Our donors: Sanderson Farms Championship in PGA spotlight Sept. 16-22

Published on Friday, September 13, 2019

By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu

Sept. 16-22 will have only one attraction on the PGA TOUR: The Sanderson Farms Championship.

Earlier this year, the PGA TOUR, tournament host Century Club Charities and title sponsor Sanderson Farms announced that going forward, the Sanderson Farms Championship will have a date on the PGA TOUR all to itself.

“The partnership between the PGA TOUR and the Sanderson Farms Championship is unique in that Joe Sanderson has been selfless with his intentions for the tournament and the state of Mississippi,” said Andy Pazder, PGA TOUR chief competitions and tournaments officer. “Because of Joe’s vision for growing the state’s largest professional sporting event, this stand-alone date will further elevate the tournament’s stature and provide an even better experience for fans attending the Sanderson Farms Championship.”

The tournament, which in recent years taken place during the same week as the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China, will be the only PGA TOUR event played the week of Sept. 16-22. The Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson will be the second event on the 2019-20 PGA TOUR schedule one week after The Greenbrier Classic kicks off the season.

Sanderson, CEO and board chair of Sanderson Farms, and his wife, Kathy, lead the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi, the philanthropic effort to help fund the completion of the Medical Center’s pediatric expansion.

Sanderson said the championship’s growth is important because of the more than 60 nonprofits tournament host Century Club Charities supports. Among them is Friends of Children’s Hospital, which raises funds to support Batson Children’s Hospital. Friends has made a $20 million pledge to the campaign.

“We believe that it is important, particularly for the charities and for Children’s of Mississippi to know that we will be here for them, and for the Jackson metro area and the state of Mississippi to know that they can depend on us,” Sanderson said. “We are excited to be a part of the new chapter in the tournament’s history.”

In January, Century Club Charities presented a $1.25 million gift to Friends, along with a second gift of $125,000 through other designated donations.

In 2018, Century Club’s total charitable impact for the state was $2.235 million. Since 1994, when Century Club Charities became the host organization, the tournament has raised $14.75 million for Mississippi charities, and the economic impact on the Jackson metropolitan area now averages $26 million a year.

With the upgrade to a stand-alone event, the Sanderson Farms Championship for the first time will offer 500 FedExCup points to the winner and will play a larger role in the season-long race for the FedExCup. The tournament will also have a record purse, jumping from $4.4 million to $6.6 million, with $1.188 million going to the winner. Cameron Champ, the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship winner, received $774,000 and 300 FedExCup points.

“As Mississippi’s largest professional sporting event, we’ve made great strides over the last several years thanks to our partnership with Sanderson Farms and our move to The Country Club of Jackson,” said Steve Jent, Sanderson Farms Championship executive director. “As a stand-alone event going forward, we look forward to giving our fans the best event in tournament history – with some new faces playing the event for the first time – while continuing to make a significant charitable impact.”

The Sanderson Farms Championship has been an official PGA TOUR event since 1986 but originated in 1968. Sanderson Farms signed on as title sponsor starting in 2013 and agreed to a 10-year extension through 2026, matching the longest title sponsor agreement of any sponsor on the PGA TOUR.