PGA DFS Playbook: Sanderson Farms Championship

I thought 2020-2021 would be Sam Burns break out season and in some ways it was.  He had a win at the Valspar, runner ups at the Bryson Nelson and WGC-FedEx, and even a third at the Genesis.  When you talk about driving the ball, there are few better than him off the tee.  He missed the cut at this event last year but I see a fresh start for him being the Top Priced Option this weekend.

You can definitely call 2020-2021 a down season for Sungjae.  He had a fantastic 2019-2020 and I think the expectations for the next season were too high.  We saw signs of his game coming around late last season with nine straight cuts made and two Top 10 finishes.  He finished last season Top 20 in Strokes Gained Off the Tee and Top 30 in Greens in Regulation.  He finished Top 30 in this event last season.

I think you all know how much I love this Canadian’s game.  He is an extremely talented ball striker but putting has been his Achilles heel.  This tournament does not require a premiere putting stroke.  He finished Top 20 at the Sanderson last year.  He finished Top 10 in Strokes Gained Off the Tee and Approach and also Top 20 in Greens in Regulation.  He’s an easy play for me this weekend.

Despite the missed cut at the Fortinet to start the 2021-2022 season, I’m still in on Munoz at the Sanderson Farms.  He won the event in 2019 and finished Top 25 in 2020.  He has shown the ability to be a Top 50 Strokes Gained Tee to Green player and it shows in his results at this event.  He’ll likely be popular at this price point.

Streelman did not have a strong finish to the 2020-2021 season but did finish Top 20 at the Open Championship and Top 10 at the Wyndham.  He finished the season 57th Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Top 25 in Greens in Regulation.  Streelman has finished Top 20 in three of his last four trips to this event.  This reasonable price tag will make him popular in DFS games. 

Power had an excellent end to the 2020-2021 season which included his first PGA tour victory at the Barbasol Championship in mid-July.  Prior to that victory, he had a run of five straight Top 20 finishes.  He finished the season ranked 5th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, 25th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, 38th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 40th in Greens in Regulation. I have a feeling that his name is going to pop up in a lot of my playbooks during this season.  I mean who doesn’t want to roster a dude name Seamus?

It was a very inconsistent season from Carlos.  He started things off with his first PGA Tour victory at the Houston Open last November followed by an 8th at the Mayakoba and a 4th at the Waste Management.  After that, he missed four of his next six cuts.  He finished 2020-2021 by making the cut in four of his last five events.  While he missed the cut in his first attempt at the Sanderson Farms, I look at his skill set and believe better things are coming. He finished last year Top 50 in both Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Driving Distance.  Ortiz got inside the Top 70 in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, Tee to Green, and Greens in Regulation.  Top 70 might not sound great but look at the field, a ton of the Top 30 players are missing which means he’s more like Top 30 this weekend.

While his stats say otherwise over the last two seasons, Gary Woodland has one hell of a driver in his bag. The distance has always been there but the accuracy has faded a bit.  This course should fit his game like a glove and put him in the mix come Sunday afternoon.  This Kansas Jayhawk has not been the same since his amazing win at the 2019 U.S. Open.  He has just seemed off, scoring five Top 15 finishes and five missed cuts over his last 14 events.  When I look through the pricing sheet, he stands out like a sore thumb at this price tag with this field around him.  I’m take the shot on him in GPPs.

Bramlett carded back to back rounds of 65 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to earn himself a fully exempt 2021-2022 PGA Tour season.  This kid can hit it a mile off the tee finishing 2020-2021 ranked 14th in Driving Distance with a 309.6 average.  Despite only having two Top 10 finishes last season, Joseph still finished 28th in Greens in Regulation, 49th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and 53rd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee.  He is also not a kid anymore, the 33-year-old wants to be a regular on the PGA Tour and he’s got the talent to do it.  He made the cut in his first event of the new season, I believe he keeps the momentum going into this weekend in Jackson. 

Pendrith played in just five PGA tour events during the 2020-2021 season but made the cut in four of them with two Top 15 finishes.  He kicked things off in 2021-2022 with a made cut and a finish of 36th where he ranked 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 3rd in Driving Distance.  He ended last season the Korn Ferry Tour with eight straight cuts made and six Top 25 finishes.  This Canadian could make for a nice GPP play this weekend. 

Most will remember this guy for his surprising Top 10 finish at the Palmetto Championship in only his second PGA Tour start.  He should have most of the butterflies and nerves out of his system after getting a few PGA Tour rounds under his belt.  Lipsky had a hell of a season on the Korn Ferry Tour with a victory and another six Top 10 finishes.  When looking over his profile, 19th in Scoring Average, 24th in Driving Accuracy, 28th in Birdie Average, 30th in All Around and 45th in Ball Striking were the things that stood out most to me.  In a field like this one, he has peaked his head out from the 6K range into the 7K.  He isn’t the safest pick but he could also be a tournament winner with is likely smaller ownership levels. 

He was consistently one of my favorite plays when the field is on the weaker side.  4th at the Barracuda (12th in 2020), 15th at the Barbasol, 4th at the John Deere, and 26th at the Bermuda.  While I would have liked a better finish than 51st at the Fortinet, he still made the cut at a price tag under 7K, I’ll take it.  I love him this weekend being that his best skill is with the driver ranking Top 70 last season in both Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Driving Distance last season.  He was also Top 60 in both Greens in Regulation and Scoring Average as well. He finished the 2020-2021 season making the cut in six of his last seven starts with two Top 10 finishes.

The end of the 2020-2021 season looked bleak for Rory when he missed six cuts in eight events before ending on a high note with a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics behind Xander Schauffele and a 10th at the Wyndham Championship.  He has also made three cuts overseas over the last month. Rory finished 12th at the Sanderson Farms in 2020, which doesn’t surprise me because he has shown the ability to finish Top 50 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee in the past. I personally think he’ll get overlooked this weekend which could mean a payday for someone who rosters him.

We saw Greyson make a few appearances on the PGA Tour last season, seven to be exact.  After missing the cut in his first two, he scored a Top 10 at the Corales Puntacana Championship and a Top 15 at the Barracuda. Those are both events with similar fields to this one.  He made his name last season on the Korn Ferry Tour with two victories and another eight Top 10 finishes.  The numbers that stood out to me on his profile were 4th in All Around, 7th in Scoring Average, 15th in Greens in Regulation, and 25th in Putting Average.  He’s a young gun looking to make a name for himself and he started off on the right foot with a Top 30 finish in his first event of the 2021-2022 PGA Tour season.

This is a name to watch out for this season.  He’s already flashed by finishing 6th at the Fortinet in Napa a couple weeks ago. In that event, he finished 5th in Birdie Average, 6th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 8th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and 27th in Greens in Regulation. John is fresh out of Vanderbilt University, first-team All-American.  He earned spots at the 2020 U.S. Open and Masters after finishing runner up at the 2019 U.S. Amateur.  While he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, he was one of only two amateurs to make the cut at the Masters and finished 55th.  I have a feeling that he won’t be in the 6K range for long, so take advantage while you still can.