Golf Glance: Sam Burns defends at Sanderson Farms

9/28/2022 12:55:54 PM EST

Field Level Media's Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.

PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Presidents Cup (United States)
THIS WEEK: Sanderson Farms Championship, Jackson, Miss., Sept. 29-Oct. 2
Course: The Country Club of Jackson (Par 72, 7,461 yards)
Purse: $7.9M (Winner: 1.422M)
Defending Champion: Sam Burns
FedEx Cup leader: Max Homa
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Twitter: @Sanderson_Champ
NOTES: Burns made his professional debut at Sanderson Farms in 2017, finishing T43. ... Burns and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa are the two players in the field who also competed in the Presidents Cup. ... Six of the past eight Sanderson Farms winners have also been first-time PGA Tour winners. ... 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland is one of six major champions in the field. ... Louisiana Tech's Sam Murphy and Southern Miss' Brice Wilkinson are among the sponsors exemptions, while Ole Miss graduate Jackson Suber will make his first PGA Tour start as a professional. ... Mississippi native Davis Riley is in the field after finishing 33rd in the FedEx Cup as a rookie.
BEST BETS: Burns (+1000 at BetMGM) set the tournament scoring record of 22-under par for the first of his three victories last season. ... Sahith Theegala (+1800) held the 54-hole lead last year before finishing T8. He is seeking his first PGA Tour victory and is coming off a T6 two weeks ago. ... J.T. Poston (+2200) has a best finish of third in 2020 in six previous appearance. ... Scott Stallings (+2800) is one of seven past champions (2012) in the field and is making his eight consecutive start in the event after reaching the Tour Championship last season. ... Bezuidenhout (+4000) posted a 1-0-1 record at the Presidents Cup. ... Harris English (+5000) won twice in 2021 and competed in the Ryder Cup last year but was able to make only 12 starts last year due to hip surgery.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Shriners Children's Open, Las Vegas, Oct. 6-9

LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: NW Arkansas Championship (Atthaya Thitikul)
THIS WEEK: The Ascendant LPGA Benefitting Volunteers of America, The Colony, Texas, Sept. 29-Oct. 2
Course: Old American Golf Club (Par 71, 6,438 yards)
Purse: $1.7M ($255,000)
Defending Champion: Jin Young Ko
Race to the CME Globe leader: Minjee Lee
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 12:30-3:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (All times Golf Channel and NBC Sports App)
Twitter: @AscendantLPGA
NOTES: The 132-player field will be cut to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes. ... Ko will not defend her title as she continues to recover from a wrist injury, but the field does include six of the top 10 players in the Rolex Rankings, led by No. 2 Nelly Korda. ... The Ascendant is the new title sponsor of the event and there is a $200,000 purse increase as part of a joint contribution with the Volunteers of America. ... Cheyenne Knight set the tournament scoring record of 18-under 266 in 2019. ... Lee leads the tour in official money ($3.7M) while Lydia Ko has taken over as the scoring average leader at 69.3. ... The 19-year-old Thitikul's second win of the season brought the average age of winners this year down to 26.11. She also vaulted to No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LPGA Mediheal Championship, Somis, Calif., Oct. 6-9)

Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Pure Insurance Championship (Steve Flesch)
THIS WEEK: OFF
Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Constellation Furyk & Friends, Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 7-9

--Field Level Media

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