Tag: Ben Griffin

The RSM Classic 2024 odds, course history and picks to win

Let’s get a winner to end the year.

The final official PGA Tour event of 2024 has arrived, as Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course is once again set to host The RSM Classic. Defending champion Ludvig Aberg makes his return to golf’s biggest stage this week after a two-month recovery from knee surgery. The Swede hasn’t played since a 16th-place finish at the Tour Championship.

Some of the other players teeing it up in St. Simons Island, Georgia, this week include Brian Harman, Harris English, Lucas Glover, J.T. Poston and Denny McCarthy.

More: Lucas Glover slams changes being voted on by PGA Tour Policy Board: ‘They think we’re stupid’

The champion on Sunday afternoon will receive $1.368 million of the $7.6 million purse and 500 FedEx Cup points.

This is the final week for players to solidify their spot in the FedEx Cup top 125 and earn cards for next season. There are several notable players on the bubble in the RSM field, including Joel Dahmen and Daniel Berger.

Golf course

Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course | Par 70 | 7,005 yards

2023 RSM Classic
Ludvig Aberg of Sweden plays a shot from a bunker on the 13th hole during the final round of The RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort on November 19, 2023 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Course history

RSM Classic odds

Player Odds Player Odds
Ludvig Aberg (+900) Matt Wallace (+3000)
Davis Thompson (+2200) J.J. Spaun (+3500)
Brian Harman (+2200) Eric Cole (+3500)
Denny McCarthy (+2500) Chris Kirk (+3500)
Si Woo Kim (+2800) Andrew Novak (+3500)
J.T. Poston (+3000) Mackenzie Hughes (+3500)
Harris English (+3000) Lucas Glover (+3500)
Seamus Power (+3000) Doug Ghim (+4000)
Ben Griffin (+3000) Luke Clanton (+4000)
Maverick McNealy (+3000) Justin Lower (+4500)

Picks to win The RSM Classic

Ben Griffin

2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship
Ben Griffin walks down the fairway on the 18th hole on the first day of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, August 15, 2024.

Odds: 30/1

Analysis: We had Griffin on the card last week for the Bermuda Championship and he finished solo eighth. So, we’re riding with him again, hoping he can earn his first Tour victory at the RSM.

He has four top-25 finishes in his last five starts and has played well at Sea Island in the past: T-8 in 2023 and T-29 in 2022.

J.J. Spaun

J.J. Spaun of the United States plays his shot from the 15th tee during the second round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 13, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Odds: 35/1

Analysis: Spaun has loved this tournament over the last few years: T-13 in 2023, T-15 in 2022 and T-16 in 2021. Before a T-30 finish at the World Wide Technology Championship a few weeks ago, Spaun tied for sixth at the Zozo Championship.

Greyson Sigg

Greyson Sigg of the United States prepares to play his shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 at Port Royal Golf Course on November 14, 2024 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Odds: 60/1

Analysis: Since missing the cut at the Sanderson Farms, Sigg has played some high-level golf. He tied for 11th at the Black Desert, for 23rd at the Shriners and for ninth last week in Bermuda. The Augusta, Georgia, native tied for eighth at the RSM last year and finished in a share of 15th in 2022.

Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 odds, course history and picks to win

It’s time to pick a winner.

The Butterfield Bermuda Championship, the penultimate event for the PGA Tour in 2024, kicks off Thursday at Port Royal Golf Course. Another rank-and-file field has gathered in Southhampton, Bermuda, highlighted by Mackenzie Hughes, Lucas Glover, Seamus Power, Maverick McNealy and Daniel Berger.

Defending champion Camilo Villegas has made just five cuts across 24 starts so far this year, but maybe a trip back to the course where he captured his fifth Tour win will break his slump.

This week’s winner will go home with $1.242 million of the $6.9 million purse and 500 FedEx Cup points.

Now, let’s jump into our betting preview and discuss a few players we’re picking to contend in Bermuda.

Bermuda Championship: Tournament hub

Golf course

Port Royal Golf Course | Par 71 | 6,828 yards

2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Ryan Armour, Kevin Chappell and D.J. Trahan of the United States walk to the 16th green during the second round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on November 10, 2023 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Things to keep in mind

  • Wind can play a major factor at this track, so pay attention to a potential wave advantage.
  • This is not a course players can dominate with their drivers. This is a plot-your-way-around type track. Think Harbour Town (RBC Heritage).
  • Scores can get low out here — Villegas won at 24 under. Let’s prioritize Strokes Gained: Approach and SG: Putting (Bermuda).

Course history

Butterfield Bermuda Championship odds, favorites

Player Odds 2023 finish
Seamus Power +1600 N/A
Mackenzie Hughes +1600 N/A
Maverick McNealy +2000 N/A
Patrick Rodgers +2000 N/A
Justin Lower +2000 T-20
Ben Griffin +2000 T-37
Doug Ghim +2200 N/A
Lucas Glover +2800 T-45
Matti Schmid +2800 3rd
Sam Stevens +2800 N/A
Jhonattan Vegas +3000 N/A
Andrew Novak +3000 T-45
Daniel Berger +3500 N/A
Carson Young +4000 N/A
Andrew Putnam +4000 N/A
Joe Highsmith +4000 N/A
Kevin Yu +4000 T-30
Brendon Todd +4000 T-20
Rico Hoey +4500 N/A
Nick Taylor +4500 N/A
Jacob Bridgeman +4500 N/A
Alex Smalley +4500 T-30
Mark Hubbard +5000 T-20
Nick Hardy +5000 T-45
Greyson Sigg +5000 N/A
Nico Echavarria +5500 T-76
Vince Whaley +5500 T-8
Michael Kim +6000 N/A
Henrik Norlander +6500 N/A
Joseph Bramlett +7000 N/A
Chesson Hadley +7000 N/A
Hayden Springer +7500 N/A
Ben Kohles +7500 N/A
K.H. Lee +8000 N/A
Joel Dahmen +8000 N/A
S.Y. Noh +8000 T-72
Justin Suh +8000 N/A
Cameron Champ +8000 N/A
Chad Ramey +9000 N/A
Kevin Streelman +9000 N/A
Nate Lashley +9000 N/A
Dylan Wu +9000 T-30
Ryo Hisatsune +9000 N/A
Wesley Bryan +9000 T-37
Pierceson Coody +9000 N/A
Kevin Chappell +10000 T-45
Sam Ryder +10000 N/A

Picks to win the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Ben Griffin

2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship
Ben Griffin walks down the fairway on the 18th hole on the first day of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, August 15, 2024.

Best odds: 20/1 (+2000), DraftKings and FanDuel

Analysis: Griffin has been flirting with his first Tour win for more than a year now, and this seems like a great spot for him to get it. He’s coming off back-to-back top-25 finishes at the Zozo Championship and World Wide Technology Championship, and he has a T-3 finish at this event in 2022.

Justin Lower

2024 World Wide Technology Championship
Justin Lower of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the World Wide Technology Championship 2024 at El Cardonal at Diamante on November 09, 2024 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

Best odds: 25/1 (+2500), several books

Analysis: Lower played some great golf last week but couldn’t quite catch Austin Eckroat. He finished in a tie for second. Now, he heads to a course he loves. In three starts at Port Royal, Lower has three top-20 finishes, including a tie for eighth at the end of 2022.

Patrick Rodgers

Patrick Rodgers of the United States plays his shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship 2024 at the Country Club of Jackson on October 04, 2024 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Best odds: 30/1 (+3000), FanDuel and Caesars

Analysis: Rodgers has made 279 starts on the PGA Tour and hasn’t put a tally in the win column. Is this his week? Over the last month, Rodgers has tied for 11th at the Black Desert Championship and for 24th at the World Wide Technology Championship. In 2021, Rodgers finished solo fourth at Port Royal. A year later, he tied for third.

Vince Whaley

Vince Whaley hits his tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the RBC Canadian Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Best odds: 55/1 (+5500), FanDuel and BetMGM

Analysis: Whaley has two T-16 finishes during the Tour’s fall season — Sanderson Farms Championship, Shriners Children’s Open — and has played well at Port Royal in the past. In 2023, he tied for eighth, and in 2021, he finished T-7.

As the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was in a delay, Ben Griffin pitched a closest-to-the-pin contest on the famous 7th hole

Griffin posted a selfie video outside in an attempt to show how hard it was blowing.

A few delays turned into a postponement to Monday of the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Eventually, the PGA Tour called it after 54 holes, declaring Wyndham Clark the winner.

Inclement weather – specifically rain and high winds that were estimated up to 60 mph – wiped out play Sunday and was on track to keep on going into Monday.

Trevor Immelman of CBS Golf posted a video showing sunny skies but heavy winds near the 18th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links, while Max Homa tweeted “It’s just a little wind.”

Ben Griffin posted a selfie video outside in an attempt to show how hard it was blowing.

He also offered up a suggestion, echoed later by Michael Kim, of what could be an epic display of golf craziness: a closest-to-the-pin contest on the famed 7th hole at Pebble.

There were reports of some damage around the course and clearly safety would be a major concern for such a venture.

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2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship odds, course history and picks to win

Bhatia tied for 10th in Mexico and tied for 17th at last year’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

After a week south of the border, the PGA Tour is in Southampton, Bermuda, for the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course.

Defending champion Seamus Power is not in the field due to a lingering hip injury that forced him to withdraw from the Irish Open in September. His last Tour start came at the BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup Playoffs where he finished solo 48th.

Adam Scott, who last tied for 41st at the Zozo Championship in Japan, is the betting favorite at +1600. On Monday, the Aussie was in Boston for Boston Common Golf’s — his TGL team — introductory press conference.

Other players in the field include Lucas Glover, Luke List and Akshay Bhatia.

Golf course

Port Royal Golf Course | Par 71 | 6,828 yards

2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Seamus Power hits his first shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on October 30, 2022 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Betting preview

What PGA Tour players are saying about Lexi Thompson playing at Shriners Children’s Open

Here’s what several PGA Tour players have said about the 11-time LPGA winner teeing it up this week with the men.

LAS VEGAS — Although a number of intriguing storylines pop off the page at the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open, all eyes will be on Lexi Thompson when she tees off Thursday at TPC Summerlin as part of a group with Kevin Roy and Trevor Werbylo, making her the seventh women to play on the PGA Tour.

Thompson’s exemption caused at least one Tour player (Peter Malnati) to say the move might have been a reach by tournament organizers (see full Malnati comments below), but Thompson calmly brushed the episode aside when she met with media members Tuesday.

“No reaction. I knew some comments were going to happen with anything. Like I said, I’m out here playing of course with the men, but I want to leave a message just to the kids that I’m following my dreams and to go after what you want with a positive mindset and don’t let anybody’s comments or reaction get in the way of that,” Thompson said. “But it’s all good. I mean, I expected it, so… ”

Here’s what other PGA Tour players have said about the 11-time LPGA winner teeing it up this week with the men.

Luke List buries birdie putt to win five-way playoff and claim 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship

The win is List’s second on Tour and first since January 2022.

JACKSON, Miss. — Luke List stood nearby as PGA Tour rookie and Ryder Cup champion Ludvig Aberg sent the first putt of a five-man playoff toward the hole on No. 18 at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

When waiting to hit a 43-foot putt of your own, any help on a read is worthwhile.

So List watched, just like the fans gathered in the grandstands as the sun set behind Country Club of Jackson. Then, he stepped up and nailed the putt of a lifetime.

The crowd erupted before quickly silencing for the remaining three shots in the playoff. When Ben Griffin, Scott Stallings and Henrik Norlander missed their birdie attempts, the victory was sealed. For List, it secured his second career PGA Tour win and first since Jan. 29, 2022, when he won the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff.

“This is why we play and compete,” List said afterward on the broadcast. “For these moments.”

List finished 18 under for the tournament after carding 2-under 70 on Sunday. He entered the final round four shots back of Griffin.

List opened his week with back-to-back rounds of 66 and shot 68 on Saturday. It seemed like he’d come up shot of victory Sunday. However, with Griffin carding a pair of bogeys across his final three holes, the field opened up for a five-man playoff — the first on the PGA Tour since 2017.

“I thought I played really well all day and just hung in there,” List said. “I didn’t think it was going to be enough, but here we are. I’m so happy to be here.”

List was so convinced that his tournament was over at the end of regulation that he gave his hat to a kid while walking off the No. 18 green. However, as Griffin started to let the lead slip, List realized he needed the hat back.

He found the kid, who was glad to let him wear it for the playoff. After the trophy presentation, the hat was rewarded to the kid again.

“I’ve got another hat in the locker room, so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world,” List said. “But that one did me right.”

List’s 4-year-old daughter Ryann was the first to meet him on the 18th green after the playoff ended. His wife Chloe and his 2-year-old son Harrison, who was in the midst of enjoying a red lollipop, followed closely behind. As he lifted both kids, he leaned in to give Chloe a kiss.

As he leaned back, List’s eyes opened wide as he looked around at the scene.

“All my emotion came out after that putt, and then it was a shock − really, still is,” List said. “To have them there means everything.”

The Sanderson Farms Championship works closely with Friends of Children’s Hospital, which is a nonprofit organization benefiting Children’s of Mississippi − the state’s only children’s hospital.

That’s significant for List, whose son Harrison was born prematurely and battled health issues. The family, which resides in Augusta, Georgia, spent much of its time at Children’s Hospital of Georgia. Because of that, List took a break from play between mid-June and mid-July in 2021.

Now, he’s back on the PGA Tour, where he has collected two wins since his return, and his son is growing to love the game. Plus, the sport has now given them a Sanderson Farms Championship trophy — fittingly, a rooster — to take home.

“My daughter has been kind of on me (saying) it’s time to win another trophy,” List said. “She really enjoyed the surfboard at Torrey Pines. I told her earlier in the week there was a rooster or chicken or whatever you want to call it. She’s pretty excited.”

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Rookie Ben Griffin leads by three at the Sanderson Farms Championship as he looks for first PGA Tour win

Griffin tied for 24th at last year’s Sanderson Farms.

In 2021, Ben Griffin was working as a loan officer for a mortgage group in North Carolina. Fast forward two years, and he’s 18 holes away from being a PGA Tour winner.

Griffin, using a bogey-free 6-under 66 on Saturday, leads the 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi by three shots at 20 under. Carl Yuan is alone in second at 17 under after a 5-under 67 on Day 3.

The 27-year-old Griffin made a trio of birdies on both nines during his third round and made several clutch saves along the way. He was feeling it with the flat stick, confidently walking in putts as his lead continued to grow.

“Very proud of myself the way I stuck to the game plan,” Griffin said after signing his card, “and I missed a few tee shots on the back nine but was able to escape, and that’s always been one of the strengths of my career.

“As much as I want to be aggressive, I’ve learned on the PGA Tour you’ve got to be extremely disciplined. It’s fun when I mis-hit shots because it gives me the opportunity to pull off something creative, but it’s a lot more fun when you have stress-free golf, and I felt like I did a good job of that for probably 14, 15 holes today.”

Sanderson Farms: Sunday tee times, how to watch

Tied for third are Scott Stallings (7-under 65), Henrik Norlander (4-under 68) and Luke List (4-under 68).

“I feel really comfortable here, and the course is only going to get a little bit faster as it goes along, but I still think it would be very receptive, and the scores will continue to be good,” Stallings told the media after his round.

Final-round coverage will air on Golf Channel from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama highlights notables to miss cut at Wyndham Championship

The ramifications of missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, for some, meant the start of the offseason.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The ramifications of missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, for some, meant the start of the offseason.

Only the top 70 in the season-long FedEx Cup advance to the playoffs next week after 44 regular season events. For Ben Griffin, who entered the week at No. 68, and Austin Eckroat, the “Bubble Boy” at No. 70, they could read the writing on the wall as they struggled to the finish of their morning round in the same threesome.

“The last three holes we tried to determine how many hole-outs we both needed to make the cut, and none of us had a hole-out. I thought I had a good chance of a hole-out on 8,” Griffin said. “But we were joking around towards the end. There’s not much you can do with when you’re four or five out with a few holes to go except try to have fun out there.”

Hope is not completely lost for these two, who will have to sit and wait, hope and pray that they hang on to their precarious rankings. After 36 holes, Griffin still was projected to be Memphis bound at No. 70 while Eckroat is going to need more help as he’s projected to be No. 72.

In all, 74 players moved on to the weekend with a 36-hole total of 2-under 138, including two-time champion Brandt Snedeker, who birdied the final two holes to earn a weekend tee time at 3 under. However, Ben Taylor, Garrick Higgo, K.H. Lee, David Lingmerth, the four players who entered the week Nos. 71-74 in the FedExCup standings, missed the cut and have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Here are some of the notable players this week that weren’t so lucky.

PGA Tour players on the FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble heading into 3M Open

It’s make or break time.

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BLAINE, Minn. — There are only two regular season events left in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, meaning the FedEx Cup Playoffs are right around the corner.

However, this year, they’re going to be unlike ever before. Only 70 players will qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, unlike the 125 who have in year’s past. From there, the top 50 make it to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois, and then the top 30 advance to East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.

The change in amount of players who qualify for the playoffs means some big names joined the field of this week’s 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, at TPC Twin Cities.

At the top end, Jon Rahm is No. 1 in the FEC standings, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler right behind. Rory McIlroy won his third FedEx Cup last year.

Here’s a closer look at some interesting names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including some who have work to do to stay in the top 70 and others who need to make a push to make it to Memphis.

Seamus Power hangs on for victory at windswept Butterfield Bermuda Championship

In windy conditions that must have reminded the 35-year-old Irishman of home, Seamus Power earned his second PGA Tour title.

As the top-ranked player in the field at No. 48 in the world, Seamus Power played with the knowledge that he was the favorite in a PGA Tour field for the first time. It didn’t bother him one bit.

Power poured in a 25-foot downhill birdie putt at No. 14 and withstood a couple of late bogeys to notch a one-stroke victory at the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

“I knew it was going to be really hard coming in and it was,” Power said. “I made hard work of it at the end but delighted to get it done.”

Power, the 54-hole co-leader, set a tournament record with 28 birdies for the week, including five in the final round. He closed with a 1-under 70 on Sunday at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, for a 72-hole total of 19-under 265 to beat Belgium’s Thomas Detry (67).

Bermuda: Money list | Leaderboard | Photo gallery

In windy conditions that must have reminded the 35-year-old Irishman of home, Power earned his second Tour title by making three birdies in his first seven holes and hanging on as the conditions worsened.

“It was a challenge on every putt, every tee shot,” said Detry, who holed a bunker shot at the last for birdie to secure solo second. “It was a commitment out there.”

Ben Griffin, who just 21 months ago had quit the game and had been working as a mortgage officer, made six birdies on his first 11 holes to stake himself to a two-stroke lead before his game unraveled. Port Royal is the shortest course on the Tour, but the wind is the major hazard a golfer must contend with and it howled to 35 miles per hour. The second nine is more exposed to the wind and Griffin’s game was blown away by the frisky gusts that nudged balls in all directions and the growing pressure of trying to close out his first win. He made four bogeys and a double bogey in a five-hole span to shoot 1-over 72 and tumble into a three-way tie for third. (On the bright side, it marks his best career result in eight Tour starts.)

2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Seamus Power hits his first shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on Oct. 30, 2022 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

“I had a couple shots get loose in the wind and you’ve got to be a little bit better, more precise when it gets windy like that or else you can kind of grind for pars and bogeys quick. That happened to me,” Griffin said. “It’s a learning experience and I’m just happy to be out here competing. I know my time will come soon.”

Power can relate to how hard it is to win. Fifteen times in his Tour career, Power had been in the top 10 heading into Sunday and only once had he improved his position, which was his victory in a six-hole playoff at the Barbasol Championship last summer. This time, Power believed in himself and his birdie putt at the par-4 14th hugged its line. It proved to be the turning point just after Griffin hooked his tee shot into trouble and made bogey. That two-stroke swing gave Power the lead and he never let go of it.

“They talk about trying to win for the first time or the second time, usually the guys who’ve been there before when the door is open, they smell it,” Golf Channel’s Curt Byrum said. “They stand there and they walk right through that opening.”

An imposing sequence of finishing holes test not only the skills but the nerves of a player. Bothered by a whipping west wind, Power gave a stroke back at 15, then took three putts from 70 feet at 16, but bounced back with a birdie at 17 and needed the cushion because he bogeyed the last.

“Completely different feeling but just as special,” Power said of validating his first win, which is expected to lift him to a career-best No. 32 in the world. “To be able to win again, it’s fantastic.”

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