Rome is officially in the rearview mirror with a couple weeks of full-field PGA Tour events remaining on the scheduled for 2023, including the Sanderson Farms Championship this week. This is the second leg of the new FedEx Cup fall schedule and will feature many similar names from the Fortinet Championship. The Country Club of Jackson will play host again this year, measuring 7,461 yards as a par 72.
Here are all the players who have my interest—and those who certainly don’t—this week at the 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship:
Golfers I'm Definitely Playing
Eric Cole ($10,300 DraftKings)
Cole is almost certainly one of the three best players in this field. He kicked off the fall portion of the schedule with a fourth-place finish in Napa. His skill-set revolves around solid approach play and a stellar putter, which is the way to win an event like this that could turn into a birdie-fest.
Adam Svensson ($9,000 DraftKings)
This will be his first start since the BMW Championship, and I’m ready to buy. He found his form to end last season, gaining two-plus strokes on approach in each of his past four starts, per the RickRunGood.com golf database. When he’s going well, he’s one of the best ball-strikers in this field.
Davis Thompson ($8,200 DraftKings)
Mike Ehrmann
Thompson might be finding his footing on tour, earning earned four top-31 finishes in his past five starts—buoyed by a solid tee-to-green game. He’s flashed brilliance at times in his young career, but he seems to be finding a bit more consistency lately.
Dylan Wu ($7,600 DraftKings)
Routinely underpriced, Wu enters with three straight made cuts, including a T-5 at the 3M Open and T-14 in Napa. He’s been scorching with the putter, gaining over 22 strokes putting in his last three starts alone. He’ll need to provide some support from tee-to-green, but his flatstick is a weapon right now.
Joel Dahmen ($6,900 DraftKings)
David Berding
Dahmen was in need of a reset after really struggling at the end of last season. He has fallen to a pricing tier where he is certainly better than his peers in regards to long-term form. He’s played well in Jackson, making his last three cuts, including a T13 last year.
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Golfers I Might Play
Emiliano Grillo ($10,100 DraftKings)
Grillo sprinted to the finish line of last season, making a run in the playoffs that ended with a T-29 at the Tour Championship. His past five events earned him three different top-20 finishes, and he has never finished worse than T-39 here in four trips, including a T-5 last year.
SH Kim ($9,400 DraftKings)
Alex Bierens de Haan
Kim kicked his season off in dramatic fashion, finishing second at Silverado and gaining over nine strokes ball-striking. That has certainly been an outlier performance for him in his career thus far, but I’m willing to take the chance that he found something—especially in a weaker field like this one. His only trip to Jackson was last year and it yielded a T-13 finish where he gained strokes in all four major categories.
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Sam Ryder ($8,500 DraftKings)
Ryder is in the midst of four consecutive top-40 finishes, with two top 14s during that run. The advanced metrics are solid, gaining over 22 strokes on approach during those four starts, per the RickRunGood.com golf database. That’s an elite level of ball-striking in any field, especially this one.
Callum Tarren ($7,500 DraftKings)
Raj Mehta
Tarren has proven to be a viable “boom or bust” option if that’s what you desire. He has two top-15 finishes in his last three starts, and when he makes the cut, he often turns in a decent result. He has been gaining multiple strokes off-the-tee in six of his last nine starts and will look to build on last year’s T-13 finish.
Aaron Baddeley ($6,700 DraftKings)
Baddeley is a gamer who traditionally relies on his short game to separate from the rest of the field. His driving deficiencies will not be as profound at Jackson Country Club compared to other courses on the schedule. He’s actually gained strokes off-the-tee in each of his last four trips to this course.
Golfers I'm Fading
Ludvig Aberg ($10,900 DraftKings)
It’s a little surprising that Aberg still remains in this field. There was an expectation that he would withdraw after a Ryder Cup victory, as his teammate Nicolai Hojgaard already did. He’s clearly the most talented player in this field, but he’ll head to the Country Club of Jackson for the first time off an exhausting and draining week halfway across the world.
Keith Mitchell ($9,900 DraftKings)
Sean M. Haffey
Mitchell really struggled last year in a few different key aspects. His approach play caused him issues, losing strokes to the field in nine of his past 13 measured events. His putting struggles are expected, and they’ve continued to generate poor results.
Chez Reavie ($7,400 DraftKings)
Reavie has played well recently, gaining 0.57 strokes per round over his last 36 rounds, which is top 20 in this field. However, he’s never been able to solve the Country Club of Jackson. It doesn’t magnify his skill-set, resulting in two straight missed cuts and a T-46 in his three trips.
Cameron Champ ($7,300 DraftKings)
The 2019 champion hasn’t played this event in any of the last three editions, which is generally not a great sign of how a golfer assesses his chances at a course. He’s missed his last two cuts and continues to lose multiple strokes putting in nearly every start.
Kevin Yu ($7,300 DraftKings)
Stacy Revere
He’s a stat darling, but Yu has some deficiencies that are hard to swallow. His ball-striking is prime, but he has lost over 16 strokes putting to the field in his last 10 rounds alone. Success at Silverado will come in the form of making birdies in bunches so the ability to get hot with the flatstick will be critical.
Rick Gehman, founder of RickRunGood.com and the RickRunGood YouTube Channel, is one of the industry’s leading experts on golf DFS and gambling. Gehman is co-host of the First Cut Podcast and appears regularly on the Pat Mayo Experience golf podcasts. Follow him on Twitter: @RickRunGood.