Turning our attention from team play to stroke play, it’s the Sanderson Farms Championship this week.
We have seven years of course history to look at for the Country Club of Jackson.
However, it’s still early in the season so we have a fresh crop of talent getting their first or second look at the course. We can’t rely solely on course history in that case.
So, to fill the gap, we can look at some historical stats on similar courses and see what golfers pop off the page.
The goal is to find some strong options for filling out our FanDuel rosters this week.
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Bermudagrass Greens
The season opener was played on poa/bent greens at Silverado Resort but this week he return to bermudagrass territory.
It’s clear from past pressers that some golfers really enjoy the return to bermuda.
“I grew up playing Bermudagrass greens and Bermuda fairways, so it kind of feels like home, and I enjoy country club style golf courses.” Jimmy Walker
“I’m used to this grass. Bermuda grass is what I grew up on. I live in Florida, born in Florida. Annandale was a little bit I would say easier golf course, but same kind of grass. Greens are always real firm and fast; same with here. Greens are really fast here.” -George McNeill
“It’s what I grew up, what I’m accustomed to. I mean, it plays a big factor in the game. It’s a lot different than what we normally play. This is what I play at home, so used to it, know it, understand it.” -Hudson Swafford
“I grew up in the South, grew up on Bermuda fairways, grew up with Bermuda rough, and the greens I grew up on weren’t quite this good Bermuda, but still pretty darned good.” -Lucas Glover
“Well, first, being in the South, growing up on Bermuda fairways, Bermuda greens, it’s something difficult, I think. There were some places in there, I think it was 15, yeah, there’s some grain running into you. It’s not a comfortable feeling when you’re having to hit a chip that all that grain is tight going into you. That’s something I’ve been able to learn from a young age, and Randy has done a really good job helping me do that through the years.” -Cody Gribble
Let’s see who has gained the most strokes per round on courses with bermuda greens, over the last two years:
Cameron Tringale
Will Zalatoris
Sergio Garcia
Sungjae Im
Charley Hoffman
Chris Kirk
Corey Conners
Keegan Bradley
Denny McCarthy
Brendon Todd
Matt Wallace
Lanto Griffin
Gary Woodland
Lee Hodges
Carlos Ortiz
We can also look at a golfer’s performance versus their baseline to see who over-performs most. Here is that list:
Denny McCarthy
Camilo Villegas
Chris Kirk
Trey Mullinax
Lee Hodges
Andrew Novak
Cameron Tringale
Michael Thompson
Keegan Bradley
Paul Barjon
Stephan Jaeger
Kramer Hickok
Charley Hoffman
Peter Malnati
David Skinns
Overlap List: names that show up on both lists include Cameron Tringale, Charley Hoffman, Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley, Denny McCarthy, and Lee Hodges.
Bradley and McCarthy are both good examples of why you can’t just look at where a golfer grew up. Bradley had this to say last year, “I grew up in New England, I grew up on bentgrass, but something about Bermuda, I play better on, I like more, and the greens here, they’ve done a spectacular job with this course.” McCarthy has said similar in the past.
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Fast Greens
Every year golfers talk about how good the greens are at the Country Club of Jackson.
They are also some of the faster greens they play all year.
“You’ve definitely got to know where to putt from on these greens. They’re rolling a good 13, 14. I expect them to speed up and firm up and get even more challenging.” -Charley Hoffman
“Greens are always real firm and fast; same with here. Greens are really fast here.” -George McNeill
“I guess it just fits well. Greens are great. Really fast. I guess it’s easy to make putts out here.” -Carlos Ortiz
Here are the top performers per round, when playing courses with fast greens (greater than 12 feet on the stimp) over the last two years:
Charley Hoffman
Corey Conners
Cameron Tringale
Sungjae Im
Sergio Garcia
Will Zalatoris
Matt Wallace
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Lanto Griffin
Chris Kirk
Sebastian Munoz
Harold Varner III
Kevin Streelman
Zach Johnson
We can also look at a golfer’s performance versus their baseline to see who over-performs most. Here is that list:
Kevin Stadler
Martin Trainer
Charley Hoffman
Robert Streb
Kevin Chappell
Keegan Bradley
Doug Ghim
Matt Wallace
Tyler McCumber
Chris Kirk
Sebastian Munoz
Cameron Tringale
Camilo Villegas
Tom Hoge
Luke List
Overlap List: the names that show up on both lists include Charley Hoffman, Cameron Tringale, Matt Wallace, Keegan Bradley, Chris Kirk, and Sebastian Munoz.
FanDuel Focus
Chris Kirk ($9,100): He won this event back in 2011 when it was played at Annandale. While the course is different, there should still be a bit of added confidence as he returns to the event as a past champ. He’s established himself as a bermuda guy over the years so this is the perfect type of course to give him a look at. Best of all, he won’t break the bank at just $9.1K if you want to squeeze in some stars at the top of your roster.
Cameron Tringale ($11,000): If you want to spend up then Tringale is a good option at the top. Short-game skills have historically been very useful at CC of Jackson and that is where Tringale excels. He has gained 22.8 strokes around-the-green in the last year (2nd in the field) and 40.9 strokes putting over that stretch (5th in the field).
Good luck with your lineups this week and check back tomorrow for some more course-fit analysis.