Setting the scene
The 2021 RSM Classic, hosted at Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia, kicks off the PGA Tour’s 2021-22 season on Thursday, Nov. 18. The RSM Classic field for 2021 has a potent mix of major champions and up-and-comers. Major champions Adam Scott, Jason Day, and Keegan Bradley are scheduled to compete this week, while Robert Streb will defend his title. In addition, the RSM Classic 2021 winner will receive 500 FedEx Cup points.
The RSM Classic is played on two courses: the Seaside Course, which is par 70, and the Plantation Course, which is par 72. Since 2010, six of the 11 tournaments have gone to a playoff, including the previous three, which have all finished with winning scores of 19-under-par. Due to its position on the schedule following The Master’s Tournament in the fall, last year’s event drew the strongest field in its history. The 156-player field is strong again, with more than 15 players from the top 50 in the global rankings competing.
President’s Cup 2022 Captain Davis Love III is serving as the tournament’s host. Love, a Sea Island resident, completely redesigned the Plantation Course in October 2019. With distance being practically irrelevant, players will club down more. This week’s leaders will be determined by their ability to strike the ball and manage its trajectory, as well as their ability to hit fairways and greens and make more putts outside of 15 feet.
Betting Angles
After the remodeling, many of the same ideas that applied to the Seaside Course now apply to the Plantation Course. As a result, the Seaside Course is getting a lot of attention this week regarding betting methods. While the Seaside Course can be challenging for amateurs, it is a breeze for experts. The fairways are extremely wide, averaging 42 yards in length. While bad tee shots can result in a ball being lost in the marshes, the professionals have a large landing area to hit into.
The Seaside Course has higher driving accuracy and green in regulation rates than the PGA Tour average. In 2020, 75.5 percent of the field’s drives were in the fairway. They went on to make 76.3 percent of their putts on the green in regulation. A winning score of around -20 can be achieved by hitting a high percentage of fairways and greens.
In addition, the golf course is relatively short. While the golf course is officially 7,005 yards long, experts can shorten it by taking shortcuts off the tee. For example, the Seaside Course measured 6,850 yards, around 150 yards less than the scorecard yardage. As a result, the RSM Classic is a competition to see who can hit the ball further with their mid and short irons.
Approach shots shorter than 175 yards onto greens were struck substantially higher than the PGA Tour average. They also hit a lot fewer strokes over 175 yards than the average PGA Tour player. As a result, this event is a bit of a crapshoot. On more extensive, more difficult tee-to-green golf courses, better players can distinguish themselves. However, satire ensues as the entire field hits fairways at high rates and swings short and mid irons into big greens. When this happens, tournaments can quickly devolve into a putting competition.
Horses for courses
The Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club is the host course this week. It has hosted this event since the first edition in 2010, and in 2015, it began splitting duties with the Plantation Course. Each golfer will play the Seaside once in the first two rounds and once in the last two rounds. Anyone who makes it through the cutline will get three rounds on the Seaside. Built in the late 1920s, this Harry Colt and C.H. Alison design was renovated in 1999 by Tom Fazio. It’s a par 70 course that measures 7,005 yards on the card during tournament week. Even as a par 70, that’s short by PGA TOUR standards.
With water on 13 holes, it becomes a course that rewards precision more than the standard PGA TOUR facility. When you look at the list of winners from this competition, it’s evident that distance isn’t a condition. On several, par 4s, golfers will be able to club down and hit a less-than-driver off the tee. Golfers will be greeted by large landing areas and greens measuring an average of 7,200 square feet. From tee to green, the course combines bermudagrass and paspalum grasses, including 22-year-old Bermuda greens.
Where’s the money?
Let’s now look at the betting for the week ahead:
Scottie Scheffler 11-1
Webb Simpson 12-1
Cameron Smith 16-1
Louis Oosthuizen 22-1
Corey Conners 25-1
Harris English 25-1
Russell Henley 28-1
Joaquin Niemann 33-1
Adam Scott 35-1
Talor Gooch 40-1
Kevin Kisner 40-1
Alex Noren 40-1
Mito Pereira 50-1
Keegan Bradley 55-1
Justin Rose 55-1
Mackenzie Hughes 60-1
Brendon Todd 60-1
Brian Harman 66-1
Matt Wallace 66-1
Max Homa 66-1
Seamus Power 66-1
Joel Dahmen 66-1
Kevin Streelman 66-1
Jhonattan Vegas 66-1
Danny Lee 66-1
Chris Kirk 66-1
Robert Streb 70-1
Charles Howell 70-1
Matt Kuchar 70-1
Lanto Griffin 80-1
Hayden Buckley 80-1
Denny McCarthy 80-1
Emiliano Grillo 80-1
Patrick Rodgers 80-1
Luke List 80-1
Alex Smalley 80-1
Jason Day 80-1
Branden Grace 80-1
Troy Merritt 80-1
Aaron Rai 90-1
Adam Long 90-1
Sebastian Munoz 90-1
Taylor Moore 100-1
Matthias Schwab 100-1
Henrik Norlander 100-1
Chad Ramey 100-1
Keith Mitchell 100-1
Chez Reavie 100-1
Lucas Glover 100-1
Harry Higgs 100-1
Tom Hoge 100-1
Adam Hadwin 100-1
Adam Schenk 100-1
Cameron Young 125-1
Cameron Davis 125-1
Scott Piercy 125-1
Hudson Swafford 125-1
Brian Stuard 125-1
Stewart Cink 125-1
Tyler Duncan 125-1
Zach Johnson 125-1
Dylan Frittelli 125-1
Stephan Jaeger 125-1
Taylor Pendrith 125-1
Brendan Steele 125-1
Sahith Theegala 125-1
Rory Sabbatini 125-1
Patton Kizzire 125-1
Kyle Stanley 125-1
J.J. Spaun 125-1
Matt Jones 125-1
Russell Knox 125-1
Camilo Villegas 125-1
Doug Ghim 125-1
Kevin Tway 150-1
Scott Stallings 150-1
Davis Riley 150-1
John Huh 150-1
Matthew NeSmith 150-1
Michael Thompson 150-1
Andrew Putnam 150-1
Andrew Landry 150-1
Greyson Sigg 150-1
Vincent Whaley 150-1
Lee Hodges 150-1
Hank Lebioda 150-1
Wyndham Clark 150-1
Brice Garnett 150-1
Kramer Hickok 150-1
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 150-1
Bronson Burgoon 150-1
Sepp Straka 175-1
Nick Hardy 200-1
Andrew Novak 200-1
Justin Lower 200-1
Davis Thompson 200-1
Graeme McDowell 200-1
Roger Sloan 200-1
Anirban Lahiri 200-1
Adam Svensson 200-1
Austin Cook 200-1
Kelly Kraft 200-1
J.T. Poston 200-1
David Lipsky 200-1
Ludvig Aberg 200-1
Brandt Snedeker 200-1
Peter Uihlein 200-1
Vaughn Taylor 200-1
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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