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Sceptics believed that the new PGA Tour Fall season would be downbeat and/or half baked. In contrast to such doubts, however, it has been full of narrative wonder and the reason for that? Full fields which means triple figure story possibilities and the reality that the superstars can wow us with their skills but it is more tricky to do so by tale because we know so much about them. In the wins of Erik Van Rooyen and Camillo Villegas in the last two weeks we’ve witnessed just what remarkable stories golf can throw up. And now to the final week of the Fall season and the year itself on the PGA Tour. The RSM Classic uses two courses at the Sea Island Resort. The Plantation is a par 72 at a touch over 7,000 yards and can be attacked. It is used just the once, before the cut. The Seaside Course is also only just above 7,000 yards but is a par 70. It is designed as a links-like layout but it’s Bermuda grass with some rye crossover at the moment. It doesn’t really play like links on the ground – it’s the seaside location and the wind that brings that notion into play. Big-hitting Cameron Champ has admitted: “Length on this course is pretty much irrelevant. I’m just trying to find the fairways and middle of the greens and take my 20-footers.” Vaughn Taylor has explained his strategy as: “You’ve got a lot of wedges in and short irons, so you immediately get aggressive.” Brendon Todd has concurred: “It comes down to who approaches it well and makes putts.” Mackenzie Hughes, who won in 2016, said: “The Seaside Course kind of has some bigger fairways when there’s not any wind blowing, but when the wind’s blowing, you’ve got those crosswinds going, the fairways seem kind of small. I think the Seaside’s more, I don’t want to say linksy but it has that linksy feel to it, and the Plantation’s a bit more tree-lined.”
Angles to consider 1 / FedExCup position
The top 125 in the rankings will earn 2024 exempt membership which gets them into full field events plus THE PLAYERS Championship. Being ranked 51-60 will get a player into the Genesis Invitational and AT&T Pebble Beach signature events. 2 / Similar courses Think of the likes of Harbour Town (RBC Heritage), Waialae (Sony Open), El Camaleon (WWT Champs) and Port Royal (Bermuda Champs) – by the sea, breezy and shortish. But also think of the two Korn Ferry Tour events held in the Bahamas at the start of the year and also Landings Club in Georgia. Last year’s winner Adam Svensson won one of the former and also the latter (which is a country club on the sea, a lot like this week). 3 / Form Nine of the last 10 winners had a top 30 in their previous three starts. The site’s highlighted top trends back this up – playing in either of the last two weeks is important (especially last week) and a top 10 in the last two months also. 4 / Putting The last three winners ranked top 10 for Strokes Gained Putting with Svensson ranked first. The flipside is that although Svensson putted well the week before his win, his three predecessors did nothing of the kind. 5 / Wedges The courses aren’t long, big hitters can’t really gain an advantage, good short irons create the good putting opportunity and then the player needs to drain those putts.
Selections JT Poston He’s a three-time top 10 finisher at Harbour Town. He’s also ranked top 10 for SG Putting in five of his last eight starts and top five in four of them (he also finished top seven on the leaderboard in five of those starts). He’s also been a winner at Sedgefield and was seventh there this year – an event that needs excellent short irons and a hot putter. The weakness is that he’s missed four cuts at Sea Island but he was T14 in 2019 and T21 last year. His form is very good – second best in the field over the last 15 weeks. Akshay Bhatia His first win as a pro was in the Bahamas and a year later – this January in fact – he notched two top 10s there. He was soon second in the Puerto Rico Open and fourth in the Mexico Open. In the last two weeks he’s been T10 in the WWT Championship and T20 in the Bermuda Championship. He’s played the event twice, missing the cut in 2019 and T45 last year when he carded a 61. He’s a winner at this level now and can make an impression again on a course that should suit. Mackenzie Hughes The Canadian made his breakthrough at PGA Tour level in this tournament when winning it seven years ago. He’s never become much of a consistent performer but when he does throw in one good effort another is usually round the corner so the fact he closed the WWT Championship with rounds of 65-63-68 to grab seventh is worth noting. This sort of test has remained his ideal one. He’s been second and third at Corales in the Dominican Republic, second at PGA National, second here in 2021 and first at Jackson this time last year.
1-2; +9.00pts 1pt e.w. JT Poston at 33/1 (BF Sportsbook, Paddy Power 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 44th 1pt e.w. Akshay Bhatia at 50/1 (BF Sportsbook, Paddy Power, William Hill, Sky Bet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 38th 1pt e.w. Mackenzie Hughes at 70/1 (BF Sportsbook, Paddy Power, William Hill, Sky Bet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 2nd
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