Steve Palmer's Sanderson Farms Championship final-round preview, best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 9pm Sunday

Best bets

Sam Burns to win the Sanderson Farms Championship
2pts 3-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Cameron Young to win the Sanderson Farms Championship
1pt each-way 9-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Story so far

Sahith Theegala, a 23-year-old Californian who starred at college before securing a PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals last month, leads the Sanderson Farms Championship by a shot going into the final round at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi.

Theegala, a pre-tournament 100-1 chance, is a best-price 4-1 with 18 holes to play. The rookie maiden badly lost control of his driver coming home in round three, but scrambled well to keep bogeys off his card and retain pole position.

Four players are tied for second place, headlined by Valspar champion Sam Burns, who used a bogey-free 65 to claim 3-1 favouritism. The world number 25 has endured a cold putter this week, but rattled off five consecutive birdies at the start of his back nine on Saturday to propel himself into the thick of things.

Will Zalatoris, who shared the lead at the halfway stage of the event, has dropped back to a tie for 16th place after a disappointing 72. He set a new course record in round two with a 61.

Leaderboard
-18 Sahith Theegala
-17 Cameron Tringale, Denny McCarthy, Sam Burns, Cameron Young
-16 Seth Reeves, Trey Mullinax
-15 Aaron Wise, Roger Sloan
-14 Corey Conners, Andrew Landry, Nick Hardy, CT Pan, Hayden Buckley, Nick Watney

Best prices
3 S Burns, 4 S Theegala, 5 C Tringale, 8 D McCarthy, 9 C Young, 16 T Mullinax, 18 S Reeves, 20 A Wise, 28 R Sloan, C Conners, 50 bar

Final-round preview

Sahith Theegala looked like he needed a lot of time on the driving range between rounds three and four of the Sanderson Farms Championship. He was wild off the tee as the clubhouse approached on Saturday, swinging too fast and lucky to get away without a seriously damaged scorecard.

Theegala holed out with confidence - his scrambling his been excellent - but it is doubtful whether the youngster can hold himself together from tee to green under the added pressure of a Sunday gunning for a maiden title.

Six of the top seven on the leaderboard are PGA Tour maidens. Cameron Tringale has played in 310 PGA Tour events without lifting a trophy. Denny McCarthy and Trey Mullinax have been hugely unconvincing when on contention on the PGA Tour.

Sam Burns is the standout name on the board going into Sunday. He won the Valspar Championship in fine style in May and has followed up with two runner-up finishes since, narrowly beaten by Abraham Ancer in the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis.

Fresh from the best part of a month off after a decent FedEx Cup playoffs campaign, Burns has suffered on the greens this week. There was a small improvement in round three, but most of his birdies came from stellar approach play. His tee-to-green work has been absolutely majestic.

Burns tops the strokes-gained tee-to-green rankings over the first 54 holes, gaining almost 12 strokes on the field. He is first for strokes-gained off the tee, first for strokes-gained on approach and first for greens in regulation. The cocksure Louisiana man has found 48 of 54 greens in regulation.

Aside from the fact he should feel more comfortable than those around him on the board - due to his status, job security and bank balance - Burns can also approach round four with total belief in his swing. He is striking his ball with supreme authority and any warming of his putter on Sunday could see this class act boss proceedings.

Burns was Racing Post Sport's pre-tournament headline recommendation at 18-1. Cameron Young, 9-1 with Coral and Ladbrokes, is nominated as the biggest potential party-pooper. Young, who won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in May, may give Burns most to fret about. The 3-1 about Burns though - also available with Coral and Ladbrokes - appeals more than the 9-1 Young.

Cautious punters with a decent investment in Burns may choose to have some cover on Young, but a press-up on Burns should also be considered given how impressive he has been from tee to green over the first three days. The each-way terms are a fifth the odds, the first four.

The final twoball of Theegala and Tringale is scheduled to tee off at 7.50pm UK and Ireland time. A warm, calm day is forecast, with the constant threat of short thunderstorms.

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