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A known venue for first-timers to breakthrough, Country Club of Jackson appears ripe for another come Sunday. Taking the lead into the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship is Sahith Theegala. The first-round leader, 36-hole leader, and now solo 54-hole leader, the PGA Tour rookie will attempt to go wire-to-wire in only the second event of the new season.
With only one bogey through the first three rounds, the former Pepperdine standout has been able to effectively avoid costly mistakes. Ranking fourth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green for the tournament, it was Theegala’s short-game that came through for him on Saturday.
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Hardly possessing his best stuff from off-the-tee and on approach, the 23-year-old gained +1.16 strokes around-the-green and an additional +1.29 strokes with the flat stick. Holding a one-stroke lead heading into tomorrow’s final round, Theegala will need to not only overcome his nerves, but also some suspect ball-striking.
Theegala won’t be the only player searching for his first victory on Sunday. Putting maestro Denny McCarthy, long-time PGA Tour member Cameron Tringale, and rookie Cameron Young all sit at 17-under, one behind Theegala.
They will have to hold off the pre-tournament favorite Sam Burns who also stands at this number. Figuring out the greens on Saturday, the Valspar Champion carried the strong tee-to-green play from the second round into the third, posting +3.66 SG: Tee-to-Green. Leading the field in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach for the week, the steady ball-striking from Burns could very likely carry him to victory.
Despite sitting one-stroke behind Theegala, PointsBet Sportsbook has Burns listed as the favorite at +275. As for our third round addition, Nick Hardy, his number has been cut in half after posting a round of 6-under 66. Four-strokes off the lead, he will need something in the low-60’s tomorrow and possibly some help in order to come through for us.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+275: Sam Burns
+325: Sahith Theegala
+400: Cameron Tringale
+700: Denny McCarthy
+800: Cameron Young
+1200: Trey Mullinax
+1600: Aaron Wise
+2200: Roger Sloan
+2800: Corey Conners
+3300: C.T. Pan, Will Zalatoris
+5000: Nick Hardy, Si Woo Kim
Round 4 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Emiliano Grillo (-113) over Brendan Steele:
Both players turned in a solid performance on Saturday, posting rounds of 6-under 66. While the scores were the same, the avenue through which they were achieved were vastly different. Steele, who is hardly known as a strong putter, posted +4.72 SG: Putting while losing in every metric from tee-to-green. 53rd in the field in SG: Tee-to-Green and 63rd in SG: Approach for the week, I am willing to wager Steele’s poor ball-striking finally catches up to him in the final round.
Grillo however was his normal-self as he has been all tournament long. Seventh off-the-tee and third in approach, the Argentine finally found his touch on the greens in the third round. Posting +0.87 SG: Putting, I am hoping for a similar performance with the putter from Grillo. If it proves to be the case, he should have no issues taking care of Steele in this one.
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