Steady Showing in Houston
While none of our players set the world alight last week, it was a decent team performance with only Joseph Bramlett failing to make the cut. The Korean, Im, led the way finishing inside the top 20, and Ryan Palmer was one shot back, finishing in 26th. However, the most disappointing aspect of the week was Wyndham Clark’s final round. Clark appeared in contention over the first couple of days, but his challenge tailed off, and he shot a five-over-par on Sunday to finish back in a tie for 41st.
Our attention turns to Sea Island Resort this week for the RSM Classic. We will begin, as always, by taking a look at the history of the tournament as we start to build this week’s BeerLife profile.
The History
The RSM is one of the most recent PGA Tour tournaments, having debuted in 2010. Despite having one of the lowest payouts, the late-fall tournament, formerly known as the McGladrey Classic, draws a solid field every year. In addition, St. Simons Island, off the coast of Georgia, is a golf sanctuary with several tour professionals living on the island, making it a convenient addition to a player’s schedule.
The Sea Island Golf Resort has hosted the tournament since its inception. The event has been played across both the resort’s Seaside and Plantation courses since 2015 when RSM took over as title sponsor, and the field grew to 156 participants. Last year, Robert Streb, the tournament’s winner, is the tournament’s sole two-time winner (2014 and 2020). Streb won both titles in a playoff, a typical feature of the event, with overtime being required in five of the last seven editions. Chris Kirk, Charles Howell III, and Kevin Kisner, who holds the tournament score record, are other former RSM Classic victors. The Davis Love Foundation organizes and hosts the RSM Classic.
Let’s turn our attention to the form of the previous five winners, analyze their rounds and see if we can find some crucial links to begin our BeerLife profile.
Past Results
2021 Robert Streb – 263 – Form 55/CUT/21/CUT
2020 Tyler Duncan – 263 – Form 48/18/CUT/56
2019 Charles Howell III – 263 – Form CUT/61/5/24
2018 Austin Cook – 261 – Form 50/20/25/CUT
2017 Mackenzie Hughes – 265 – Form CUT/68/26/13
The Course
The Sea Island Golf Club and Resort was built in 1926 after Howard Coffin, the founder of the Sea Island Company, purchased a former cotton farm on the island. Coffin was a golf fanatic, and he enlisted the help of renowned Australian amateur golfer and architect Walter Travis. Travis was a three-time winner of the US Amateur Tournament, and after retiring from golf, he founded several private country clubs across the country. Travis’ golf courses were designed in the typical Scottish Links style, with modest hills in the fairways and small, elevated greens.
Davis Love Jr. and his son, Davis Love III, went to Sea Island in 1977 to become the head golf pro at the Sea Island Golf Club and Resort. There, the Love family grew up, and Love III’s profession blossomed. Love III invested vital resources in the club to turn it into a top-notch performance center. He exerted significant power over the resort as a result of his success. Davis Love III’s Valhalla is Sea Island. In 2006, Sea Island began holding a regular PGA Tour event, the McGladrey Classic, which is now known as the RSM Classic in its current version.
The RSM Classic is held on two golf courses. Both the Seaside and the Plantation Courses will be used for the first two rounds. The Seaside Course hosts the remainder of the tournament after the cut. Unfortunately, the PGA Tour only keeps ShotLink data for the Seaside Course, which is the more difficult of the two.
The weather looks decent this week, although there could be some strong winds on Thursday and Friday to contend with, so getting a good start this week could be crucial.
The Field
Several players in the top 40 of the Official World Golf Rankings are in the RSM Classic field, including No. 9 Justin Rose. Louis Oosthuizen, Harris English (12), Cameron Smith (23), Webb Simpson (26), Joaquin Niemann (30), Max Homa (33), Corey Conners (36), Kevin Kisner (37), and Adam Scott (40). Other well-known names — and former major winners – in the field include Justin Rose, Jason Day, Zach Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Stewart Cink, and Jimmy Walker.
Key Stats
We run each player in the field through our BeerLife profile analysis to come up with our selections. This is what we are looking for this week:
Fabulous Fridays – There is a clear second-round scoring bias when you look at the past five winners, and the last four all shot their best rounds on day two. With high winds expected on Friday, there will be even more emphasis on doing well.
Round 2 Scoring Average
- Seonghyeon Kim
- Roberto Diaz
- Jordan Spieth
- Justin Thomas
- Dustin Johnson
- Chan Kim
- Beau Hossler
- Chase Seiffert
- Scottie Scheffler
- Sam Burns
- Minkyu Kim
- Patrick Flavin
In-Play – Keeping the ball in play will be paramount to a player’s success, with a lot of focus on the wind this week.
Greens in Regulation Percentage
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Kevin Kisner
- Will Zalatoris
- Viktor Hovland
- Hayden Buckley
Cutting Through the Pack – Even with the high winds, the winning scores around here are usually low. This shows how vital playing well with the blade is this week.
SG: Putting
- Beau Hossler
- Rory McIlroy
- Harry Hall
- Brendon Todd
- Grant Hirschman
Bermuda Bias – The best course or tournament correlation with this tournament is the Bermuda Championship. Last year’s winner Brendon Todd led for the first three rounds here last year. Also, this year’s Bermuda Champion, Brian Gay, has finished third and fourth here in the past.
Bermuda Championship 2022
- Lucas Herbert
- Patrick Reed
- Danny Lee
- Patrick Rodgers
- Scott Stallings
- Taylor Pendrith
Draft Picks
After looking at the above data and running the field through our Beerlife profile builder, we have selected the following picks.
Must-Have Players – These are the players you need to have in your lineup regardless of the price.
| Louis Oosthuizen |
| Odds To Win +1600 |
| DraftKings $10,400 |
| FanDuel $11,700 |
| The South African is the epitome of a straight golfer, and the fact that distance should have no bearing this week means Louis should be bang in contention this week. We have only seen Oosthuizen twice this season, and he played steady golf on both occasions. He has only played this event once, which was last year. He missed the cut, which would usually deter me from picking him. However, I believe he is back to right that wrong this year, and you wouldn’t bet against him doing so. He has been deadly off the tee so far this season which has resulted in him making more greens in regulation than any other player on Tour. He is always good in and around the green. His putting has been a slight concern this year, but you don’t go from being one of the best putters in the world to bad overnight. Lastly, Louis has not missed the cut in his previous 18 (yes 18) tournaments, meaning he is as reliable as they come. |
Steady Eddies – These guys should give a good account of themselves and are good additions to your lineup.
| Kevin Kisner |
| Odds To Win +3500 |
| DraftKings $9,200 |
| FanDuel $10,700 |
| Kisner hasn’t been great this season, but a return to this golf course could bring him back to form as he loves it around here. The former winner has won this tournament and came second here last year, and has placed fourth in the past. Despite not particularly starting the season well, Kisner has been accurate off the tee, which has resulted in a high percentage of greens in regulation. However, when he has missed the green, he does tend to be a bit erratic, so let’s hope he keeps the ball on the dance floor this week. His putting will also need to improve, but as previously mentioned, a return to the RSM Classic could easily see this corrected. |
Long Shots – These gentlemen will complete a lineup if you’re on a budget but could spring one of two surprises.
| Danny Lee |
| Odds To Win +6500 |
| DraftKings $7,700 |
| FanDuel $9,600 |
| New Zealander, Danny Lee has been brilliant so far this season. Despite missing the cut at the Fortinet Championship, he has since finished runner up at the Bermuda Championship, and he placed seventh last time out at the World Wide Technology Championship. He had only played this event once, which was in 2018 when he missed the cut. However, I believe he is a better, more experienced golfer since then. Lee excels with his putting game, and this tournament could quite easily turn into a putting contest. His scoring has been good this year, which makes him a solid acquisition to any lineup. |
Hey Guys
My name is Dean, AKA The Stat Man. I am a Sports Betting Analyst who uses math, algorithms, probability and logic to create my posts. I specialize in many sports, with Golf being the primary focus. You can find a lot of my work on various websites but the best content is found here on Beer Life.
I live in the UK, on the outskirts of London but my background and heritage is Irish. I'm an avid Manchester United fan who sees following them as a religion. Sport is pretty much my life, as I live and breathe it daily. If there is something I don't know it's probably not worth knowing as I have over 20 years industry experience and insight.
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As always, believe in the power of statistics!
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