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Oct 26-29, 2017
Country Club of Jackson | Par 72 | Yardage: 7461
Jackson, MS
$4,300,000
Gribble vies to repeat at Sanderson Farms Championship
Yes, it's a given that this week's Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour is playing understudy to a glitzy World Golf Championship event halfway around the planet in China.
But that doesn't subtract from the importance of the tournament here in Jackson, Miss., and what winning can do to the career of a professional golfer.
Ask defending champion Cody Gribble, who's back in the hunt of a repeat title as he and 131 other of the best players in the world compete over 72 holes -- beginning Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson.
"It was a great way to start off the year, and a dream come true to win on the PGA Tour," Gribble said. "Getting a win was the best thing in the world for a tour card, knowing you have your card secured for a couple years. I'm happy to be back here -- I'm looking forward to trying to pick it back up again this week."
Six former Sanderson Farms Championship winners are in this year's field, including Gribble, Peter Malnati (2015), Scott Stallings (2012), Chris Kirk (2011), D.J. Trahan (2006) and England's Luke Donald (2002), the former world No. 1 and a four-time European Ryder Cup Team member.
Added to the roster are three major championship winners -- Angel Cabrera of Argentina, (2007 U.S. Open, 2009 Masters), Retief Goosen of South Africa (2001, 2004 U.S. Open) and most recent U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III (1997 PGA Championship) -- and 19 rookies from this year's class, making this tournament an eclectic mix of the Tour's old and young, its accomplished and inexperienced, all of them hungry for a win.
All of them will be on the hunt for the total purse of $4.2 million. The winner this week on the lush par-72, 7,421-yard layout will bank $756,000 and 300 FedExCup points.
With the top 50 in the world rankings qualified for the WGC HSBC Champions in China, William McGirt (No. 75) is the highest ranked player in the field.
Three weeks ago at the Safeway Open, the PGA Tour began its fifth season featuring a wraparound schedule that bridges two years with 49 events, including the four FedExCup Playoffs events. The 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season includes eight events during the fall of 2017, all of which will award FedExCup points.
Last year, then-PGA Tour rookie Gribble trailed Luke List and Chris Kirk by a stroke entering the final round and carded a bogey-free 7-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over List, Kirk and Greg Owen. The four-stroke win was one shy of the Sanderson Farms victory-margin record, set by Frank Conner in 1988. Gribble's week included a second-round 9-under 63, just one shy of the course record at the Country Club of Jackson.
"It's going to be windy and colder this year, so I don't think 20-under is going to be a number this week if the wind stays the same," Gribble said. "It's going to be a big challenge I think with putting, staying in the fairway, and I don't think you're going to see a 9-under this week. It's going to be more of a grind -- somewhere close to par is going to be very good."
Love III, making his second start since his recent enshrinement in the World Golf Hall of Fame, has status on both the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions for players over 50. He's choosing which events to play based on his schedule.
"I just want to play -- I enjoy playing and I enjoy competing," Love III said. "What I'm going to do Champions versus regular I don't know. I am going to hang in a little bit longer and see how the fall and start of next year go, but I'm going to start bouncing back and forth.
"I played out at Pebble Beach at the PURE Insurance (on the PGA Tour Champions) and had a great time seeing my friends. I've said it a hundred times. If I putt well enough to win out there and beat Bernard Langer, I could probably do pretty well out here. Still got to putt well."
Every week is significant in the race for the FedExCup -- three of the seven winners from the fall calendar of 2016 (Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama and Pat Perez) qualified for the Tour Championship. The other four winners advanced through at least the second of four Playoffs events (Gribble, Brendan Steele, Rod Pampling and Mackenzie Hughes).
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