Dallas-based Scottie Scheffler ended last season in style, with 22nd place in the Memorial, followed by 15th spot in the Memphis WGC, fourth in the US PGA Championship, fourth in The Northern Trust and 20th in the BMW Championship before scoring second-best of the 30 Tour Championship runners. Then Covid-19 reared its ugly head.
The 24-year-old was forced to withdraw from the US Open after testing positive for Covid and has not been sighted since, but the PGA Tour maiden starts as 9/1 favourite for this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi.
If Scheffler has fully recovered physically and mentally from the health scare, and can slip straight back into form at a venue where he has compiled results of 45-16 in two previous visits, a breakthrough PGA Tour victory could be coming on Sunday.
Korean youngster finding his feet again after form slump
Sungjae Im was gutted by the coronavirus suspension and the subsequent postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – the Korean needs to win a medal to earn exemption from two years of national service in the army – but the 22-year-old appears to have finally got over the disappointment of that setback and is playing well again.
Im finished ninth in the Wyndham Championship in the middle of last month to signal a return to something like his old self, then he got close to Dustin Johnson through two rounds of the Tour Championship to raise hopes of winning the $15m FedEx Cup bonus.
Another bold effort in the US Open last time out – 22nd place after topping the greens in regulation statistics – indicates Im is getting back to his best. He lost a playoff for the 2019 Sanderson Farms and any upturn in his putting form could mean silverware this time and a 12/1 winner for his followers.
Consistent Korn Ferry star looking to bank more dollar
Will Zalatoris made headlines for his hole-in-one in the US Open, where he went on to finish tied for sixth alongside Dustin Johnson, and the Korn Ferry Tour standings leader followed up his Winged Foot brilliance with a share of eighth spot in the Corales Puntacana Club and Resort Championship last week.
Zalatoris closed the Corales with a 65, extending his streak to 13 consecutive top-20s, and should be seriously considered at the price of 16/1 available for the Texas-based swinger making a PGA Tour breakthrough in Mississippi.
The main negative for Zalatoris fans is that he is making his debut at the Country Club of Jackson. It took him a while to get going on his Corales debut last week and a similarly slow start could leave the 24-year-old playing for the Sanderson Farms places.
Zalatoris needs a two-way tie for fifth place or better to gain Special Temporary Membership of the PGA Tour, so if he gets a chance of winning, he may play safe to guarantee the top-five finish.