Sam Burns, or a version of Sam Burns, headlines the field for the Sanderson Farms Championship, defending the title he won last year despite the best efforts of his putter. It was victory number two for the talented young American and two more have since followed, which all meant a Presidents Cup debut and in turn the biggest negative that we have to address.
Not only did Sunday's celebrations run long into the night, but Burns would already have been excused were he feeling the pinch. The rookie played all five matches in somewhat curious circumstances: he was the only one of eight players across both sides who never missed a session, but never won a point. Three of his matches went the full 18 holes, the other two 17, which means he played 88 in four days.
He's young and two of his four wins came in the same event meaning he's defended a title already, but surely we have to take him on. That Burns produced a phenomenal putting display in Charlotte and yet still couldn't find a way to secure a full point means that concerns about the state of his long-game would probably have been enough to overlook him even with a week off in between.
With just four other members of the world's top 50 present in Mississippi, where Jackson Country Club offers something for everyone, this is an open event which represents the PGA Tour's second try at getting their season under way. The first came a fortnight ago, in California, and we've therefore a significant change in conditions to deal with, something often reflected in leaderboards here at the SFC.
Last year, seven of the eventual top eight had ties to the southeast including the winner, who hails from Louisiana, and fourth-placed Hayden Buckley at 200/1, born in Tennessee and now living in Florida. Scan the interview transcripts and you can't escape talk of these pure, bermuda greens, which for so many of the rookies make them feel a good deal more comfortable than they ever could at the Fortinet Championship.
I'll come to those later on but there are three players from a small group towards the top of the market who I particularly like, starting with DAVIS RILEY.
Born and raised in Mississippi, this is a proper home game for one of the best young players on the circuit, who most certainly has the potential to be joining Burns at next year's Ryder Cup. His talent has long been known about and we all saw it nice and clear during a fabulous summer run, which included 13th in the US PGA.
Riley's schedule from April through to June, during which time he contended regularly, possibly took its toll after he again impressed in the US Open – but the move north also hurt. He'd been second in Florida, fourth in Louisiana, 13th in Oklahoma, ninth and then fourth in Texas, latterly contending at Colonial where he hit the front on Sunday. Then his putting went to pieces on bentgrass greens for a while, before he returned south and immediately improved, finishing 13th in the Wyndham Championship.
Probably the standout putter on the PGA Tour, in some ways this 29-year-old is a fine advert for data and our improved understanding of how golfers actually go about climbing the ranks. McCarthy is still seeking that first victory despite making everything he looks at some weeks and if he was as good a ball-striker as he is a putter, he'd be world-class.
That digression aside, form figures of MC-7-18-6-17 mark Jackson down as his favourite PGA Tour stop and, despite being born in Maryland, Florida-based McCarthy has spoken of his fondness for bermuda greens and these in particular. He rates them among the very best on tour and his short-game has powered this string of top-20s, without doubt.
Regular readers might then be surprised that I'm selecting him, as I tend towards those with scope for putting improvement, rather than those who are seeking it elsewhere. However one thing we can say for sure is that McCarthy is vastly improved as a golfer, arriving here off by far his best PGA Tour season, and tellingly up at 32nd in DataGolf's world rankings. They have him the third best player in the field.
Born and raised in Alabama, here's a player who will undoubtedly be glad that the PGA Tour only visits California once before Christmas. So far in his PGA Tour career, Mullinax has seven top-10 finishes, six of them coming across Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
Last year he bagged one here, finishing fourth, his best performance anywhere in well over three years. It came courtesy of a strong tee-to-green display which was complemented by a good putting week, and as he had on his previous visit he excelled off the tee.
Asked if he liked the course and how familiar it felt, Mullinax said: "Yeah, a hundred percent. Growing up in this kind of rough, these greens, I really enjoy them. These greens are, I mean, heck, they're some of the best we play all year, they're top five for sure. They roll so good.
"If you put a good roll on it you're going to have a good chance to make it. So I'm really excited about tomorrow, I think if I can keep the ball in play off the tee like I did the first two days, I think I'll have a really good chance."
Formerly the best amateur in the world, like namesake Riley he's long been touted as a real star in the making and it's no surprise that he gradually figured things out on the Korn Ferry Tour, playing some of the best golf of anyone on that circuit during a hot summer run.
Along the way, he collected his first professional win courtesy of a dominant, front-running display in the Rex Hospital Open, the same North Carolina event that Mullinax has won and played on the kind of country club course that makes so many players of their upbringing feel comfortable.
We'd already seen what he's capable of with 23rd place on his PGA Tour debut in 2019, leading the field in strokes-gained tee-to-green, and several other good efforts throughout 2021. Again it was therefore unsurprising that he shone in his first event as a cardholder, finishing ninth in the Fortinet having done everything well.
Indeed, Shelton's head-to-head with Daffue reads 11-9 in his favour this year despite having been 4-0 and 8-4 down, which tells you what a tear he's been on with two wins and a second place since the middle of June, plus several other solid performances.
Another from Alabama, three of his four pro wins have come in the south along with third place in the Barbasol while still an amateur, so 21st place in the Fortinet is marked up accordingly – especially as he'd only managed 52nd and a missed cut from his previous two visits to Napa.
His record here is only slightly better but he started well with a 68 on debut in the very earliest stages of his career, before returning three years later to defy a poor start and climb from 110th after round one to an eventual 28th.
That and the way he hit the ball suggest he can score at Jackson, as did a second-round 69 in 2020, and he also has an interesting piece of correlating form courtesy of third place in the 3M Open. These two events are not alike in any obvious way but there are plenty of leaderboard ties, not least through Cameron Champ, and Shelton's performance there a couple of summers ago rates his best on the PGA Tour to date.
Whether it works out or not, he has all the tools for this kind of test and is a player I've high hopes for this season. He'll know, as will all of the Korn Ferry Tour graduates, that a strong start can be vital and any progress from the Fortinet would see him threaten the places at three-figure prices.
Ben An's performance out there and his previous third place here catch the eye but having been on him at 125/1 in a far weaker event before that, I can't bring myself to back him at the prices on offer. He was generally below Thompson and Shelton on the Korn Ferry Tour and unlike that duo, he'll have been very comfortable starting off the year so close to where he made a name for himself in college.
Buckley placed for us here last year and could well do it again but my final selection is JIMMY WALKER at 300/1.
Clearly one of the most decorated players in the field – indeed he's one of just six major champions here – Walker's career was all but ended by Lyme disease, and when he put the clubs away following the Texas Open back in April, it seemed to many that he'd called it a day.
Then came a call from the PGA Tour to tell him that due to LIV defections, he had climbed inside the top 50 in career money and could use that season-long exemption should he wish. It's all covered in as Walker weighed up what to do, and took the advice of those he loves.
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