The Country Club of Jackson new home to Sanderson Farms Championship
JACKSON, Miss. (July 15, 2014) – For sports fans in this region, early November usually means that SEC football has hit its stride with crucial games every weekend. This year, however, The Country Club of Jackson will claim a part of the area’s sports spotlight since the PGA Tour will be coming to town for the fifth stop of the 2014-15 wraparound season.
With its golf courses dramatically remodeled in 2008 by former PGA Tour pro John Fought, The Country Club of Jackson will host the Sanderson Farms Championship, Nov. 3-9. Two of the club’s three nine-hole layouts – Azalea and Dogwood – will test a field of 138 Tour pros as they vie for a purse that has been hiked from $3 million to $4 million, with valuable FedEx Cup points on the line.
Shortly after Fought completed a widely acclaimed restoration of Pine Needles in Southern Pines, N.C., Jackson targeted the two-time PGA Tour winner to tackle its 27-hole facility (which includes the Cypress nine), an original Dick Wilson design from 1962. Jackson’s co-chairman of the golf committee at the time was Mike Taylor, who like Fought, earned All-America honors while playing collegiate golf for Brigham Young University. Taylor joined teammate Johnny Miller in 1966, while Fought was one of five All-Americans on BYU’s 1976 team.
“Over the years, modifications had been made to the courses, but to the club’s credit they knew they were just stomping out fires and hop-scotching around without a clear vision and plan for a complete renovation,” Fought said. “We were able to give them a blueprint for the future, and six years later they are being rewarded by the PGA Tour with the Sanderson Farms Championship.”
Patrick Joyce, club general manager, said membership (comprised of 1,100 families) is thrilled not only with the job Fought did from a playability and aesthetic viewpoint, but also his “open-arm approach” that encouraged member feedback throughout the process.
“John still returns every other year, and our members love coming down to meet with him,” said Joyce, who assumed his position just months after the restoration project had been completed. “John checks on the maturity of the course and will work with our golf committee to recommend ongoing changes to improve it. Not surprising, however, since he’s not one of those golf course designers who says, ‘give me the checkbook and get out of the way.’ ”
Joyce added when the PGA Tour conducted its two-day course evaluation earlier this year, it essentially gave the Azalea and Dogwood layouts a green light.
“They pretty much thought we were ready to go,” Joyce said. “They want us to change some rough heights and fairway lines, but that’s it. It’s a huge testament to the job John did here.”
The course will play at 7,304 yards for the tournament, which will be televised by Golf Channel. Joyce predicts the move to Jackson will be a big hit with spectators and Tour pros alike.
“For the fans, there are a lot of locations where they can see at least two greens and one tee,” Joyce said. “For the players, they will love the layout because it’s very compact without a lot of walking from green to tee.”
How do Joyce’s members feel about “losing” their courses for a few weeks in the fall?
“Honestly, our membership is 99 percent excited,” he said. “We have great support here, and it all means we will be able to raise more money for charity. And only Ole Miss is playing football at home that weekend, so we expect excellent crowds.”
The tournament’s primary beneficiary is Friends of Children’s Hospital – a favorite charity of Sanderson Farms’ CEO Joe F. Sanderson, Jr. In 2013, the tournament raised $300,000 for the charity. Sanderson Farms’ new three-year sponsorship extension included not only the venue change from Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss., where the tournament had been held for the past 19 years, but also a date shift from July to November so it could be part of the PGA Tour’s 2014-15 wraparound season.
For more information on John Fought Design, visit www.johnfoughtdesign.com or call (480) 991-9858. For more information on The Country Club of Jackson, visit www.ccjackson.com.
Contact:
Karen Moraghan
Hunter Public Relations
kmoraghan@hunter-pr.com
908/876-5100
