Fantasy Golf Predictions
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2020 Sanderson Farms Championship
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the Sanderson Farms Championship
The Sanderson Farms Championship Fantasy Preview
If nothing else, these early season events offer chances for lesser-known or lower-grade PGA TOUR pros to have their day in the sun.
The door of opportunity swung open at the Corales Punta Cana Championship last week and in stepped Hudson Swafford, a player with a solitary PGA TOUR victory to his name back in 2017.
But he was pretty much faultless throughout the week, and even a double-bogey on the back nine when he was closing out the win was not enough to derail Swafford’s progress, as a clutch putt at the last was enough to see him home.
With just one top-20 in the past 18 months on Tour from Swafford, congratulations if you saw this victory coming! But it will completely change the career of a player who was very much at risk of losing his tour card in the near future, and now with various exemptions to his name Swafford can start to enjoy his golf again without pressure.
So….opportunity knocks once more this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Last Week’s Fantasy Results
Our top dog McKenzie Hughes finished the week in 3rd place, which was a solid showing for a horse pick.
Despite that and the 7 for 7 made cuts, our other 6 players didn’t fare quite as well as expected in the Punta Cana sun.
Congrats on the Swafford pick if you had him!
The Sanderson Farms Championship 2020 Field
While last week’s field was weak beyond reproach, the assortment of players that will meet in Mississippi can be described as weak but with some interesting caveats.
You’re going to see Sungjae Im enter the week as the sportsbook favorite which will be a first for him, while the likes of Louis Oosthuizen, fresh from a strong showing at the U.S. Open, and Scottie Scheffler – in fine form prior to his entanglement with Covid-19 – trying to chase the Korean down.
There’s also major winners that are down on their luck (Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Lucas Glover), some young stars with outstanding potential (Si-Woo Kim, Corey Conners, Doc Redman) and the defending champion, Sebastian Munoz.
Will Zalatoris booked his spot at the Sanderson Farms via his top-10 at the Punta Cana – he will surely be dangerous in this field, while the likes of Sahith Theegala and Davis Riley may be new names to may but they will have a chance to shine on the main Tour once again.
This Week’s Course Preview
Some golf courses are iconic, some are beloved by players and spectators and some, well, share none of those characteristics.
The Country Club of Jackson, unfortunately, falls into the latter camp – it’s a featureless, template parklands layout of relative ease that is sorely lacking in any definitive qualities.
The only interesting feature about it is the rework performed by John Fought back in 2008, a designer who has namechecked Donald Ross as an inspiration. Fought made some of the greens smaller and added new contours and complexities in homage to his hero, and so that has at least created some minor intrigue.
But otherwise, this is your standard parklands track with wide fairways and fairly benign rough, which allows the players to miss the short stuff without any real of consequences. There are bunkers and seven water hazards on the real estate, but you’d have to be really quite wayward for those to become a factor.
The Bermuda greens can run quite fast when conditions allow and some are slightly tricky given Fought’s amendments, but on the whole weak fields have fired late teens and early twenties under par in the past few years here and that is indicative of the layout’s sense of ease.
Weather Forecast for Jackson, MS
This is your archetypal early October week in Mississippi.
The sun is out, and the mercury will reach a perfectly pleasant 78°F before dipping down to 71°F later in the week. There is very little chance of rain, according to the early forecast.
It can get breezy in the Deep South, but there’s nothing too untoward about a breeze that will run from 6-10mph according to the early predictions.
Last Year’s Results for the Sanderson Farms Championship
After thrusting himself into the lead on Saturday with a round of 63, it looked to be going all wrong for Sebastian Munoz as he looked to close out his maiden PGA TOUR title.
The Colombian spent most of the front nine chasing his own tail, with some wild tee shots leaving him scrambling to make par – at an east layout like the County Club of Jackson, that is always going to leave you vulnerable to attack.
Sungjae Im made the most of the opportunity, and he took the clubhouse lead on -18 with a final round of 66.
Munoz was continuing to miss fairways and his hopes of lifting the trophy were fading right up until the 72nd hole, when he finally found the short stuff from the tee and hit his approach into 14ft, draining a clutch putt to force a playoff with Im.
And the momentum was with the extra time enforcer, as he made par on the first additional hole to claim the victory as his Korean opponent missed his par putt to force another.
Sebastian Munoz’s highlights | Round 4 | Sanderson Farms 2019
In the final of the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship, Sebastian Munoz recorded a birdie on No. 18 to force a playoff in which he finished with his maiden victory on the PGA TOUR. SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh This year’s Sanderson Farms Championship – held at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi – offers full FedExCup points for the first time.
Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Sanderson Farms Championship this Week
You kind of know the drill with weak field events by now, but there’s still big money prizes to be won and bankrolls to be won….make your extra knowledge and research count!
- PGA $300k Resurgence: Taking top billing this week is the $300k Resurgence contest, where there’s a jackpot prize of $100k up for grabs and the top-10 players will bank a minimum of $1k.
- PGA $30k Dogleg: There’s always opportunities to shine in single-entry events where there’s a weak field in town, and the Sanderson Farms Championship is no different – the winner of this Dogleg event lands $3k for their $33 stake, with a small field of opposition of 1,060.
This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Sanderson Farms Championship
As ever we’re looking for an edge in our shortlisted picks for the Sanderson Farms Championship, and once more it appears as if the winner will be decided on the greens rather than from tee-to-green.
The last three winners of this event – Sebastian Munoz, Cameron Champ and Ryan Armour – have very little in common other than one key attribute: they all ranked inside the top-10 for the week for Strokes Gained: Putting.
Clearly in the case of Munoz and Champ, being able to hit the ball miles off the tee was a great help, but replay their respective final round efforts – both missed countless fairways and by quite some distance as the pressure of winning set in, and yet neither was overly inconvenienced.
Country Club of Jackson isn’t necessarily a bomb-and-gouge mecca because at 7,460 yards it’s pretty long, and that means that even the bombers will need to find some class from, say, 150 yards and in. And, as ever, the Par 5s will be key this week, and so hitting decent second shots – be it laying up or attacking the greens – will also prove fruitful. Even guys like Peter Malnati have won here, so don’t get too hung up on the length thing.
It’s all about putting this week, and so you have a decision to make – are you going to draft proven flat stick studs in the hope that their tee-to-green game is above-their-baseline, or are you going to draft premium ball strikers and hope their putter heats up for four days or so? For us, it’s a case of a bit of both. And remember that the greens this week will be pretty quick – some favor that, whereas others get the old shaky knees at the prospect of hitting a ten-footer downhill.
Other geographical factors – some players love it on Bermuda, some love it in the Deep South – can be added to the mix, and of course this is a week when you’re looking for players who can hang with the rest when it comes to shooting low numbers. A U.S. Open style grind this won’t be!
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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Sanderson Farms Championship
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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win The Sanderson Farms Championship
Top Tier Pick:
Scottie Scheffler (Odds: 10/1, FPPG: 74.6, GPFP: 59.67 Salary: $11,400)
It’s a case of him or him this week, with a strong case to be made for both Scottie Scheffler and Sungjae Im.
Im has a PGA TOUR win under his belt already and has the game and the demeanor of a multiple-time champion in the future, but there is just something about Scheffler – he just seems to have that ‘X factor’ that marks him out as a special player, rather than just a very good one.
Before he was cruelly struck down by Covid-19, Scheffler was going great guns with T4 at the PGA Championship and Northern Trust and solo fifth at the TOUR Championship, and – assuming he is completely fit and feeling good – he will surely look to capitalize this week against lower grade opposition.
Texas born, bred and schooled, a return to home soil will surely appeal as will a run-out on Bermuda greens, and the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year 2020 looks well primed to claim that maiden title this week.
Key Stats:
- Birdie Average – 7th
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 10th
- SG: Off-the-Tee – 10th
Top-Tier Pick #2:
Zach Johnson (Odds: 35/1, FPPG: 58.2, GPFP: 46.57 Salary: $9,600)
Whether coincidence or the outcome of plenty of hard work on the range, Zach Johnson has looked a new man since the resumption of golf after the coronavirus hiatus.
Maybe receiving the 2020 Payne Steward Award has also helped to focus the mind too, but whatever the stimulus Johnson has banked top-10s at the U.S. Open and Wyndham Championship and T11 at the Travelers Championship in recent times.
Indeed, his ball-striking at the Wyndham was some of the best he has delivered in years, and when you factor in that ZJ has always been a strong putter it’s a happy marriage.
And don’t be fooled by his lengthy win streak – three of the most recent winners on the PGA TOUR have been Jim Herman, Stewart Cink and Hudson Swafford. There must be something in the water!
Key Stats:
- SG: Putting – 32nd
- Scoring Average – 41st
- SG: Approach – 53rd
Mid-Tier Pick #1:
Carlos Ortiz (Odds: 66/1, FPPG: 61.9, GPFP: 69.29 Salary: $8,300)
The Mexican was very much in contention at the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship right up until the business end, and while that was a rare foray to the top of the leaderboard he certainly has the class to become a more consistent operator.
He recorded three top-fives last season and a top-20 in a WGC, and that shows a level of play that is beyond most in the field this week.
Ortiz has set up home in Texas after studying there, and it’s perhaps no coincidence that some of his best golf has come in the south. He’ll be hoping for a repeat of last year’s efforts at the Club Country of Jackson this week.
Key Stats:
- SG: Around-the-Green – 20th
- Scoring Average – 55th
- SG: Putting – 84th
Mid-Tier Pick #2:
Talor Gooch (Odds: 100/1, FPPG: 59.4, GPFP: 47.54 Salary: $7,400)
Regular readers of this column will know we’re no strangers to drafting Talor Gooch, and he often has a happy knack of outperforming his salary requirements.
With 18 made cuts from 25 starts in the 2019-20 season, Gooch at the very least gave backers a decent run for their money more often than not, and that includes nine top-25 returns – four of those coming in his eight appearances after the restart.
Gooch just needs to kick on and regularly compile top-10s, but he’s got the quality – T4 in the Houston Open and T10 at the Genesis Invitational, both of which are high grade events, is testament to that.
Key Stats:
- SG: Putting – 42nd
- Birdie Average – 78th
- SG: Approach – 86th
Low-Tier Pick:
Robby Shelton (Odds: 175/1, FPPG: 52.6, GPFP: 42.08 Salary: $6,400)
Alabama born and bred and a winner in Nashville, it’s a surprise that Robby Shelton is being so roundly overlooked.
He banked three top-10s last season including an outstanding T3 at the 3M Open, where he really thrived in the wide-open conditions.
It was only three starts ago that Shelton was finishing T13 at the Northern Trust, and having played pretty well here last year it’s a surprise – a welcome one – to find the 25-year-old so unexpectedly on the scrubs pile.
Key Stats:
- Par 4 Birdie or Better Leaders – 74th
- SG: Approach – 80th
- SG: Off-the-Tee – 92nd
Sleeper Pick for The Sanderson Farms Championship
Russell Knox (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 54.6, GPFP: 71.02 Salary: $7,500)
It was a season to forget for Russell Knox in 2019-20, and yet it’s amazing how quickly things can turn around in golf.
Whatever the motivation, Knox was excellent at the Safeway Open and recorded a long-awaited top-10 finish there. Assuming that’s the start of better things, the Scot is well placed to thrive this week.
A noted wind player, Knox won’t be fazed if the wind does get up in Mississippi, and if he can find some touch with the flat stick his outstanding iron game will have every chance to shine.
Key Stats:
- Greens in Regulation – 23rd
- SG: Approach – 26th
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 41st
Alternative Sleeper Pick for The Sanderson Farms Championship
Scott Stallings (Odds: 200/1, FPPG: 54, GPFP: 53.10 Salary: $6,600)
When you draft a guy at this paltry salary, what do you expect?
Making the cut is a great result, really, and with Scott Stallings you’ve got a guy who obliged in 15 of his 20 starts in 2019-20.
While he didn’t really kick on over the weekend very often, he did record a pair of top-10 finishes and opened with a round of 66 in this event on his way to T28, so there’s enough evidence to suggest Stallings can far exceed expectations once more.
Key Stats:
- Greens in Regulation – 29th
- SG: Approach – 49th
- Birdie Average – 64th
This Week’s Sample DraftKings Lineup
Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only. Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.
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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2020-2021)
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