Sam

Saunders

Courtesy of an eagle and six birdies, Saunders finished two-strokes clear of the eventual playoff at Monday’s qualifier for the Sanderson Farms Championship. Having struggled in 2021 on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour may be a welcomed sight for the 34-year-old. With his last start on the PGA Tour coming at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it has been more than six months since Saunders has teed it up on the big stage. This will be his first appearance at the Sanderson Farms Championship since 2018 when he finished in a tie for 26th.

Arnie’s grandson has played in 11 APIs but won’t be pegging it this week. He broke his leg while skiing in January so will have to skip this edition. That snaps a streak of seven straight played at Bay Hill. Saunders is currently just 2-for-6 on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and managed just five PGA TOUR appearances in 2020 (1-for-5). Gamers can keep him off their radars until he returns from injury and flashes a bit of form.

After finishing a career-worst 173rd in the FedExCup standings last season, conjuring one top 10 among 14 made cuts in 26 events, the Orlando native did not attempt to regain his card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and currently has no PGA TOUR status. The season prior, he finished a career-best 120th in FEC points with four top 10s among 14 made cuts in 26 starts. So far this season, the 31-year-old has cashed one time, a T62 at his grandfather’s tourney at Bay Hill on 12-over 300 (74-73-78-75). When the season does eventually resume, following the halt in play due to the coronavirus epidemic, he’ll have to rely on sponsor invites or open-qualifiers to crack any fields. Additionally, the Florida resident does not hold any status on the KFT either, so where we see him competing next is up in the air.

This is the 32-year-old’s fourth PRO, first since T5 in 2017, where he closed with bogey-free 65 (70-69-67-65). It’s one of two top 10s, joining a career-best P2 on debut in 2015 (72-72-69-68), where he lost in a 5-man playoff. The Clemson product finished a career-worst 173rd in the FedExCup standings last season, going 14-for-26 with one top 10, a T10 at the John Deere last July. This is just his third start of the season, missing the cuts at the American Express and most recently by 23 at the AT&T Pro-Am two weeks ago (77-78-80), where he finished 20-over 235.

Saunders posted a career-high four top 10s last season en route to finishing 120th in the FedExCup standings. It was the first time, in four tries, that he was able to land inside that coveted 125 number and maintain his full status. If he wants to accomplish that feat again, he’ll need to do something special over the next two weeks. Saunders currently sits at just 167th in the FEC race. In his favor, Saunders spent about six years as a Fort Collins resident so playing in altitude is very familiar to him. He’s parlayed that into three top 10s in four starts at the Barracuda and could be one to watch closely again this week.

This was the 31-year-old’s fifth Deere and second top 25 (T25/2017). He improves to 12-for-23 on the season with two top 25s, supplanting a previous-best T23 at last week’s 3M Open, where he was T3 at the midpoint (65-67-72-67). After opening with 68-69-67, the Floridian began T25 on 9-under, four shy of the overnight top 10. He hit six (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, gaining 1.990 strokes approaching and 1.539 around-the-green. The Clemson product squared a lone bogey-5 at 13, outpaced by seven circles at 1, 4-6, 9, 10 and 17. He posted 1.667 putts per GIR and -0.332 SG: Putting, wrapping the week with one eagle and 23 birdies against eight bogeys and one double.

The Floridian will be in the top 20 after 36 holes for the second time in his last three starts, and in the top 10 for just a second time this season in 22 starts. He was T13 at the Travelers midpoint two weeks ago, before finishing 70th (last), chasing rounds of 67-67 with 72-80. The Clemson product was T10 after 36 at the opposite-field Sanderson Farms back in October (69-69) before finishing a season-best T26 after 70-72. On eight (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, he offset three bogey-5s at holes 2, 3, and 9, with seven birdies at 1, 4, 6, 7, 13, 17 and 18, two from between 15 and 17 feet, adding a 33-footer from the fringet at 13. The 31-year-old recorded 2.733 SG: Tee-to-Green and 0.781 SG: Putting with 27 total putts.

Saunders gained 4.2 strokes tee-to-green today and added another stroke over the field putting. This round could have gone even lower since he missed three scoring chances from the 5-to-11 foot range but it’s hard to complain when you also convert four times from the 10-to-17 foot range. This will go in the books as his lowest lap of the season, lowest sincea 7-under 63 in R2 of last year’s Greenbrier. Saunders started the week ranked 188th in the FedExCup rank so he could really use a good finish come Sunday afternoon.

Saunders enters with a 9-for-14 record on the season. He’s yet to replicate the top-heavy finishes that we’ve seen him post over the last few season. He’s still searching for his first top 25 of the season while he has 5 or more top 25s in each of the last three seasons. Perhaps, Harbour Town will yield one as he’s proven he can perform here (T11 in 2017). Other than that, he is 0-for-4 at the Heritage which makes him a boom-or-bust option for gamers in deeper formats.

Saunders started the week with a 4-over 75 which featured four bogeys and a double. That was tough to swallow on a day where the field averaged just over 69 strokes (69.08). Returning this morning, Saunders started BOGEY-DOUBLE BOGEY and called it quits from there. Playing in his 127th PGA TOUR event, this will be his fourth mid-tournament WD, first since the 2016 John Deere Classic.