In this betting preview:
Four days following the black eye at Bethpage, we have the Sanderson Farms Championship. A repeated FedEx Fall Series event, the PGA TOUR cardholders and hopefuls are familiar with the Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi.
A par-72 venue that stretches 7,461 yards on the scorecard, CC of Jackson annually presents an exciting finish. Four of the last six Sanderson events have ended in a playoff, including the last three in a row!
To compound the consistent entertainment, nine of the past 10 winners started the week with outright odds of +5000 or higher. Our defending champion, Kevin Yu, was a +8000 (80-1) winner one year ago. The field consists of 132 players, and the top 65 and ties will play the weekend.
The field will be playing for a $6 million purse. First place will be handed a check for $1.08 million. For the second year in a row, the Chicken Dance winner’s check will drop by 20 percent.
I mentioned the playoff factor in the opening, and what makes that even more interesting is the winning score. The average Sunday total over the last 10 years was nearly 20 under par (-19.5). The guys go low at CC of Jackson, and the main reason is the putting surfaces.
Annually regarded as some of the best on TOUR, if you can putt Champion Bermudagrass, you can contend. The average green size is 6,200 sq/ft, and the course is covered in 56 bunkers. Just for fun, the bunkering at CC of Jackson covers 1.5 acres. The Black Course last week had 8 acres of sand!
Our forecast for Jackson: hot and dry. Dry when it comes to rain, but the humidity levels of over 90 percent won’t keep these guys from feeling wet. The wind is going to blow in the single digits, and the daily real-feel temperatures are in the mid-90s.
Mississippi in early October — what a treat! The region has been under drought conditions for some time. The course has barely felt an inch of rain in September. It’s rare to see CC of Jackson play firm and fast. Most editions get those late summer storms to soften the surfaces.
Vegas set the winning over/under at -21.5. So, expect scoring. The last 10 winners averaged 25 sub-par scores the week they won. The average cutline for the last five years is four under par. Last year, it took six under par to play out the whole weekend.
Twenty-five of the top 100 players in the world are competing. That’s down from 28 one year ago. Unlike the Procore, Team USA is not playing. Rasmus Højgaard is the lone Ryder Cup participant in the field. The talented twin is ranked 87th on the FedEx Cup points list.
Remember: only the top 100 earn their cards. The Sanderson is one of six events left this fall. Plenty of names have to improve their FEC points standing. Pressure on players is a good thing for the fans. Remember the secondary score bug in the television coverage during the FedEx Cup playoffs? The networks would do well to lean in on that again.
The path to the PGA TOUR is getting tougher and tougher. Expect a wild week with plenty of scoring. Let’s put the Ryder Cup behind us and get back to our bread and butter: winning full-field events.
This preview is just that, a preview. For a complete list of my betting predictions covering the Sanderson Farms Championship, placements, and H2H matchups, please go to Read The Line and subscribe.
Sanderson Farms Championship 2025 best bets
Best bet to win: Rico Hoey (+3500 on FanDuel)
One of the best ball strikers in the field is Rico Hoey. One of the worst putters in the field is Rico Hoey. That second statement might not be true anymore. Hoey switched to a long putter at the Procore and saw immediate results (T9). In 2025, Rico lost strokes with his driver twice in 25 starts! Watch Hoey separate off the tee and make a couple of putts as he takes home his first PGA TOUR win.
Best bet to place in the Top 10: Max Homa (+450 on DraftKings)
The Country Club of Jackson is a great fit for Max Homa. Homa had a break after Wyndham and came back much better at the Procore, finishing in the top 20. His first top 20 since the John Deere in July. Three more weeks of practice, and Max comes to a place that rewards excellent ball striking. Homa has gained with his iron game and driver in four straight starts. Max is too talented not to come back, and this restart seems like the perfect fit to make a nice run.
Best head-to-head bet: Alex Smalley over Nicolai Højgaard (-110 on Bet365)
Alex Smalley has two straight top 16 finishes at the Sanderson. As a straight flusher and an above-average Bermudagrass putter, he checks two very important boxes. Nicolai Højgaard just spent a week away from the range and followed it up with an epic party. Both Højgaards are potential targets for a Friday exit, which is exactly when we will get paid for this H2H matchup.
Sanderson Farms Championship 2025 betting odds
Odds courtesy of DraftKings. Showing odds shorter than +9000.
| Golfer | Odds |
| Akshay Bhatia | +2000 |
| Min Woo Lee | +2200 |
| Michael Thorbjornsen | +2200 |
| Davis Thompson | +2200 |
| Kevin Yu | +2500 |
| Rasmus Hojgaard | +2500 |
| Nicolai Hojgaard | +3000 |
| J.T. Poston | +3000 |
| Rico Hoey | +3000 |
| Emiliano Grillo | +3500 |
| Alex Smalley | +3500 |
| Max Homa | +4000 |
| Matt Wallace | +4000 |
| Mackenzie Hughes | +4000 |
| Luke Clanton | +4000 |
| Keith Mitchell | +4000 |
| Jacob Bridgeman | +4000 |
| Garrick Higgo | +4000 |
| Cameron Champ | +4000 |
| Sam Stevens | +4000 |
| Vince Whaley | +4500 |
| Thorbjorn Olesen | +4500 |
| Beau Hossler | +4500 |
| Niklas Norgaard | +5000 |
| Jesper Svensson | +5000 |
| Taylor Moore | +5000 |
| Doug Ghim | +5000 |
| Byeong Hun An | +5000 |
| Patrick Fishburn | +5500 |
| Matti Schmid | +5500 |
| Mark Hubbard | +5500 |
| Stephan Jaeger | +5500 |
| Sami Valimaki | +6000 |
| Ricky Castillo | +6000 |
| Pierceson Coody | +6000 |
Sanderson Farms Championship 2025: Country Club of Jackson course overview
The FedEx Cup Fall Series requires scoring, and the Country Club of Jackson is no different. With an average winning score of 20 under par, every skill needed to win this week relates to going low.
Unlike Bethpage, we are going to have rough-lined fairways. The field must put the ball in play off the tee to contend. Players hit less than 52 percent of the fairways one year ago.
Keeping in mind the goal is 20 under par (or more), hitting the fairway becomes that much more important. Hitting approaches from Bermuda rough is difficult. Compounding the rough effect will be the course conditions. Firm greens will be impossible to hold from the rough, even with a wedge in your hand.
The Dogwood-Azalea layout is an approach contest from 150 yards and in. Nearly 44% of approaches fall in that range. With four par 5s, and a couple of long par 3s, 30% of the remaining iron shots are played from 200 yards or more. Here’s a quick look at the par categories where players gained the most strokes on the field.
- Par 3: 200-225 yards
- Par 4: 400-450 yards
- Par 5: 550-600 yards
To continue the par conversation, I am also favoring par 5 scoring. Eight of the last 10 winners have gained 3.5 strokes or more on the field playing the 5s. It makes sense, because the par 5s test your driver, long irons, scrambling, and putting. All very important Sanderson skills.
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In recent editions of the Sanderson, approach play has really set the winner apart. One of the career strokes gained leaders at CC of Jackson is Henrik Norlander. Norlander is a notorious approach-only player. Our card will be full of the best Sanderson/recent iron game guys.
Taking it a step further, I will favor the players who are best from 150 yards and in. Six of the 10 par 4s fall into the strokes gained range of 400-450 yards. All of this is pretty standard on tour, but who is the best right now? Of these 132 players, we have only seen a few play more than once in the last two months! Careful tracking and historic Sanderson standouts are my focus.
TPC Southwind (Memphis) or CC of Jackson are probably the two most Bermudagrass influenced venues. You must be able to roll the rock on these grainy surfaces. CC of J has always been regarded as one of the best places to putt on TOUR. Last year, seven of the top 15 in strokes gained putting finished in the top 10 on the leaderboard. That’s a significant trend and one that shouldn’t be overlooked. The last 10 winners have gained an average of six strokes (6.3) on the field with their flatstick. Knowing how to make putts from inside 10′ on Bermuda is a skill.
Confidence on these surfaces goes a long way come Sunday afternoon at the Sanderson. The dry conditions will create a little less grain influence. Knowing how to adapt comes from southern putting experience, which is just one more reason to favor the guys who are good on this blade of grass.
The conditions look perfect from a scoring perspective. We already know that guys can go low on this layout. Finding the best Sanderson scorers can be tricky. Recent years have proven that you must be a good ball striker to contend. Luke List, Kevin Yu, Sergio Garcia, Cam Champ, and Sam Burns can all golf their ball.
The top 10 career strokes gained leaders for the Sanderson absolutely stripe it. When I look at a list that includes Alex Smalley, Emiliano Grillo, Mark Hubbard, Stephan Jaeger, etc. it catches my attention. Unlike Mexico, in a month where you can drive it anywhere and go low, our scorers this week are ball strikers first. That’s an important distinction when you are trying to build a successful card.
A bunch of recent Sanderson champions have been first-time winners. This is a great breakthrough spot for a known flusher who hasn’t quite closed the deal on a Sunday afternoon. We have six events left in the PGA TOUR season. Five of the six are full field events with a cut. Let’s get a win to kick off this final fall run.
Read The Line is the leading golf betting insights service led by 5-time award-winning PGA Professional Keith Stewart. Read The Line has 42 outright wins and covers the TGL, LPGA, and PGA TOUR, raising your golf betting acumen week after week. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
