After Houston, Texas comes Glynn County, Georgia, where the RSM Classic will take place at Sea Island Resort. On what is the coastal track, a less than the top-tier field will battle it out in the final event of the PGA Tour fall schedule. Last year’s winner, who incidentally chases a hat-trick of wins in this event, Robert Streb returns to defend his crown, though, in a line-up filled with players suited to this sort of test, he’ll have his work cut out.
Tournament Field
As touched on above, there are plenty of big names missing from the field this week, which means that this is another opportunity for those players on the periphery of the upper echelons of the golfing world to come to the fore. World number nine Louis Oosthuizen will be the only top-ten representative at Sea Island Resort, and there’s a distinct lack of top-end talent too, with Harris English, Scottie Scheffler, and Webb Simpson the only other top-30 players set to feature. One-time world number one Luke Donald, who now ranks as low as 539, is back in PGA Tour action, while previous winners of this event Kevin Kisner (2015) and Ben Crane (2011) are other notable inclusions.
What does Sea Island demand?
Two courses will be used at Sea Island Resort this week. These are the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course. Neither are particularly demanding by general PGA Tour standards and as is usually the case with resort tracks, scoring is likely to be low, with each of the last five winners finishing their four rounds no worse than 17 under par.
| Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon |
| +73° | +75° | +68° | +67° | +65° | +71° |
| +58° | +66° | +62° | +63° | +58° | +62° |
Players will encounter some very attackable Par 5’s, though doing so won’t be without risk, while being accurate off the tee helps, as many of recent winners have shown. In fact, only one of the last five winners of this event finished the week lower than 12th for fairways hit, meaning that those who are wayward are unlikely to thrive.
Lots of greens are a test too, both in terms of positioning and the speed at which they will run, so accurate iron-play is something of a must, while creativity and nous around the greens, as well as nerve with the flatstick is required too. Interestingly, each of the last four winners of the RSM Classic finished the week ranking seventh or higher for greens in regulation, with none of those four players hitting less than 83.3 putting surfaces in the recommended number of strokes.
Who’s hot in the betting?
After his exploits in Houston last week, where he held the 54-hole lead, before eventually finishing second to Jason Kokrak, Scottie Scheffler is hotly fancied this week. The world number 17 comes into the RSM Classic as the +1200 favorite in the outright market. Next up, at odds of +1400, is Webb Simpson, who despite never winning here, has a string of pleasing efforts under his belt, including two seconds and third. Aussie Cameron Smith follows closely behind at a general price of +1600. Louis Oosthuizen, who as touched on above, is the highest-ranked player in the field, and who previously finished fourth here, could easily be considered on the large side of things at a juicy +2200.
Outright Winner
Kevin Kisner - 1 Unit @ +3500
I’m going straight in with a big price this week, and for my money, Kevin Kisner is simply too big and thus a bet on the man who attended the University of Georgia represents a shade of value.
Fourth in 2014, Kisner won this event in 2015, and he’s made several strong attempts to regain his crown since, finishing fourth again in 2017, seventh in 2018, and second last year. Such form figures tell us that Sea Island Resort is a happy hunting ground for the four-time PGA Tour winner. Thanks to his haul of high finishes at the RSM, Kisner stands out as one of the very best in this field in terms of strokes gained numbers, ranking second overall for strokes gained: total on this track in the last five seasons, collecting an impressive 2.47 strokes per round.
Furthermore, the 37-year-old currently rates as the third-best on tour for driving accuracy, which given what we know about this course, bodes well, as does the fact that he’s the number two player on the PGA Tour for greens hit right now, hitting 76.85% of putting surfaces.
UK based freelance sports betting writer. Specializing in golf and soccer, Bradley has written for numerous websites and publications both in the UK and abroad, covering a range of sports betting topics from match/event previews to betting guides.
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