Photo courtesy of Sanderson Farms Championship
With a final-round 5-under par performance, Sam Burns earned his second PGA Tour victory and ended his weekend in Jackson by hoisting “Reveille the Rooster”—the trophy awarded to the winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Burns shot 22-under for the tournament, edging out second-place finishers Nick Watney and Cameron Young at -21. No stranger to the course at the Country Club of Jackson, Burns made his pro debut in the 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship.
“This is definitely a full-circle moment,” Burns said after Sunday’s final round. “This is one of my favorite events on TOUR. I always enjoy coming here and being close to home, and for [Executive Director] Steve [Jent] to give me that opportunity as a kid coming out of college, it meant a lot to me. God willing I’ll be able to play here for the next 20 years, and it will always have a special place in my heart.”
Also close to Burns’ heart is his infant nephew, who is currently in the hospital battling spinal meningitis. The 25-year-old was wearing yellow Sunday in honor of the PGA’s ‘Play Yellow’ campaign supporting local children’s hospitals.
“He won’t remember it because he’s only five or six weeks old, but I’ll definitely remember it and our family will remember it,” Burns said of the victory. “Just really thinking about my sister and her husband, their family and what they’ve experienced. It’s been really hard, and so I ask everyone to keep them in their thoughts and prayers.”
The Sanderson Farms Championship’s commitment to helping children is unmatched as the main benefactor of the tournament is Children’s of Mississippi—the state’s only children’s hospital. The tournament also donates a portion of the proceeds to 62 additional Mississippi charities.
The total amount raised by the 2021 tournament will be announced later this year.
Burns claimed a $1.26 million prize from a $7 million purse and 500 FedExCup points, tying him with Max Homa for first place in the 2022 FedExCup.
Jent joined SuperTalk Mississippi this morning to discuss the tournament that continues to grow after receiving a stand-alone date on the tour several years ago.
This year’s field highlighted that growth as former major winners, including 2020 champion Sergio Garcia, returned to Jackson. Jent praised the work done by groundskeepers on the course and shared that players and officials told him that the greens are among the best on the PGA Tour.
Additionally, he received texts from across the country complementing the aesthetics of the course, especially the approach on the 18th hole.
“This event is 330 million potential households around the world, 192 counties…For as many times as we get blighted in the news, this is a great way to showcase how great it is here,” Jent said.
With 2021 in the books, Jent now turns his attention to 2022.
