The final regular PGA Tour event of 2018 takes place this week when the RSM Classic is held in Sea Island in Georgia and for much of the field it provides a final chance to earn some coin ahead of Christmas.
Austin Cook defends the title this week against a field who will be out to finish off 2018 with a bang and prepare themselves for what is to come on a much more condensed 2019. We should be in for a decent week of golf.
Recent Winners
2017 – Austin Cook
2016 – Mackenzie Hughes
2015 – Kevin Kisner
2014 – Robert Streb
2013 – Chris Kirk
2012 – Tommy Gainey
2011 – Ben Crane
2010 – Heath Slocum
The Courses
We have two courses in play this week. The Seaside Course and the Plantation Course. The Seaside track is the one that three of the four rounds are played on and is a par 70 measuring 7,005 yards. The Plantation is a par 72 which stretches no further than 7,058 yards so both courses are extremely scoreable which immediately makes for a low scoring week.
The greens here are among the easiest to find on the entire PGA Tour but you need to go into them from the fairways so the recipe for success this week is a solid ball striker off the tee who holes a lot of putts. This tournament is usually a low scoring event so birdies are very much the order of the day.
The Field
If we are honest this is a pretty weak field considering it is the final earning chance for many in 2018. Webb Simpson gives the field a higher profile look but beyond him it is very much the up and coming brigade on the PGA Tour or those who have tailed off from their peak days.
Cameron Champ is one tournament winner this season who is in the field while Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk makes another appearance. Former champion Kevin Kisner also tees it up this week as do the likes of Chris Kirk and Ben Crane who have also won around these tracks. This has a wide open feel to it.
Market Leaders
The Players champion Webb Simpson is the 9/1 favourite to land his first tournament win of the season. He is the clear standout in the field but I’m never truly convinced by him in shootouts. I prefer him on tougher tracks where the scoring is a little higher. In saying that if his putter is hot he should have the class to lead these a merry dance. He’s still a little short for me.
Cameron Champ is already a tournament winner this season but whether this event suits his long game I’m not entirely convinced. That said winning form is massive in these ‘Fall Series’ events and he definitely has that so he shouldn’t be discounted at 20/1 but the price looks about right given the circumstances.
JJ Spaun and CT Pan have been in good nick in recent times and both will be chasing a first Tour win this week. They are both 22/1 to win the tournament this week and in truth the only question over the pair of them would appear to be whether you want to take a skinny enough price on a player who hasn’t won at this level. I’m not convinced I do.
Lucas Glover is a 30/1 shot to win the tournament this week. He ticks everything you want from tee to green but if you are backing him and he gets into contention you’ll need to shut your eyes if you watch the latter stages when he is on the greens as literally anything can happen as we saw a few weeks ago. It is 33/1 bar.
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Main Bets
Russell Henley might not be showing great form on the leaderboard numbers but statistically he isn’t going too badly and he was in the top five in both key long game statistics in Mexico last week. He has not been outside the top 10 in his last three runnings of this tournament so it could be that everything is clicking into gear at the right time. At the price and against such a weak field I think he is worth a bet.
I’m not normally one to take a man at a quarter of the price that I backed him for last week but I feel like I have to make an exception for Jim Furyk. He ran very well in Mexico last week and it hasn’t taken bookmakers long to react to that. He has no Ryder Cup distractions now and his statistics last week were amazingly strong. His form around this event is very good too. He has played this tournament three times and he has never finished worse than T11. Nobody hit more fairways last week and only one man hit more greens. That long game should see him right in the mix this week.
Outsiders
Former champion Robert Streb has been playing much better in recent times. He won on the Web.com Tour towards the end of last season and he has already delivered a decent outing in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. He was in the top five there which bodes well for him here. He is a solid enough tee to green merchant and we know he plays these greens well so a three figure price could look a little daft come Sunday.
Peter Malnati is a former winner of one of these early season events and as a good putter he should go close once again this week. He had a disaster of a year last season but there are early signs that he is coming back to a little bit of form. He has begun this season much more encouragingly and if he can strike the ball well this week we know he’ll lap plenty on the greens so I’m happy to take him at a massive price.
Tips
Back R.Henley to win RSM Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with BetVictor (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back J.Furyk to win RSM Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back R.Streb to win RSM Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back P.Malnati to win RSM Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Skybet (1/5 1-7)
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