This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
The RSM Classic
Courses: Sea Island Golf Club Seaside Course [Host] (7,005 yards, par 70), Sea Island Golf Club Plantation Course (7,060 yards, par 72)
Purse: $8,000,000
Winner: $1,440,000 and 500 FedExCup Fall points
Tournament Preview
The 47th and final event of the 2024 PGA Tour season is here. For most of the players teeing it up at Sea Island it's been a hell of a grind and they are looking forward to some much needed time off before the 2025 season which begins in early January at the Sentry. Before we get there, however, there is a lot at stake at The RSM Classic.
The biggest focus will be on the top-125 battle which earn fully exempt status for next season. After some strong finishes in the fall, Wesley Bryan holds that coveted final spot at No. 125. Just in front of him are Sam Ryder, Zac Blair and Joel Dahmen, all in need of a good week to hang onto their cards. Among the nearest chasers are Henrik Norlander, Daniel Berger, Hayden Springer and Pierceson Coody. At the conclusion of The RSM Classic positions No. 126-150 in the FedExCup Fall standings will earn conditional PGA Tour status for the 2025 season. While conditional status is better than nothing, it will limit the amount of starts those players will be able to make on the PGA Tour and make it harder to secure full status going into 2026, especially with the PGA Tour further decreasing the amount of cards available as they try to cap field sizes and improve pace of play.
The other battle to watch is the Aon Next 10 from the FedExCup Fall which gives players access to two early season Signature Events at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. The Signature Events will be even more important in 2025 as they have increased FedExCup points and purses. Playing good in those events will make it easier to stay inside the top 100, which will be the new cutoff to secure full playing status for 2026. Nick Taylor, Nico Echavarria and Justin Rose hold the final three spots in the Aon Next 10 with Kevin Yu and Lucas Glover not far behind.
The RSM Classic typically has one of the better fields of the fall because there are a lot of players who call the St. Simons Island area home. There are 11 players who finished inside the top-50 of the FedExCup last season who are teeing it up. Since they are already secured into all the Signature Events next season, there isn't a lot for them to play for apart from OWGR points and a spot in the Masters next year should they emerge victorious and had not yet been exempt.
Sometimes the weather can get a little sketchy for this event being this late in November, but the forecast is pretty promising all things considered. There is a bit of a cold front moving in prior to the first tee shots on Thursday, but we will see plenty of sunshine. That will at least make it feel warmer than the low-to-mid-60s highs four the tournament. That being said, however, Thursday and Friday will both feature sustained winds at 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. That will certainly test shotmaking abilities before a 36-hole cut is made once all 156 players have had a crack on both the Seaside and Plantation course. We should see some great scoring on the weekend once the wind dies down and the top-65-and-ties play the final two rounds on the Seaside Course. Ludvig Aberg set the PGA Tour aggregate scoring record of 253 (29-under) last year in his first PGA Tour win. Aberg returns to competition this week for the first time since having knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus right after the TOUR Championship.
Recent Champions
2023 - Ludvig Aberg (-29)
2022 - Adam Svensson (-19)
2021 - Talor Gooch (-22)
2020 - Robert Streb (-19)
2019 - Tyler Duncan (-19)
2018 - Charles Howell III (-19)
2017 - Austin Cook (-21)
2016 - Mackenzie Hughes (-17)
2015 - Kevin Kisner (-22)
2014 - Robert Streb (-14)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- Proximity 100-125 yards and 125-150 yards
Champion's Profile
With both courses checking in at under 7,100 yards, distance really isn't much of a factor. There are a lot of short-to-medium length par-4s which don't require driver and will still leave a lot of wedge and short-iron opportunities. If you go back and look at the leaderboards of the RSM Classic over the last several years, the players near the top of the leaderboards are all mostly short but accurate drivers who can fill it up on the greens. This isn't a week where you can get away with having an off putting performance an expect to finish very highly. The top-four players on the leaderboard last year all finished the week inside the top-six in SG: Putting. I'm also going to be keeping an eye on players who rate highly in proximity from 100-125 yards and 125-150 yards, as that's where the majority of the approaches will be coming from.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Seamus Power ($11,100)
Power has been one of the most consistent players the last few months racking up four top-15s and seven top-30s over his last eight starts. It took him awhile to figure out Sea Island, but in his last two starts here he has finished inside the top-five. Power has a strong chance at racking up another one given how he has been consistently gaining strokes off the tee and on the greens.
Ben Griffin ($11,000)
The RSM Classic is typically always a tournament you have to go low in, and who better to take than the man who leads the PGA Tour this season in birdies and eagles. Griffin is coming off a solo eighth in Bermuda which was his fourth top-25 in his last five starts this fall. Last year he scored a T8 finish at Sea Island and gained the third-most strokes on the greens.
Harris English ($10,800)
English is peaking right in time before he plays a home game this week at Sea Island. English has finished T6-T9-T14 in his last three starts. I mentioned the importance of putting at this event and not many have been better the last several years than English. He ranks 10th in 2024 in SG: Putting and has continued to take strides to become a more accurate driver.
The Middle Tier
Mackenzie Hughes ($10,300)
Hughes struggled in his first start at Bermuda last week, but he's got great history at Sea Island scoring a win back in 2016 and finishing runner-up two of the last three years. Hughes is basically a cheat code on the greens ranking third in SG: Putting this season. He also led in that category a year ago in this event. Hughes had made nine straight cuts with four top-20s in that stretch.
Lucas Glover ($10,100)
Usually the ball-striking starts to fade once you get into your mid-40s, but Glover is hitting it as good as ever. He ranks fifth in SG: Approach and fifth in in proximity 100-125 yards. Glover has been on a roll this fall racking up a pair of top-three finishes and four total top-25s. He's got plenty of experience at Sea Island with four top-25 finishes in nine starts.
Jacob Bridgeman ($9,200)
Bridgeman has become a staple of DFS lineups in the mid-tier. He has made the cut in seven of his last eight starts with five top-20 finishes in that stretch. Bridgeman is also great for DFS because he makes a lot of red numbers. The 24-year-old ranks fourth in birdie average and sixth in SG: Putting this season. Given how great Bridgeman is with the putter, 49th in proximity to the hole makes him quite dangerous.
The Long Shots
Vince Whaley ($8,800)
Whaley is coming off a strong T5 finish in Bermuda where he ranked inside the top-15 in driving accuracy, GIR's and scrambling. It was an impressive showing given he didn't have his normal type of putting week, as Whaley ranks 14th this season in SG: Putting. I expect that part of his game to be back to form at Sea Island where he finished top-15 a year ago.
Wesley Bryan ($8,400)
At this stage of the year sometimes you just ride the hot hand and ask questions later. After finishing T67-or-worse in 11 of his first 12 starts to the season, Bryan has now finished T21-or-better in four of his last five starts. Bryan was second last week in Bermuda in putts per GIR and I expect him to rack up a lot of birdies at Sea Island where he needs a good week to secure full status for 2025.
Zach Johnson ($8,100)
There's a lot of question marks about a lot of golfers in this range, but one thing we know is that Johnson plays well at Sea Island. He has finished T16-or-better six times with four of those coming his last seven appearances. Johnson ranks top-30 in both driving accuracy and SG: Putting, which is always a strong formula on these courses. The 48-year-old gets his fifth top-25 of 2024 this week.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The strength of this field is without question the $10K and upper-$9K range. It's just chalk full of players who have found form of late, have strong history here, are strong course fits or some combination of the three. If you're smart with your builds you can easily avoid dipping too far in the $8K range and below, which has a lot more questions. Ludvig Aberg is sure to lead ownership as the clear best player in the field at just under $12K. However, I do worry about this being his first start back from injury on a course where putting is so important. It's going to be a pass from me as I target players who have been playing a lot more golf this fall and have found a clear groove with the putter.
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