Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
LAST TOURNAMENT: A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier (Joaquin Niemann)
THIS WEEK: Sanderson Farms Championship, Sept. 19-22 The Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Miss. (Par 72, 7,421 yards) Purse: $6.6 million (Winner: $792,000) Defending champion: Cameron Champ FedEx Cup leader: Niemann TV: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
NOTES: Champ birdied four of his final five holes to win by four shots and claim his first PGA Tour victory last year while also setting the tournament scoring record at 21-under 267. All three of his top-10 finishes last season came during the Fall swing. He has missed the cut in half of his 20 starts in 2019, but did qualify for the first two legs of the playoffs. … Niemann is in the field after claiming his first Tour victory last week. … Other notables include former major champions Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker. … Six of the past seven champions have been first-time Tour winners. … The Monday qualifiers were Stephan Jaeger (64), Chip McDaniel (66), Adam Svensson (66) and Garrett Osborn (66). … Seventeen-year-old Akshay Bhatia will make his pro debut.
BEST BETS: South Korea’s Sungjae Im (15/1 by PointsBet) is the top-ranked player from last year’s FedEx Cup standings in the field. He could be primed for his maiden victory against a field full of rookies and veterans scrambling for Tour status. … Brandt Snedeker (18/1) has one of the best resumes in the field. The 12-time winner has five top-10s in 2019. … Canada’s Corey Conners (28/1) finished second here last year and qualified for the Tour Championship. … Kyle Stanley (60/1) offers longshot odds as the Tour veteran makes his season debut. Stanley is a two-time Tour winner but has only one top-10 in 21 starts in 2019.
NEXT WEEK: Safeway Open, Napa, Calif.
LAST WEEK: The Solheim Cup (Team Europe) THIS WEEK: Off. NEXT TOURNAMENT: Indy Women in Tech Championship, Indianapolis, Sept. 26-29.
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Ally Challenge (Jerry Kelly)
THIS WEEK: Sanford International, Sept. 20-22 Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, S.D. (Par 70, 6,729 yards) Purse: $1.8 million (Winner: $270,000) Defending champion: Steve Stricker Charles Schwab Cup leader: Scott McCarron TV: Friday-Sunday, 6-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
POINTSBET ODDS
NOTES: Stricker won by four shots over Tim Petrovic and Jerry Smith last year. … McCarron leads the Charles Schwab Cup by only $482,083 following Kelly’s victory last week. Kelly now has 17 top-3 finishes in 61 career Champions starts. … David Toms is fourth in the standings following his T3 last week. … Woody Austin has eight consecutive T20s, including a runner-up finish to Kelly last week. … Steve Flesch has a streak of 12 consecutive rounds under par and has consecutive third-place finishes.
NEXT WEEK: PURE Insurance Championship, Monterey Peninsula, Calif.
–Derek Harper (@DerekAHarper), Field Level Media
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