5 Names In The Frame To Win The Prized Chicken Trophy At The Sanderson Farms Championship

5 Names In The Frame To Win The Prized Chicken Trophy At The Sanderson Farms Championship
16:02, 25 Oct 2017

The PGA Tour is rather overshadowed this week by the European Tour’s WGC-HSBC Champions which has attracted the world’s top players, meaning the Sanderson Farms Championship is stripped of star quality. However, the betting is wide open in Mississippi, meaning we have every chance of seeing a new name burst into the spotlight, especially considering that the last three victors were first-time Tour winners.

Recap: Last season’s FedExCup champion Justin Thomas won the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridge. The American edged out Aussie Marc Leishman in a play-off, which propelled him up to 3rd in the rankings, behind leader Pat Perez, and Brendan Steele.

Course: The Sanderson Farms Championship takes place at Mississippi’s Country Club of Jackson for the fourth time. The course plays at 7,421 yards, par-72, and offers $700,000 in prize money, plus 300 FedExCup Points, compared to the usual 500 at most other events.

TV Schedule: The action kicks-off on Sky Sports Golf at 7.30pm Thursday, through to 10.30pm. It’s the same again on Friday and Saturday, while the coverage starts at 6.30pm on Sunday, ending at 9.30pm.

Below we take a look at five contenders bidding to win the prized life-size chicken trophy at the 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship.

The Defending Champion: Cody Gribble

Cody Gribble arrives in Mississippi bidding to retain the famous chicken trophy he won 12 months ago. It was a convincing victory too with the American finishing four strokes clear at the summit of the leaderboard after ripping through the back nine with five birdies.

The win meant that Gribble became only the 13th left-handed golfer to win a tournament on the PGA Tour.

Since the Sanderson Farms Championship became a PGA Tour event in 1999 only two players have bagged multiple victories: Brian Henninger (1994 & 1999) and Fred Funk (1998 & 2004), highlighting the difficult task the defending champion faces out at 50/1.

The Favourite: Chesson Hadley

Chesson Hadley has been installed as the 18/1 favourite to finish top of the pile. The American has one Tour triumph to his name, 2014 Puerto Rico Open, while he heads into this week’s event in good form following his September success at the Albertsons Boise Open on the Web.com Tour, which came after his victory at the LECOM Health Challenge in July.

These wins helped Hadley became the first player in Web.com Tour Finals history to win both The 25 combined money list and The Finals 25, while earlier this month he shot a course-record 61 in his second round at the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort, in the end settling for 3rd spot, three shots of winner Brendan Steele.

The Top-75 Player: William McGirt

We have only one player from the World’s Top-75 in the field this week, and that’s William McGirt who is ranked 75th. McGirt won the 2016 Memorial Tournament, and later that year bagged a top-10 finish in the PGA Championship in New Jersey.

The 38-year-old has a decent record on the course, finishing 2nd in 2015 and 7th in 2014, and looks a decent each-way pick at 25/1 this time around.

The Golf Hall of Famer: Davis Love III

Davis Love III was inducted into the World Golf Hall Of Fame last month, and with 21 Tour wins, major success at the 1997 PGA Championship and four Ryder Cup triumphs as player (1993 & 1999) and captain (2012 & 2016) it came as no susprise he was given this honour.

Love finished 10th at the Wyndham Open in August, while he came T28 at the CIMB Classic earlier this month. This will be the 53 year old’s second start of the season and is a 60/1 shot to win his first PGA Tour tournament in two years, while he’s available at 7/1 to finish in the top-10.

The Mississippi native: Jonathan Randolph

If you fancy an outsider then Jonathan Randolph could be your man at 150/1! The Mississippi native was the talk of the town when he arrived at his press conference with his dog Yodi, and he’ll be hoping she’s a good luck charm at the Sanderson Farms Championship as he bids to become the fourth-first time tour winner following the successes of Gribble, Peter Malnati and Nick Taylor.

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