Sanderson Farms Renews Deal To Title Sponsor Mississippi PGA Tour Event

Sanderson Farms yesterday announced a three-year renewal of its deal to title sponsor the annual PGA Tour event in Mississippi. The Sanderson Farms Championship, which is held at Annandale Golf Club, is moving from July to late October and the front end of the '14-15 schedule, the same week as the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Because of the move, the tourney will not be contested during the '13-14 season. Officials said the purse is increasing by $1M to $4M for the '14 event (Sanderson Farms). Sanderson Farms CEO Joe Sanderson said that he "hopes to grow the purse beyond that for future tournaments." Sanderson: "We got off on very good footing, and we got our name out there. We intend to move this up a notch and make it better and better.” In Jackson, Jeff Ayres notes the tournament for the last three years "has been played on the same weekend as the British Open." Though the '14 tourney will conflict with the WGC event, Sanderson noted that "fewer than 30 American players typically play in that event." He hopes the "higher purse and no 'major' tournament on that same weekend will draw more of the world’s top golfers" to the event. Viking Range title-sponsored the tournament until '11, but "withdrew as the recession took its toll on the company." A sponsorship consortium "kept the tournament going in 2012 as the True South Classic" before Sanderson Farms came on board this year (Jackson CLARION-LEDGER, 9/4).