Tag: RSM Classic 2020

How much money each PGA Tour golfer won at the RSM Classic

Check out how much money each PGA Tour player won this week at the RSM Classic.

Eighteen holes weren’t enough to decide the 2020 RSM Classic. Turns out, 19 weren’t enough, either.

Robert Streb defeated Kevin Kisner in a two-hole playoff to win at Sea Island’s Seaside course, claiming the title and $1,188,000 after flagging his approach on the second playoff hole, leaving a tap-in birdie putt. Streb’s only other win on the PGA Tour came in this same event in 2014, then known as the McGladrey Classic. Kisner will take home $719,400.

Cameron Tringale finished third at 18 under, followed by Bernd Wiesberger and Andrew Landry, T-4 at 17 under. Check out how much money each player earned this week in Sea Island, Georgia.

RSM Classic: Leaderboard | Best photos | Winner’s bag

RSM Classic prize money

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Robert Streb -19 $1,188,000
2 Kevin Kisner -19 $719,400
3 Cameron Tringale -18 $455,400
T4 Bernd Wiesberger -17 $297,000
T4 Andrew Landry -17 $297,000
T6 Harris English -16 $215,325
T6 Camilo Villegas -16 $215,325
T6 Kyle Stanley -16 $215,325
T6 Zach Johnson -16 $215,325
T10 Corey Conners -15 $173,250
T10 Patton Kizzire -15 $173,250
T12 Jason Day -14 $140,250
T12 Rory Sabbatini -14 $140,250
T12 John Huh -14 $140,250
T15 Keegan Bradley -13 $113,850
T15 Matthew NeSmith -13 $113,850
T15 Bronson Burgoon -13 $113,850
T18 Doug Ghim -12 $87,450
T18 Alexander Noren -12 $87,450
T18 Scott Piercy -12 $87,450
T18 Chris Kirk -12 $87,450
T18 Emiliano Grillo -12 $87,450
T23 Wyndham Clark -11 $55,959
T23 Tyrrell Hatton -11 $55,959
T23 Lucas Glover -11 $55,959
T23 Roger Sloan -11 $55,959
T23 Chesson Hadley -11 $55,959
T23 Charley Hoffman -11 $55,959
T23 Henrik Stenson -11 $55,959
T30 Bo Hoag -10 $39,553
T30 Russell Henley -10 $39,553
T30 Adam Long -10 $39,553
T30 Jim Herman -10 $39,553
T30 Charles Howell III -10 $39,553
T30 Vaughn Taylor -10 $39,553
T30 Branden Grace -10 $39,553
T37 Nate Lashley -9 $28,710
T37 Matt Wallace -9 $28,710
T37 Tommy Fleetwood -9 $28,710
T37 Brendon Todd -9 $28,710
T37 Webb Simpson -9 $28,710
T37 Andrew Putnam -9 $28,710
T37 Matt Kuchar -9 $28,710
T44 Keith Mitchell -8 $21,450
T44 Sepp Straka -8 $21,450
T44 Matt Jones -8 $21,450
T44 Joaquin Niemann -8 $21,450
T48 Peter Malnati -7 $17,952
T48 Adam Schenk -7 $17,952
T50 Joel Dahmen -6 $16,401
T50 Ian Poulter -6 $16,401
T50 Shane Lowry -6 $16,401
T50 Brian Stuard -6 $16,401
T54 Kevin Streelman -5 $15,510
T54 Rafael Cabrera Bello -5 $15,510
T54 Josh Teater -5 $15,510
T57 Aaron Baddeley -4 $15,180
T57 Sebastian Cappelen -4 $15,180
T59 Sean O’Hair -2 $14,784
T59 Graeme McDowell -2 $14,784
T59 Rob Oppenheim -2 $14,784
T59 J.J. Spaun -2 $14,784
T63 Ryan Brehm 1 $14,388
T63 Scott Stallings 1 $14,388
65 Kevin Chappell 3 $14,190

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Camilo Villegas sees a rainbow, shoots 64 for daughter Mia

Camilo Villegas is tied for the lead at the 2020 RSM Classic, after shooting a 6-under (bogey-free) 64 in the first round.

Camilo Villegas is tied for the lead at the 2020 RSM Classic, after shooting a 6-under (bogey-free) 64 in the first round.

Camilo Villegas sees a rainbow, shoots 64 for daughter Mia

Villegas, who wears a ribbon of a rainbow on his hat, shot 64 after seeing a rainbow in the sky before he teed off at the RSM Classic.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Camilo Villegas arrived at the range before the first round at the RSM Classic and smiled wildly when he noticed a rainbow in the distance. It made him think of his daughter, Mia, who died from cancer at 22-months old in July.

“She loved colors and rainbows and my wife was all about it. And it was cool. It was a nice way to start the day,” said Villegas, who wears a rainbow ribbon on his hat in her honor. “I start thinking about Mia and said hey, ‘Let’s have a good one.’ ”

Did he ever. Villegas shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort to share the opening-round lead of the RSM Classic with Matt Wallace.

RSM CLASSIC: Leaderboard

In blustery conditions, Villegas, the 38-year-old native of Colombia and University of Florida alum, birdied three of his final four holes on his first nine and his final hole of the day as he seeks his first PGA Tour win in six years.

“It was tough out here, but I love this place, had success. I’ve been coming here since 2000 and it’s one of those stops I don’t like missing,” Villegas said.

He recalled playing in the Southeastern Conference tournament here at Florida and said that his years of experience played in his favor.

“You know where to miss it or not to miss it and you know that the wind here plays stronger than you think,” he said. “Walking down one of the holes, my brother [caddie Manuel Villegas] goes, ‘there’s no way it’s blowing 18,’ and I don’t think it was. I think it was pretty strong out there and we managed to keep the ball low. I have no problem keeping the ball low. And roll some putts. The greens are perfect. They’re getting fast, firm and I managed to read them pretty good today.”

Villegas, who with his wife Maria have renamed their foundation Mia’s Miracles, said he was able to participate in four walks on the beach that his wife organized. Mia used to love to walk on the beach.

“We had a lot of close friends and a lot of support,” he said. “It was a great initiative. We raised some funds for those that need it and they’ll be happy about it.”

Though the sight of a rainbow at the driving range triggered happy thoughts of his daughter, Villegas said that the golf course continues to be his salvation.

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“When I’m out there, I’m so focused, there’s so much going on, especially under these conditions,” he said. “It’s about being in the moment, being in the now and this is my now. It’s not with her, but it’s with her at the same time, so you’ve just got to stick to the process.

“I love playing golf, I love doing what I do. The game of golf has been great to me. I happened to have a shoulder injury there for the last couple years that kind of set me back a bit, but I’m excited. I think things are rolling the right way and obviously if I keep doing what I did today, it should be fine.”

He also credited having sports psychologist Gio Valiante with him this week for his fast start.

“It’s tough to be free under these conditions, but I found a way to do it,” said Villegas, who shot his best opening-round score on Tour since a 7-under 64 at the 2016 Mayakoba Golf Classic

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Matt Wallace shoots 64 with local caddie after his regular bagman tests positive for COVID-19

After Matt Wallace’s caddie tested positive for COVID-19, he hooked up with a Sea Island Resort club fitter and shot 64 to tie the lead.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – On a windy day better suited for flying a kite than hitting a golf ball more than 150 yards, Matt Wallace could’ve really used an experienced hand on the bag.

Unfortunately, his caddie, veteran Dave McNeilly, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, forcing Wallace to find other options. Turns out he didn’t have to look far.

“I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to be positive as well because I’ve been hanging around with (Dave) on Sunday at the golf course at the Masters. I don’t know when he would have got it,” Wallace said. “As soon as I found out that Dave tested positive, and luckily he was OK and everything, no symptoms, I messaged JP, Justin Parsons, [Sea Island’s director of instruction and teacher to several PGA Tour pros], who I know. I said, ‘I’ll take a local this week because of the two courses.’ I thought that was a good idea. I didn’t want to step on Dave’s toes as well with another pro caddie.”

RSM Classic: Leaderboard

Parsons recommended one of his staff members, Jeffrey Cammon, a club fitter, who stepped in and provided local knowledge. Wallace, 30, birdied the first two holes en route to making eight birdies and shooting 6-under 64 on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club to share the lead with Camilo Villegas and one better than eight golfers. Wallace noted that Cammon was “chill,” and his first question when they met was simply: “What do you want me to do or say?”

“I was like, ‘Listen, mate, I don’t need anything. I’ll ask you a question and you answer it just with pure facts of what you think,’ ” Wallace said. “It worked well today. I said to him, ‘Is the wind more out of the left than it is like helping,’ and he’s like, ‘Yep,’ and that was it. It was really simple. Struck the ball really nicely today and rolled the ball well.”

That would be an understatement. Wallace sank 138 feet of putts and ranked third in Strokes Gained: putting on the day. Wallace, who entered the week ranked No. 53 in the world, visited Sea Island Resort’s Performance Center and the putting lab that is the U.S. base of famed putting instructor Phil Kenyon. Wallace spent about 45 minutes in the putting lab, sending data back to his coach in England and experimented with three different Callaway Toulon Design putters before settling on the Atlanta model without a sightline on the back.

“Because I haven’t been comfortable over the ball, I’ve taken a lot of time over the ball,” said Wallace, who ranks No. 175 in SGP this season. “My putting hasn’t been where it should be and it was the area I needed to work on the most. I chose the no-sightline one and able to roll the ball end over end, which is part of my game that I do really well. I haven’t been doing that, so getting back to that this week has been really nice.”

Wallace said that his fill-in caddie helped with a read on the fourth green. “I said, ‘Don’t read anymore putts because you’re 100 percent,’ ” Wallace said.

The Englishman has won tournaments on the European Tour, but he’s struggled in his transition to the PGA Tour, recording just one top-10 finish last season and failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup.

“The strength and depth is so deep,” Wallace said. “The players are amazing.”

On Friday, Wallace will tackle the Plantation Course, where he walked nine on Tuesday and played nine on Wednesday.

“Having Jeffrey there, that’s another buffer that I feel I’ve got where he’s been around there plenty and knows the misses,” Wallace said. “We spoke about that and we’ll have a good game plan tomorrow.”

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Sungjae Im, T-2 at Masters, is ‘the best package to come out of South Korea. Easily.’

South Korea’s Sungjae Im is a budding start at age 22, who nearly won the Masters in his first trip to Augusta National.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – They call South Korea’s Sungjae Im “Iron Byron,” a nickname that pays homage both to Byron Nelson, the godfather of the modern swing, and the name of the U.S. Golf Association’s mechanical tester of golf balls since 1974. Coined by his teammates on the 2019 International Presidents Cup team that competed in Australia, Im’s nickname reflects the consistency of his ballstriking prowess.

“He’s like a machine,” said International Team vice captain Geoff Ogilvy. “He’s the real deal. As far as the package, he’s the best package I’ve seen come out of South Korea. Easily.”

At age 22, Im already has made his mark as a PGA Tour winner and one of the top-20 ranked players in the world.

“He’s one of the most consistent iron players I’ve seen out here and also has one of the best short games I’ve ever seen,” said PGA Tour veteran Harris English. “I can see him contending in a lot of majors, winning majors and playing out here for a long time.”

Last week, at Augusta National, Im threatened to become a Masters champion in his tournament debut, closing to within one stroke of eventual champion Dustin Johnson after five holes on Sunday before Johnson managed to pull away and win by five.

RSM Classic: Tee times, TV info | Fantasy rankings | Odds

“My initial goal at the start of the week was just to make a cut and get into the weekend. So, to finish tied for second is unbelievable,” Im said after tying with Cameron Smith at 15-under 273, a score that would’ve won all but four of 84 Masters and was the best result by a Masters rookie since Jordan Spieth tied for second in 2014.

With budding confidence, Im is set to take on the challenge of another venerable Georgia course, Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course (along with one round at the Plantation Course) on the picturesque Golden Isles. He credited his good play last week not so much to his dead-eye iron game, but rather to a good run with his short stick since making a putter change in Houston two weeks ago.

“That’s what made the difference,” said Im, who ranked fifth in the field in putts per greens in regulation (1.64).

Im struggled with his putting early this season – he ranks No. 135 in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, down from No. 55 last season – and after a frustrating round at the Zozo Championship he spent three hours practicing with a Scotty Cameron SSS model mallet putter that he described as having a moon shape. He ditched the putter he’d won the Honda Classic with in March in favor of the new model at the Vivint Houston Open.

“When I set up, the new putter looks good to my eye,” he said through a translator.

Sungjae Im celebrates after chipping in on the first hole to go 1up during Thursday four-ball matches on day one of the 2019 Presidents Cup. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Im also made a caddie change two months ago, hiring veteran Bobby Brown, who had a six-year run on Johnson’s bag earlier in his career, including when he was Im’s age. Brown said comparing his current boss to the current World No. 1 is “apples to oranges,” but said Im has the potential to ascend to similar heights.

“There’s the potential to be World No. 1 in the future,” Brown said of Im, who already has climbed to No. 18.

Im has been on a fast track ever since following his mom to the golf course at age 4 and holding a golf club in his hand for the first time.

“I immediately fell in love with the game, and here I am,” he said.

Im turned professional at age 17, and was named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year in 2018. It was during that season that he developed an affection for Atlanta’s Korean community, where he recently closed on a house near TPC Sugarloaf in the suburb of Duluth. Im has been living the life of an itinerant pro, going from hotel to hotel with his parents in tow as he competed in a Tour-high 61 events in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

“I’ve always thought about buying a home in the United States,” Im said. “Since I’ll be competing on the PGA Tour for as long as I can, I’m glad it came together this year.”

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