Leading the Sanderson Farms Championship, David Skinns of England shot a 12-under 60, a personal best and a course record. And on Thursday, he couldn’t help but feel a little let down.
At The Country Club of Jackson, Skinns shot six birdies on the back nine and six more on the front nine. On his last hole, he had to make a final birdie putt from just inside 10 feet. It ended up missing on the low side.
The 42-year-old Englishman Skinns continued to lead Michael Thorbjornsen by three shots.
When questioned about the number of 9-footers he would get to shoot 59 ; he answered ; “I’m certain I won’t receive many. I want to just reflect on how in control I felt psychologically and how I continued to attack, even though I’m not at all disappointed. I’m going to kind of take away from today that I wasn’t really thinking about the future at all.”
One of eight PGA TOUR events in the FedExCup Fall that determines the 125 players who retain a full card for the next year, the Sanderson Farms Championship, is heavily focused on the future.
Skinns was ranked 108, therefore his 60 is a significant improvement.
One of the players playing in the afternoon was Rickie Fowler. With a full year of exemption from winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic last year, Fowler, who is ranked No. 110, is still eligible. Fowler is participating for the first time since The Open Championship and his wife also gave birth to their second daughter.
Skinns was rarely out of position even though he only hit five fairways. He made birdie the two times he was not on the putting green in regulation. Throughout the round, he also made five more birdies outside of the 10-foot mark and holed putts from 55 and 25 feet.
“It’s great to see a couple enter that would not have on other days. The thing that thrilled me the most was that I was able to maintain the momentum after it had sort of soared. I was more concerned with where I was going to hit the next stroke than I was with the score.” Skinns said.
At number 67 in the group were Mackenzie Hughes and Patton Kizzire, the winner of the inaugural FedExCup Fall tournament at the Procore Championship. Two years ago, Hughes won the Sanderson Farms Championship despite not being included on the Presidents Cup team. He is participating this year ¸ a week after making his Presidents Cup debut.
Currently ranked 51st in the FedExCup, he will gain entry into the first two Signature Events provided he finishes in the top 60. Not even the Presidents Cup was going to stop the Canadian, who doesn’t intend to play for a month.
“Monday was essentially spent sobering up; Tuesday was spent recovering, resting and travelling; and Wednesday was spent doing some light practice and the pro-am. I felt as though I had caught my breath on Wednesday night and was prepared to come out here today. I was prepared to leave, even though it was obviously a huge high to leave last week, but my job is still here.” Hughes said.
Based on his top performance in the PGA TOUR University ranking, Stanford graduate Thorbjornsen already has a full card for the next season. He had a sluggish summer after a runner-up result in the John Deere Classic and now has a full calendar of fall tournaments.
As for Skinns, he resolved to recall the 12 putts that went in despite reflecting on the one that went wrong as he departed The Country Club of Jackson.
“I think it was a ball outside the cup that I had. I would have it in a cup outside if I could do it over. It broke far more than I had anticipated. Coincidentally, that was for a 59. However, there were many that I answered correctly, so I’ll concentrate on those.” Skinns said.
