Call it the opposite of the regression to the mean. Should Mark Hubbard pull out the win on Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship, the 33-year-old Colorado native would rekindle a historic (and unusual) trend. Thirteen times previously, the champion at the Jackson, Miss., event has made it his first career win on the PGA Tour, including six straight years from 2014 to 2019 (Sergio Garcia in 2020 and Sam Burns in 2021 being the recent outliers).
At 15 under par thanks to a Saturday 65 that include five straight birdies on the back nine, Hubbard carries a one-shot edge over Mackenzie Hughes into the final round at the Country Club of Jackson. It’s the first time he’s been a 54-hole leader in a PGA Tour event. Hubbard has earned $5.084 million in 163 previous career starts, his best previous showing being a runner-up at the 2020 Houston Open. A win this week would earn him a prize money payout of $1.422 million.
Chasing Hubbard, however, is a pack of players with victories already to their credit. Hughes, 31, is making his 158th starts since his lone tour title at the 2016 RSM Classic.
Three shots back are Garrick Higgo, Scott Stallings and Sepp Straka. Stallings is looking to become just the second two-time Sanderson winner (along with Fred Funk), having claimed the title when it was played at Annandale Golf Club in 2012.
The overall purse this week is $7.9 million. Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut.