The Sanderson Farms PGA golf tournament at Jackson Country Club is coming up shortly. The main event kicks off on Thursday, October 3 and finishes, weather permitting, on Sunday, October 6. There is a major pro-am preliminary on Wednesday, October 2, when private golfers pay to play with the professionals, and there are other activities starting September 30. The economic impact of the tournament on mid-Mississippi was estimated to be about $40 million in 2022 (hotels, restaurants etc.). Therefore, it is of great importance to the state, and to this region in particular.
It might be informative to give a brief history of this PGA tournament. It had its beginning in Hattiesburg in 1968 when it was named the Magnolia Classic. I visited it then along with some golfing buddies. The one memory that stands out in my mind from that visit is that a young Davis Love III had a long drive on a left dog-leg hole to set up a birdie. Although he didn't win the tournament, he nevertheless went on to have a stellar career.
In 1994 the tournament was named the Deposit Guaranty tournament and was moved to the Annandale course in Madison. Officially Country Club Charities became the tournament host, being in charge of raising funds for several Mississippi charities, particularly the Batson Children's Hospital. It was reported in 2022 that CCC had raised $24.5 million in charitable donations.
In 1999 the title sponsor was Farm Bureau. Then Viking became the sponsor from 2007 till 2011. During the next year there was no title sponsor. Instead, a consortium of several entities, led by Jackson Heart, became sponsors. That year the tournament was called the True South Classic. After that Sanderson Farms took over for 2013 till the present, and the site was changed to the Jackson Country Club. Since 2019-20 the tournament has been upgraded to be the second match of the new PGA season which now starts in the fall. The winner gets 500 FedEx points and also an invitation to the prestigious Masters Golf Tournament. The total purse for 2023 was $8.3 million with the winner (Luke List) receiving $1.46 million. By contrast, back in 1968, the first year of the Magnolia Classic, the total purse was $20,000 and the winner's share was $2,800.
In July 2022 Sanderson Farms merged with Wayne Farms to form Wayne-Sanderson Farms. During the consolidation process in June 2024 the merged company laid off 40 employees at its Laurel, Mississippi campus. I assume they then reasoned that in all good conscience they could not continue with the expenditures of lead sponsor in the PGA tournament, so they have now become a lesser sponsor. Thus, the tournament is now urgently looking for a replacement lead sponsor.
My personal involvement with the tournament was as a scoring volunteer for over twenty years. The first couple of years was at Annandale working with the calligrapher who wrote the players' scores for each nine holes on the official scoreboard. Then I discovered the walking scorer assignment. This scorer walks along with the players (usually two or three) and records every shot of each player. He records where the ball lands--in the fairway, the first cut of rough, the deep rough, bunker etc. The score for each hole is then transferred from the scorer's palm device directly to the scoreboards around the course. At the end of each round the scorer accompanies the players to the scoring tent where the player signs his score card. If there is any question on a particular hole the scorer has a record of all the strokes on that hole and can tell the player the location of each stroke. Over the twenty some years that I scored I encountered only one question. The player said he had a five on one hole. My record said a four. He agreed with me!
Two incidents stand out for me. First, it was my usual practice to work the pro-am on the Wednesday, and the regular match each Thursday. I would take Friday off to play on my home course with my buddies; then I returned to the tournament for scoring on Saturday and Sunday (there is a church service at the JCC facility.) Well, one Friday I made a hole-in-one on my own course. I humbly told everyone who would listen about my rare achievement, including going back to the tournament to tell the walking scorers' captain. Next morning, as was my custom, I introduced myself on the first tee to the players. Johnathan Byrd said: "You shot a hole-in-one yesterday!" I was astonished. How did he know? It turned out that he had dinner the night before with Tom Rice the scorers' captain, and he set me up to score for Byrd. At the end of the round Johnathan gave be a ball signed with his name and "ACE."
The second notable incident was scoring for Ben Crane. At the end of the round, he gave me a signed ball with the inscription; Matt 6v33. This verse says: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (KJV.) A good admonition for me and everyone else!
Peter Gilderson, Madison.
