The sting of last week’s Ryder Cup still lingers for the Americans. The Europeans won on foreign soil for the first time since 2012, making it back-to-back victories.

It was well-deserved. The Europeans played lights-out golf, showcased passion and played near-perfection. But golf doesn’t wait around. Just a few days after the conclusion of the Ryder Cup, the PGA TOUR shifts the spotlight to the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi — a tournament that offers us a fresh chance to place more wagers and watch compelling golf.

With the Sanderson Farms being played at The Country Club of Jackson, ample data exists to determine key course statistics and metrics correlated with success.

At 7,461 yards, the par-72, John Fought-designed course is slightly above average in length and has one of the lowest missed fairway penalties on TOUR. “Bomb and gouge” are terms often thrown around at courses set up like The Country Club of Jackson. A few past champions have a significant correlation to length off the tee: Kevin Yu, Luke List, and Cameron Champ.

Those golfers are long, but also had excellent weeks with the putter.

With an average green size of 6,200 square feet and approaches from 100 to 125 yards, everyone will hit the greens in regulation at a high rate, which means this event often turns into a putting contest.

Mix in the non-penal rough, low missed fairway percentage, three reachable par 5s, and frequent approaches from 125 yards, it’s easy to see why Sanderson Farms is labeled as a birdie-fest.

There are likely two pathways to victory at this course. It almost feels like you can take two different styles of golfers and both have an equal chance to win—half the holes reward accuracy off the tee, and the other half reward distance. The course is not overly penal off the tee, yet short enough that much of the field will have a wedge in, so both the bombers and fairway finders can succeed here.

The Bermudagrass greens at The Country Club of Jackson aren't overly complex, allowing for more natural roll, allowing golfers to get on hot streaks with the flat stick.

While I said two types of golfers can win at this tournament, I prefer bombers this week.

My ideal golfer is long off the tee and deadly from 125 yards and in. I prefer a great ball-striker. As for putting, I’m not just targeting great putters. I want putters who have high spike putting rates, good bonus putters, and those who often get a boost in their putting performance when putting on Bermudagrass.

Based on the past winners, being a great putter isn’t a correlation to success. Rather, having a great week of putting is.

This isn’t uncommon on larger greens with minimal angulation. The less complex the greens, the more level the playing field becomes between the great and poor putters.

It's also essential to target pure birdie-makers. There aren't many, if any, holes that will play over par, which means bogey avoidance won't be overly critical, but birdies or better gained will be a strong indicator of contention or floating around the cut line.

With ample data from this golf course, modeling should be essential to determining which golfers have the highest chance of success. Here are the key metrics that I used in my model:

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
• Driving Distance
• Proximity 100-125
• Birdies or Better Gained
• SG: Putting (Bermuda)
• Bonus Putting
• SG: Easy Courses

Min Woo Lee to win

Min Woo Lee picked up his first PGA TOUR win this year at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Like Memorial Park, The Country Club of Jackson is a perfect fit for Lee. Memorial Park is a place where driving prowess isn't necessarily mandatory, but it's a nice benefit. Essentially, you want a golfer who is a killer from tee-to-green and can get scorching hot with the putter.

That's precisely what Lee did in Houston. In his win, he gained six strokes tee-to-green and another eight on the putting surface.

He brought a hot putter to Houston and entered the week inside the top 10 in SG: Putting over his last 36 rounds. While his putting form drastically dipped after his win at the Houston Open, it could be trending in the right direction after his previous two starts.

He gained over four strokes putting at the BMW PGA Championship and another three at the Open de France, which happened to be the first time he gained strokes putting in back-to-back events since winning the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

His putter is hot, and his form is in a perfect spot leading into this event. He gained seven and 14 strokes to the field, respectively, leading to a T11 and a T5 heading into this event.

With great length, confidence and a red-hot putter, Lee should be the betting favorite this week, giving us a little value on his outright price.

Michael Thorbjornsen top 10 finish

After completing his first full season on the PGA TOUR, Michael Thorbjornsen once again finds himself at the top of golf's most promising young stars list.

In the 40 events he's played, he's finished inside the top 10 seven times and has two runner-up finishes. Last season, the young Stanford product seemingly found his footing and started gaining ground while collecting top-25 finishes.

Given his natural gifts and the hype surrounding his talents, Thorbjornsen will likely be one of the favorites at most fall swing and opposite field events. This week is no different.

It makes total sense. Thorbjornsen is long off the tee, he can dial in his irons with the best of them and his putter can get scorching hot.

That said, there’s no surprise that he’s inside the top five in birdie or better percentage. Even looking at some of his best results, they were made at events where birdies feel like pars and pars feel like bogeys.

He has finished in the top five at the Corales Puntacana Championship, Rocket Classic, Travelers Championship, Zurich Classic in New Orleans and John Deere Classic.

He's coming into this week's event with solid fall form. He finished T13 at the Procore Championship, but lost strokes on the putting surface in Rounds 2 and 3. Had he been neutral on the putting surface in those rounds, he would’ve easily found himself inside the top 5, with an outside chance of challenging Scottie Scheffler for the title.

There has seemingly always been one round where Thorbjornsen putts himself out of the event. At an event like this, golfers cannot afford to lose strokes on the putting surface in any of the four rounds if they want to win. Until he’s able to be more consistent on the greens throughout an entire event, I feel more comfortable backing him to finish inside the top 10 at this price, rather than betting on him to get his first win as one of the betting favorites.

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