The PGA Tour years ago produced a memorable TV commercial with golf pros hitting booming drives, precise iron shots, and perfect chips and putts that went in from every angle. There was lots of fist-pumping, lots of back-slapping and wild celebrating. At the end, you heard these words: “These guys are good!”

On a warm, sunny Thursday at Country Club of Jackson, they could have shot 50 commercials like that during the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. Heck, they could have shot seven or eight commercials just from David Skinns’ round.

“David Skinns?” you ask. Yes, David Skinns, a gray-bearded, 42-year-old journeyman pro from the United Kingdom who played his college golf two decades ago for Tennessee. All Skinns did was make 12 birdies en route to a career-best round of 60, which broke the course record at CCJ by a single shot. This is the 57th edition of Mississippi’s only PGA Tour Tournament. This was the lowest round in history of the event.

Skinns narrowly missed the magical number of 59, misfiring on a nine-foot birdie putt on his 18th hole, the ninth at CCJ. He missed the downhill, right-to-left putt on the low side, then made a 2-footer for the 60. That was one shot better than Will Zalatoris — a much more familiar name — shot three years ago in the second round of the Sanderson.

Of the putt that would have broken 60, Skinns said, “I played it a ball out on the right. If I had it to do over again, I’d play it a full cup out. Just broke way more than I thought.”

Skinns said he simply read the putt wrong, but added, “But there were a lot of them out there that I got right, so I am going to focus on the ones I got right.”

The question is: How will he focus on so much? He made 12 birdie putts totaling 167 feet, including a 54-footer on the par-3 seventh hole, his 16th. 

When that long one went in, Skinns knew 59 was a possibility. He just needed to birdie the last two holes. He took care of the first one, wedging to within two feet on the par-4 eighth and tapping that in. He then boomed a 307-yard drive on the ninth hole and hit another really good wedge shot that finished nine feet, one inch from the cup.

Remarkably, that was the shortest putt he missed all day. 

These guys are better than really, really good. Understand, CCJ is not a pitch and putt golf course. No, it stretches out to almost 7,500 yards. The fairways are not abnormally wide and the Bermuda-grass rough is thick in most spots. Your average 6-handicapper at your local club would be lucky to break 100.

But as Thursday progressed, the low scores just kept coming. Michael Thorbjornsen, a 23-year-old former U.S. Junior champion, shot a 63. As these words are typed mid-afternoon, there already have been four 65s, three 66s and the birdies keeping falling.

Why?

“The greens are soft and there’s hardly any wind,” said Jackson native Wilson Furr, who practically grew up on this golf course and shot a 70 Thursday. “The greens are receptive and they roll perfectly. That’s a recipe for what you’re seeing out there today. I’m not at all surprised.”

Furr and Skinns are well-acquainted. Both graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA after the 2023 season. 

“He’s a really good player,” Furr said of Skinns. “But honestly everybody out here is good. Am I surprised he shot 60? Maybe a little, but I’m not shocked. He’s a really good player. Everybody out here is capable of it. Everybody is really good.”

As this is written, 100 of the 132 players are under par.

Golfing readers out there may wonder, as I, what it feels like to make 167 feet of birdie putts in one round of golf.

“Just a bit of a dream really,” Skinns answered when asked that very question. “Great to see a couple go in that maybe some days don’t. Just kind of catapulted me and I was able to keep the momentum going, which is what I was most pleased about, and I never really thought about the score too much, just where I was going to hit the next shot.”

Skinns won three tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour, golf’s Class AAA. He won seven times on the old Hooters Tour. His best finish on the PGA Tour has been a tie for fourth place at the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beaches, Florida, last March.

The first-round 60 doesn’t change his game plan in Jackson.

“One hole at a time,” he said. “I am going to reset and concentrate on playing the first hole tomorrow.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom, is seeking a reporter to join our Politics Team. Regarded across Mississippi and the South as a vital investigative watchdog and champion of government accountability and transparency, the Politics Team at Mississippi Today goes beyond covering public meetings and legislative committees, digging deep to examine the systems of power in our state. 

The Politics and Government Reporter will be a member of this award-winning team, which serves Mississippians with engaging reporting that leaves readers better informed on critical issues facing our state. 

The ideal journalist will be someone who understands the complexity and history of Mississippi politics; challenges and threats to democratic values; and the concerns of Mississippians of all walks of life. This reporter will focus on daily/breaking news stories with a special focus on investigative projects that involve data, fact finding and in-depth explainer political journalism. 

Mississippi is a gold mine for eager journalists. In this position, you’ll travel the state and meet a diverse range of residents. As a member of Mississippi Today’s Politics Team, you will have an opportunity to work with some of the best reporters in the South and play an important role in fulfilling accountability journalism that will impact the way policy is debated and passed in Mississippi.

Expectations:

• Work with a small team of journalists who are focused on politics and government in Mississippi.
• Develop story ideas as well as collaborate closely with journalists and editors across the newsroom.
• Get people to talk, find willing sources and protect them while telling sensitive and timely stories.
• Build trust. Many Mississippians have for generations been victims of predatory actions from other journalists or media outlets. Mississippi Today seeks to rebuild trust with people across this state, which requires empathy, patience and savvy from our reporters.
• Work with our Audience Team and data and visual journalists to create compelling story presentations.

It’s a plus if you have:

• At least four years of reporting experience — and it’s a plus if you have Mississippi and political reporting experience
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Please click this link to apply.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Jackson State University has been eying an empty hotel in downtown Jackson as a potential solution to its shortage of student housing. 

President Marcus Thompson pitched the project — a $5 million purchase of the Jackson Marriott at 200 E. Amite St. — to the university’s governing board last month, calling it a forward-thinking win-win for the historically Black university and the capital city. 

“As Jackson grows, Jackson State grows, and vice versa, similar to what I believe and I’ve seen over the years at an Oxford or a Starkville,” Thompson told the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees at its retreat at Mississippi State University’s Riley Center in Meridian. 

The effort comes as the state’s largest HBCU recently received roughly 800 more housing applications than it had room to accommodate, Thompson told trustees. The campus has about 2,000 available beds. In fall 2022, Jackson State had about 4,900 undergraduate students, according to federal data.

Enter the Marriott, a 15-story, 303-bed hotel that has been unused since the pandemic. It has had a number of owners over the years but is currently owned by a limited liability company affiliated with a Florida-based developer named Charles Everhardt. Everhardt could not be reached before press time.

Thompson told trustees some of them likely saw the hotel years ago. The IHL board has a policy that universities are required to seek approval for real estate purchases above $100,000. Jackson State did not respond to inquiries by press time.

“Housing has been a topic and an issue for our university for a number of years,” Thompson said. “We’re really excited about the possibility to bring forward a solution to the issue of housing through this Marriott project.” 

Jackson State hopes to purchase the hotel for $5.25 million, about $2 million below its assessed value, Thompson told trustees. It would provide housing to roughly 500 students, as well as meeting and parking space and leasing revenue. 

The university has already obtained $7 million from the Legislature and conducted several key reports and assessments, Thompson said, adding that Jackson State anticipated the Marriott could be available to students in one to two years if the plan goes forward. 

Originally, Thompson sought to get $68 million in funding to construct a new residence hall, but earlier this year, he asked Al Rankins, the IHL commissioner, for permission to pivot to purchasing an existing space that could be available sooner. 

In January, the administration had to relocate students after discovering mold in its University Pointe apartment complex, which was purchased in 2015. Another dorm for female students, McAllister Whiteside, has been offline since 2021 due to mechanical, electrical and utility failures and broken equipment.

The housing shortage is a particular issue for out-of-state students who make up about a quarter of the university’s enrollment, Thompson said. During his presidential tour, he talked with parents in cities like Memphis and Chicago who told him it was a struggle to find off-campus housing. And, Thompson added that students with federal student loans may also not be able to afford off-campus housing. 

“Our students come from a population who, perhaps, mostly aren’t able to go out and secure leases on their own,” he said. About 65% of the student population comes from a low-income family that receives federal tuition assistance, according to the College Scorecard.

The Marriott also fulfills one of Thompson’s goals to see Jackson State further expand into downtown, where the university already has a satellite campus and a number of apartment leases for student housing.

It’s unclear how much it will cost to renovate the Marriott or what that would entail. Thompson said that figures in a comprehensive assessment conducted over the summer reflected a “complete gut renovation” that wouldn’t be necessary, and the university can use certain federal funds to renovate academic spaces.

“Many of those things are cosmetic things that don’t necessarily have to be replaced, and we can speak to those things later,” he said. 

After Thompson finished his presentation, he asked the board for questions. Trustees immediately voted to go into executive session, citing a section of the Open Meetings Act that permits closing a meeting to discuss the “transaction of business and discussion regarding the prospective purchase, sale or leasing of lands.” 

Trustees deliberated for about an hour before calling Thompson and his administration into the room, where they spoke for about another hour.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.