My Passat) just hit the 100,000-mile mark,” he said. “The problem is I just got it fixed, like a $700 repair, so I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t need a new car now.’ But I’ve always dreamed of having a nice car. That was kind of the first thing that I was going to buy. I don’t really spend on anything, so definitely going to look into it. I think this offseason I’m going to do it.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
Cameron Young showed out in front of the 2022 Presidents Cup captain.
DETROIT – Taylor Pendrith fractured his fifth rib on the left side while hitting golf balls in March.
“I noticed it at the Players during the third round, just some pain in kind of my back,” he said.
He spent 12 weeks mostly sitting on the couch, watching the NHL Playoffs, and helping his wife decorate their new home. Not much one can do other than sit and let one’s ribs heal.
“I guess it fueled me a little bit to get back and play well,” Pendrith said.
The 31-year-old rookie Canadian is doing just that. In just his third start since the injury, Pendrith is the 36-hole leader at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He followed up his opening-round 64 with a birdie-binge out of the gate. Birdies at his first four holes lifted him ahead of overnight-co-leader Tony Finau, and Pendrith signed for 65 and a tournament record 36-hole total of 15-under 129, a stroke ahead of Finau.
“If you can get it in the fairways here, you can kind of attack,” said Pendrith, who finished T-13 and T-11 in his first two starts back from injury and is seeking his first Tour title.
