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Scores were low at Country Club of Jackson on Friday as Will Zalatoris, the reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, captured not only the round of the day, but the course record. To the tune of 11 birdies and seven pars, the former standout at Wake Forest coupled his typical, steady ball-striking with a cooperative putter.
Gaining more than five-strokes with the flat stick, Zalatoris put together one of the best putting performances of his young career. Having contended in the U.S. Open and The Masters, the 25-year-old is still in search of his first victory on the PGA Tour. Fitting the bill of a potential first-timer coming through at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Zalatoris will need to keep things rolling as he was hardly the only one to go low in the second round.
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He’ll have to hold off the likes of Sahith Theegala and Nick Watney as the trio heads into the weekend in a share of the lead at 13-under. However, arguably the most daunting pursuer may be Sam Burns. The Valspar Champion sits three-strokes off the lead at 10-under. Leading the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green in Round 2, the historically reliable putter was nowhere to be found, losing –2.11 SG: Putting
If “Bermuda Burns” decides to make a weekend appearance, it could spell trouble for the rest of the field. Currently listed at +700 at Points Bet Sportsbook, Burns trails only Zalatoris and Theegala on the odds board despite sitting in a tie for seventh on the actual leaderboard.
Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+250: Will Zalatoris
+600: Sahith Theegala
+700: Sam Burns
+1400: Cameron Young, Hayden Buckley, Nick Watney
+1800: Aaron Wise, Roger Sloan
+2500: Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Stephan Jaeger
+2800: Denny McCarthy
+3300: Henrik Norlander, Kurt Kitayama
+4000: C.T. Pan
+5000: Charley Hoffman, Harold Varner III, Kevin Streelman
Round 3 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Nick Hardy (+10000 to win):
With some pre-tournament interest in Pan, Mackenzie Hughes, and Mito Pereira, we aren’t really threatening the leaders at the moment. While I do have some confidence in Pan to make a weekend charge, we’ll be adding to our repertoire of players. If you are looking for an outright selection as well, I reckon Hardy should do the trick.
Having liked his chances coming into the week, placing a top-20 wager on him, I’ve been impressed with the 25-year-old to this point. Ranking 11th in the field in SG: Tee-to-Green, Hardy posted positive figures in every strokes-gained category in the second round.
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Hoping this trend continues into the weekend, Hardy will need to improve in a different area of game to succeed. While sound from a strokes-gained perspective, Hardy has barely made a dent in the par-5’s. Playing those eight holes in only 3-under – compared to Watney who is 7-under on them – the difference could lie there.
If the former All-American can figure them out, he could be ripe for a couple of rounds in the mid-60’s, getting him somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-under by tournament’s end. With plenty of question marks surrounding the top of the leaderboard, Hardy could be in an ideal situation to claim his maiden victory from five-strokes back.
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