Check in for live updates from the RSM Classic throughout the event.
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The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic.
The event will use the new-look Plantation Course and its neighboring Seaside Course for Thursday and Friday’s opening rounds. Saturday and Sunday’s rounds will be held only on Seaside.
Brendon Todd will look for a third consecutive PGA Tour win this weekend among a field that includes the likes of Webb Simpson, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner and Matt Kuchar.
Keep up with live updates here throughout the tournament.
Our field list for the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic lists each player with his Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Official World Golf Ranking.
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The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic.
Below is a field list for the event, with each player’s Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Official World Golf Ranking indicated beside his name.
So far this season, the average ranking of the winner (entering the week in which he won) was 96.6 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and 137.2 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
At the end of last PGA Tour season, winners carried an average Golfweek/Sagarin ranking of 83.5 and an average Official World Golf Ranking position of 144.2.
Here are the odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets for the RSM Classic beginning Thursday.
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The PGA Tour’s final full-field event on the 2019 calendar takes place this week in Glynn County, Georgia, at Sea Island Golf Club with the RSM Classic.
The key stats for this week via historical data from Fantasy National are:
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Short Game
Strokes Gained: Scrambling
Par 4 Efficiency: 400-450 Yards
My model looks at the most recent 50 rounds for each golfer in the field.
Simpson is the top golfer in the field with a rank of 12th by the Official World Golf Ranking. He finished solo third here last season and finished T-7 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his most recent event. He leads the stat model with top-five ranks in four of the five key stats.
Kevin Kisner +2200
Kisner won at Sea Island in 2015. After missing the cut the following year, he was T-4 in 2017 and T-7 last season. Ranked No. 34 in the world, he’s third in the field in par-4 efficiency from the key distance. He has gained more strokes per round at this venue than anyone other than Simpson (minimum 20 rounds played) since 2010, according to Data Golf.
RSM Classic – Tier 2
Photo Credit: Mark Konezny – USA TODAY Sports
J.T. Poston +5000
Poston missed the cut here each of the last three years, but he’s coming off of a T-24 at the HSBC Champions and T-27 at the Zozo Championship in far stronger fields.
Stuard ranks third by my stat model this week with a top rank of 11th in the field in SG: Around-the-Green. He finished T-23 last week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and tied for fourth at the Shriners earlier this year.
RSM Classic – Longshots
Photo Credit: Orlando Ramirez – USA TODAY Sports
Luke List +10000
List finished in a tie for fourth last season and tied for 13th in the fall of 2016.
Mackenzie Hughes +15000
The 2016 champion missed the cut each of the last two years, but he’s priced near the bottom of the board with a $10 bet returning a profit of $1500. He missed the cut at the OHL Classic the week before his 2016 victory so his current poor form isn’t a huge concern.
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The Monday qualifier for the RSM Classic, the final PGA Tour event till we get to Hawaii in January, had a pretty amazing finish.
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The Monday qualifier for the RSM Classic, the final PGA Tour event until we get to Hawaii in January, had a pretty amazing finish.
Cole Miller, Kyle Reifers and Jinho (Henry) Chung all shot rounds of 64, but there was an 8-for-1 playoff to decide the fourth and final spot.
That’s when darkness started to fall on Brunswick Country Club in Brunswick, Georgia, but they played on, in hopes of getting it all settled that night.
Luke Guthrie was one of the seven ousted in the playoff, as he three-putted the third playoff under those conditions. And can you blame him?
After losing his PGA Tour status in 2018, Atkins posted two top-25 finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour last season. This will be his 24th PGA Tour start. He’s made eight cuts.
Atkins will kick things off on the first tee on the Plantation course alongside Chris Baker and Michael Gellerman at 11:05 a.m. on Thursday.
The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the RSM Classic.
[jwplayer B46M9AK9-9JtFt04J]
The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic.
The event will use the new-look Plantation Course and its neighboring Seaside Course for Thursday and Friday’s opening rounds. Saturday and Sunday’s rounds will be held only on Seaside.
Brendon Todd will look for a third consecutive PGA Tour win this weekend among a field that includes the likes of Webb Simpson, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner and Matt Kuchar.
Check out the tee times for the first and second rounds below, along with how to watch the RSM Classic on TV.
Previewing the 2019 RSM Classic and looking at the best fantasy golf selections for Sea Island Golf Club.
The RSM Classic will be the final PGA Tour event of 2019 with FedExCup Points on the line. It’s the final full-field event of the early portion of the 2019-20 Tour season and takes place at Sea Island Golf Club in Glynn County, Ga.
A select group of golfers will be in The Bahamas in two weeks for Tiger Woods‘ Hero World Challenge. The Presidents Cup and QBE Shootout will then conclude the 2019 calendar year. The 2020 portion of the schedule will begin in Hawaii with the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Sony Open, played in the first two weekends of the new year.
Fantasy Golf Rankings: Top 30
Here are my top-30 fantasy golf rankings for the 2019 RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club.
30. Ryan Armour
Made the cut at Sea Island in each of his last four tries with a top finish of T-15 last year.
29. Peter Uihlein
In the top 10 of the field in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and SG: Scrambling.
28. Bronson Burgoon
Tied for 13th at the Houston Open and followed it with a T-33 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last week after more than a month off of competitive play.
27. Alex Noren
Has been playing often this fall after slipping to No. 64 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Has one of the top world-wide resumes in the field.
26. Cameron Tringale
Ranks ninth in the field in SG: Approach over everyone’s most recent 50 rounds. Tied for 66th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in his last event.
25. Patrick Rodgers
Tied for 10th in 2016 and finished as the runner-up last year but missed the cut in 2017.
24. Luke List
Started the season with two straight missed cuts but made three in a row before missing last weekend at the Mayakoba Classic. Tied for fourth here last year.
23. Vaughn Taylor
Tied for second last week for his best result in four straight made cuts. Missed the cut last season but was T-8 in 2017.
22. Mackenzie Hughes
Mackenzie Hughes. Ray Carlin – USA TODAY Sports
Hasn’t been in good form this season but he missed the cut the week before his 2016 victory at Sea Island.
21. Rory Sabbatini
Collected finishes of T-33 and T-31 in much stronger fields during the Tour’s swing through Asia last month.
20. J.T. Poston
Three straight made cuts going back to the Zozo Championship. Has a poor history at this event but has just one missed cut since the John Deere Classic in July.
19. Russell Knox
Hasn’t missed a cut since A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier to open the 2019-20 season and ranks second in the field in SG: Approach over everyone’s last 50 rounds.
18. Austin Cook
The 2017 champ followed it up with a T-11 last year but missed the cut last week.
17. Dylan Frittelli
Ranks fourth in the field in SG: Around-the-Green and 15th in SG: Approach.
16. Russell Henley
Has gained 1.07 strokes per round at Sea Island GC over 15 rounds played since 2010, according to Data Golf.
15. Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk. Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports
Leads this year’s field with 2.10 strokes gained per round since 2010, despite missing the cut last year.
14. Kyle Stanley
The best approach game in the field over everyone’s last 50 rounds. Has been held back by his play around the greens.
13. Brian Stuard
Excels on the approach and around the greens. Needs to avoid trouble.
12. Brendon Todd
Can’t be ignored following back-to-back wins. Made the cut at this venue in each of his last three appearances.
11. Brian Harman
Tied for fourth in 2017 and finished T-32 last year. Ranks fifth in the field in SG: Scrambling.
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10. Sebastian Munoz
This venue has rewarded hot putters in the past if he can recapture his form from his Sanderson Farms Championship win.
9. Zach Johnson
A local resident who picked up his lone top-10 finish of last season at this tournament.
8. Lanto Griffin
The third golfer in the field to have a win already this season. He has been riding a hot putter and is ninth in the field in SG: Scrambling.
7. Billy Horschel
Two top-10 finishes to open the season strong, including a T-8 result last week.
6. Scottie Scheffler
Hasn’t missed a cut in six events since graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour. Has a good all-around game and just needs to get some luck on the putting surfaces.
5. Charles Howell III
Last year’s champ picked up three other top 10s last season and has two already in the 2019-20 campaign.
4. Adam Hadwin
Consistently one of the top putters on Tour and will be making his final preparations for the Presidents Cup.
3. Kevin Kisner
Kevin Kisner. Photo Credit: Adam Hagy – USA TODAY Sports
The 2015 champion has three other top-10 finishes here since 2014. Ranks second in the field in strokes gained at Sea Island among those with 20 rounds played since 2010.
2. Matt Kuchar
Typically a strong early-season performer, he hasn’t finished higher than T-22 at this event since 2014. He’s coming off of a T-14 result in his defense of the Mayakoba last week.
1. Webb Simpson
Finished solo third here last year and enters the week as the betting favorite despite playing just one event this season — where he finished T-7 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Simpson is the top golfer in the field with a rank of 12th by the Official World Golf Ranking. He finished solo third here last season and finished T-7 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his most recent event. He leads the stat model with top-five ranks in four of the five key stats.
Kevin Kisner +2200
Kisner won at Sea Island in 2015. After missing the cut the following year, he was T-4 in 2017 and T-7 last season. Ranked No. 34 in the world, he’s third in the field in par-4 efficiency from the key distance. He has gained more strokes per round at this venue than anyone other than Simpson (minimum 20 rounds played) since 2010, according to Data Golf.
RSM Classic – Tier 2
Photo Credit: Mark Konezny – USA TODAY Sports
J.T. Poston +5000
Poston missed the cut here each of the last three years, but he’s coming off of a T-24 at the HSBC Champions and T-27 at the Zozo Championship in far stronger fields.
Stuard ranks third by my stat model this week with a top rank of 11th in the field in SG: Around-the-Green. He finished T-23 last week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and tied for fourth at the Shriners earlier this year.
RSM Classic – Longshots
Photo Credit: Orlando Ramirez – USA TODAY Sports
Luke List +10000
List finished in a tie for fourth last season and tied for 13th in the fall of 2016.
Mackenzie Hughes +15000
The 2016 champion missed the cut each of the last two years, but he’s priced near the bottom of the board with a $10 bet returning a profit of $1500. He missed the cut at the OHL Classic the week before his 2016 victory so his current poor form isn’t a huge concern.
2019-20 winners: Joaquin Niemann – A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier (+2800)
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The best PGA Tour pro-am draw party is at the RSM Classic, where Davis Love III pitches a tent in his backyard.
As far as The Man Out Front is concerned, the best Tuesday night meal of the golf year isn’t the Champions Dinner at Augusta National. That may be the most coveted invite, but The Forecaddie can attest that it doesn’t get much better than the RSM Classic’s pro-am draw party hosted in a tent in the backyard of former U.S. Ryder Cup captain and World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III.
This is the 10th year Love has played host to more than 250 of his newest and closest friends willing to fork over $8,000, or $22,000 for a threesome, for the opportunity to play in the tournament pro-am on Wednesday. There’s nothing else on the PGA Tour quite like a night under the oaks feasting on the best low-country cuisine that can be had at DL3’s digs, A.K.A. Sinclair Plantation. So, how did this become a tradition like none other? As Love tells it, we have John Linen to thank – not the Beatle, but the former vice chairman of American Express.
“He wanted to do special outings at Sea Island. I said, ‘Why not just have them over to my house,’ ” Love tells TMOF. “When he said he was talking about 100 people, I said, ‘We’ll put a tent outside.’ He said, ‘Really?’ I told him, ‘What would be better than telling your clients they’re having a dinner party at our house?’ When we pitched RSM, we told them it would be an intimate affair like the old Callaway Gardens (Southern Open) and the Crosby Clambake (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) with southern hospitality. It started out with a normal pro-am of 40 teams and has grown to 80.”
Davis Love III on the seventh hole during the 2016 RSM Classic. Photo: Logan Bowles/USA TODAY Sports
Word spread and Love’s backyard has hosted everything from weddings to the annual Blue Jean Ball for the Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia. It’s become a great way to raise money for charity, he says.
“A guy with Insulate America came to the draw party and decided he wanted to have his company party here,” Love says. “He offered to donate $50,000 to the Davis Love Foundation. How could I say no to that? He’s become one of our partners at the RSM Classic.”
At this point, the tournament could change courses and hear less complaints than if it moved the draw party from the Love’s backyard. There’s only one problem – Love’s house is on the market.
“What are we going to do if it actually sells?” Love says.
He’s already thought of the perfect solution: “I think the tournament should buy it and lease it to me.”
Chase Koepka, the younger brother of Brooks Koepka, faces final qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour next month near Orlando.
Following in the same field as a successful family member can be a mixed bag, as all three Baldwins known as “the other brother” can attest. A name can open doors but might also close minds, fueling assumptions about indolent coattail jockeys trying to shortcut their way to the big leagues.
Dru Love’s only status was conferred by birth, but he has ridden his family’s respected name to 18 PGA Tour starts, three times as many as he has made on the developmental circuits. On the reverse side of that ledger is another 25-year-old, Chase Koepka. He earned his status on both the Challenge and European Tours, and next month faces final qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour. Success will bring him one step closer to joining his brother Brooks on the PGA Tour, but he isn’t planning to rely on his celebrated sibling for advice on tackling the four-round gauntlet at Orange County National near Orlando.
“He’s probably not the person I would lean on because he’s never really done well in Q-School,” Chase says with a laugh. “He knows that. He’s better at major championships than he is at Q-School.”
He did lean on his brother’s caddie though: Ricky Elliott piloted Chase through second stage qualifying recently in Texas. Koepka opened that decisive final round with a double bogey. “Well, better it happen on the first hole than on the 18th, right?” the experienced bagman said as they walked to the second tee.
“I’m looking at him and I say, ‘I’m not sure Rick!,’ ” Koepka recalls. “I was very upset at myself, but it was the perfect thing to say to get under my skin and make me laugh at the same time.” Playing the remaining holes 6-under par, Koepka battled through to the final stage.
The other Koepka-Elliott partnership has won four majors in the last couple of years, and the power of his last name has helped get Chase a couple of sponsor invitations on the PGA Tour, though he distantly trails Love in the Starts Gained Mooching category. He made cuts in Las Vegas and South Korea, which helped lift his world ranking by more than 350 places to 1,498th.
“I really don’t pay much attention to that,” he says of the ranking. Then he adds with a wry chuckle: “Obviously, it’s pretty easy to figure out where Brooks is at.”
Obviously. Just scroll up 1,497 spots.
The younger Koepka seems at ease with the inevitable comparisons to Brooks, who is four years his senior and whose footsteps he followed all the way to the unglamorous venues of Europe’s Challenge circuit. Whatever expectations he has felt burdened with are mostly self-inflicted, he says, owed to his own competitiveness rather than pressure to emulate his sibling. But he admits to having been worn down by the disappointments inherent in the grind of professional golf and life on the road.
“I’m willing to play wherever I can. As a golfer you have to do that,” he says. “I just didn’t do a very good job this year mentally. That’s completely on me. This is going to be my fourth year out here and I’ve had status on a tour since I turned pro. After three years, I should be able to figure out how I need to go about my business. I’m starting to do that.”
He has momentum heading to Q-School off solid play in Korea and in second-stage qualifying. “I got kicked in the teeth for the last year, but there’s so many positives I can take that I haven’t seen in a really long time,” he says. “It’s exciting to see where my game is starting to go.”
Koepka’s intended preparation included some minitour stops and entering Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour events in Mexico and Sea Island, Georgia. The latter is the Love family’s home tournament. Dru, who was eliminated from Korn Ferry qualifying at the second stage, will be in the field for the fourth time in the last five years.
