DraftKings preview: Sanderson Farms Championship

The PGA TOUR travels to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Sanderson Farms Championship located at The Country Club of Jackson. The field should be similar to last week’s season-opening A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, with another opportunity for a handful of TOUR veterans and rookies looking to make an early impact.

Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker and Jason Dufner join another slew of rookies such as Doug Ghim, Maverick McNealy, Scottie Scheffler and Kristoffer Ventura looking to gain important FedExCup points as well as an early victory similar to last year’s winner, Cameron Champ.

The course will measure at 7,421 yards, sets up as a par-72 and will be putted on Bermuda grass this week. Country Club of Jackson measured as the ninth longest course last season but shouldn’t be an issue for the “non-bombers” on TOUR. The average driving distance is shorter here than the TOUR average and a lot of the distance comes from the four par 5s, three measuring more than 550 yards and one measuring more than 600 yards, as well as the par-4 18th, measuring just over 500 yards.

Players such as Champ, Luke List and Wyndham Clark all ranked inside the top-five in driving distance last season, but they might choose to club down this week. The fairways are narrow and recorded 11% less fairways hit in regulation compared to the TOUR average. This is also why the highest approach shot distribution comes from 200-plus yards, with the second-most coming from 125-150 yards.

Even though hitting fairways is important, hitting your irons well is a higher priority. In 2018, of the golfers who finished inside the top 10 at Sanderson Farms, nine gained strokes in Strokes Gained: Approach The Green. Looking back to 2017, the top five finishers gained an average of 5.52 with their approach shots, so starting your lineups with golfers who’ve been hitting their irons well isn’t a bad strategy. Another key metric to focus on this week is par-5 scoring average -- 56% of the total birdies came from the par 5s in 2018.

TOP VALUES

Emiliano Grillo ($9,400)

Grillo is making his first start of the new season and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green over the past six tournaments. He also has gained strokes with his irons in nine of his past 10 starts, averaging three strokes gained over the field in that stretch. Grillo missed just three cuts last season and much of it was due to his poor putting, losing more than 10 strokes on the greens. Grillo has done well during the fall season with two top-10s (2016, 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba) and a victory (2015 Safeway Open), so hopefully he leans on experience while showing improvement in his putting.

Aaron Wise ($8,500)

Even though distance off the tee isn’t a huge advantage over the field, it never hurts. Wise ranked just inside the top 35 in driving distance last season, and he’ll use that to his advantage on the par 5s this week. Speaking of those par 5s, Wise ranks first in par 5 scoring average and second in birdie or better gained in the past 24 rounds.

Cameron Tringale ($7,300)

Tringale finished a respectable T36 last week at Greenbrier and shot three rounds in the 60s but left room to play better, hitting just 69% of his greens in regulation and 51% of his fairways. He also didn’t do much on the greens when he did hit them, gaining less than a stroke with his putter, but he’s been playing solid golf over the past few months. Coming into last week, Tringale ranked inside the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, top 20 in par-5 scoring average and first in birdie or better gained over the past six tournaments.

Wes Roach ($6,300)

Roach finished his 2019 season gaining strokes through approach in four of his last five tournaments and enters Sanderson ranking 13th in Stroke Gained: Approach the Green, as well as inside the top five in birdie or better gained over the past six tournaments. He struggles on Bermuda greens, ranking 63rd in Strokes Gained: Putting over the past 24 rounds, but is so precise with his irons that he’s worth a look in his salary range.

Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.

Writer’s bio: “I’m a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.”