D.J. Trahan … It was in this tournament way back in 2006 that he captured his first PGA TOUR title. He also recorded a T3, a T9 and a T12 at Annandale Golf Club, but his fortune wasn't restricted to the event's previous host in Madison, Mississippi. Since the move to Country Club of Jackson, he's logged another two top 10s, including a T7 last year when he co-led the field in greens hit. Tee-to-green proficiency always has served as the foundation for his success, but now fully exempt again at the age of 38, the wisdom generated by the rigors of clawing all the way back yields an appreciation of how fleeting a career at the top can be. Once he's enjoyed the comfortable climes in the second tournament of the season, expect him to continue to embrace the opportunity moving forward.

Roberto Castro … Given that the 34-year-old walked off the 2018-19 season with five straight cuts made, including a pair of top 30s, he made a curious decision in electing not to give the Korn Ferry Tour Finals a try. Nevertheless, now saddled with conditional status for 2019-20, he's at least already on the board with a T57 at Greenbrier. And hey, maybe it's all part of a master plan as he hung up top fives in his last two trips to Mississippi (2015, 2018) as he's warm but rested. His results also speak to his good fit for CC of Jackson. Despite the underachieving season on the PGA TOUR, he finished inside the top 45 in fairways hit, greens in regulation, proximity to the hole and scrambling.

Ryan Blaum … Similarly, he forewent the KFT Finals in favor of conditional status this season, but he opened with a missed cut in West Virginia. As a 35-year-old who has clung to playing time since joining the PGA TOUR in 2016-17, he continues to profile as a horse for a course. CC of Jackson is one of his race tracks. He's 2-for-3 with a pair of top 20s and a scoring average of 69.90. His strength is putting, so in conjunction with his knowledge of and success on the surfaces, he's poised to make noise.

Joseph Bramlett … After eight seasons since a failed rookie year campaign in 2011, he returned with an impressive T14 at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. The result is a career-best finish in 30 TOUR starts as a professional. After sacrificing his late 20s with a confusing and serious back injury, the 31-year-old was due some success at this level. He'll only be more dangerous as he settles in. He finished sixth in greens hit on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019.

Akshay Bhatia … The last time he attracted our attention, he was making his PGA TOUR debut at the Valspar Championship in March. At the time, I drew a comparison with Joaquin Niemann, the 20-year-old who was the world's top-ranked amateur for an extended period of time and who just broke through for his first TOUR title at Greenbrier. The reason being, Bhatia is only 17 years of age and he's ascended to as high as No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Now fresh off a victorious Walker Cup experience at Royal Liverpool, the lefty from North Carolina exits the amateur world slotted No. 5 in the WAGR. He hadn't planned on joining the play-for-pay ranks until January (when he turns 18), but he then moved that up to next week's Safeway Open before sliding it forward yet one another week with a sponsor exemption into the Sanderson Farms Championship. We're going to see a fair bit of him this fall, so enjoy the show. As the winner of the Jones Cup Invitational early this year, he's exempt into The RSM Classic.

NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.