And Now for the Sanderson's Next Step

A few minutes after forcing a sudden-death playoff with a 15-foot birdie putt on the Country Club of Jackson’s difficult 18th hole, Sebastián Muñoz sank the biggest putt of his life — a three-footer to squeak past Sungjae Im and win the Sanderson Farms Championship. The cheering crowd, the caddie hug, the strangely beautiful (somehow tasteful?) chicken trophy — they were all there.

The scene was 51 years in the making: for its entire history, the Sanderson has occurred opposite larger events — the Masters, the Open, the World Golf Championships, you name it. For nearly as long, the Sanderson has fought every form of adversity, financial uncertainty chief among them.

Not on Sunday, though. This year, for the first time, the Sanderson stood alone on the PGA Tour’s stage, and Muñoz walked off it with a nearly $1.2 million prize for his trouble. And tournament organizers walked away with a prize of their own: a successful debut in the spotlight, and a future that remains secure through 2026.

The Sanderson wasn’t the Tour’s biggest event of the fall; its $6.6 million purse, though 50 percent bigger than in 2018, is still nearly a million dollars short of the $7.5 million that the Houston Open will put up in October. It arguably still wasn’t even the biggest tournament of the week: 20 of the OWGR’s top 50 played the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, in England.

But it was unquestionably a meaningful step in the direction that tournament organizers want the Sanderson to go. Five of the world’s top 50 players committed to the Sanderson this year (although Chez Reavie’s withdrawal ultimately left just four of them in the field). Several other recognizable names appeared too, and nearly all of them were still on the course on Sunday afternoon: Brandt Snedeker (T45), 2018 winner Cameron Champ (T28), and Zach Johnson (T14) among them.

Johnson is representative of the type of player that the Sanderson doubtlessly would like to attract more of: a two-time major champion, five times a member of the United States’ Ryder Cup team, and known by even the most causal of golf fans. Players of Johnson’s caliber can be a little picky with their appearances, especially during the fall. To lure players like Johnson, tournaments have to have something to offer.

That’s where, among other things, the Sanderson’s venue comes in. The Country Club of Jackson isn’t going to show up on any top 100 lists anytime soon — it is fairly flat, albeit with superb green complexes. But as a PGA Tour course, its manageable length (7,421 yards, but seven of its par-4s measure less than 450 yards), terrific conditioning, and challenges (just enough trouble to keep big hitters at bay) make CCJ a track where varying styles can all compete.

“I enjoy the golf course,” Johnson said after his four-under 68 on Saturday. “The course is right out in front of you. I think when it comes down to it, if you can get experience on the greens it can pay dividends. I enjoy it. I enjoy the classic style of it.”

So what now?

Tournament officials view the Sanderson’s growth from opposite-field novelty to fall schedule stalwart as a two- or three-year process. And they acknowledge that word of mouth among players is critical to bringing more big names to the Sanderson.

“I think it’s everything that goes into it,” tournament director Steve Jent said. “Was it easy to get in and out? How was the food? How were you treated?”

A move to cooler temperatures could be a start: next year’s edition of the Sanderson will be staged from October 1-4, the week following the 2020 Ryder Cup. In addition to an increased likelihood of better weather, an October scheduling will also prevent top-50 players from having to choose between the Sanderson and the BMW PGA Championship.

But the Sanderson’s officials also acknowledge that offering rookies and young players a place to play is an important part of the event’s identity. As a standalone event, the field was open to 156 players this year — up from 132 when the Sanderson played opposite a larger tournament. Theoretically, that should continue allowing enough room for the Korn Ferry Tour’s 50 most recent graduates, plus a few dozen more established names, and then some.

Inevitably, maintaining that balance will be a year-by-year effort. But when the larger purse was announced in January, the Sanderson’s title sponsor made no effort to hide his ambition.

“And this is only the beginning,” Sanderson Farms CEO Joe Sanderson said in January. “We’re going to continue to grow the tournament and improve it in every possible way.”

January’s splash got the Sanderson this far. Now the real work begins.

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