No Dirt Thursday: Sanderson Farms Championship at Country Club of Jackson
Welcome to No Dirt Thursday!
Where each week we break down the last three years of that week's tournament, then give you a quick-hit history of the event, the host course, and a few “only-here” moments you can drop on the timeline.
This week we’re at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi, a par-72, 7,461-yard parkland test where broad corridors off the tee give way to Donald Ross-style, tiered Bermuda greens.
Tournament Purse: $6,000,000
Round 1 ACE ALERT: Niklas Norgaard just jarred one from 183 yards on the par-3 4th at the Country Club of Jackson, soft hop, slow roll, gone. Round 1 fireworks in Jackson. Turn the sound up: Watch it here. (He had no idea!!)
Last three editions (before this year)
2024 - Kevin Yu | –23 (265) | Playoff over Beau Hossler | held at Country Club of Jackson
2023 - Luke List | –18 (270) | Five-man playoff (Åberg, Griffin, Norlander, Stallings) List canned a long birdie to win | held at Country Club of Jackson
2022 - Mackenzie Hughes | –17 (271) | Playoff over Sepp Straka (won on the 2nd extra hole) | held at Country Club of Jackson
Winner! Most unique trophies on PGA TOUR
Is the Sanderson Farms Chicken Trophy the Tour’s Worst? Read Pro Golf Weekly's take here.
Why a chicken?
“Reveille” is the Sanderson Farms Championship’s bronze rooster, conceived by then-CEO Joe Sanderson as a nod to the company’s poultry roots and sculpted by Malcolm DeMille with hand-applied patinas. The name means “wake-up call,” and the swagger (plus those colors) turned it into a cult icon, argued over as best or worst, but unmistakably Jackson. Lately, Reveille even topped the TOUR’s “most unique trophies” list.
Now for some tournament history:
Founded: 1968 as the Magnolia Classic in Mississippi.
Venues: Early years at Hattiesburg CC; a long run at Annandale GC (1994–2013).
Move to Jackson: 2014–present at Country Club of Jackson.
Records (event all-time): Aggregate 263 (Dan Halldorson, 1986); to-par −24 (Scott Stallings, 2012).
About the host: Country Club of Jackson
Origins: Club dates back to 1914 (original Bendelow era west of downtown).
Current site: Moved in the late ’50s; Dick Wilson opened the 27-hole property in the early 1960s.
Modernization: The championship eighteen (Dogwood front / Azalea back) was renovated in 2008 by John Fought with Mike Gogel, giving them updated bunkering, reshaped greens, and short-grass runoffs.
Plays like: Driver-friendly sightlines, but you only score if you control spin and height into tiers. (Clean grooves, no excuses.)
Check them out online here.
Only-at-Jackson moments
Sergio’s eyes-closed putting (2020): García literally putted with his eyes closed all week and won by one. Check it out here.
Cameron Champ’s launch (2018): First TOUR win at –21, by four, with the kind of speed you still talk about. Winning Highlights here.
Breakthrough city: Ryan Armour (2017) claimed his first TOUR win at 41. Read about it here.
Storm story (2009): Back at Annandale, the tournament was canceled for weather - the TOUR’s first outright weather cancelation since 1996. Read about it here.
Numbers to watch this week
Par-5 scoring (four of them): Leaders usually separate here.
Miss-zones around the greens: Short-grass runoffs punish sloppy contact.
18th-hole theater: The finisher has crowned the champ in three straight years.
On Deck:
Next weeks No Dirt Thursday: Baycurrent Classic at the Yokohama Country Club