BlogThe RSM Classic Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

About the rest of the year:

This is the 45th and final event on the PGA Tour for the 2025 season. For the third time, the new autumn format seems to have worked, and we’ve seen some marquee players playing in some events that we thought wouldn’t happen. Still, interest in playing only autumn events to earn PGA Tour cards for the following season is not as widespread as it was during the wraparound season, which started in September.

I still prefer to start the season in September and end the year at the Tour Championship.  The way it’s played now, the autumn events seem to get lost in the shuffle and don’t have the overall impact they did at the start of the season.

There is a week off for Thanksgiving, so the marquee names get to relax on a sunny beach somewhere. Then there is the Hero Challenge, which returns to the Bahamas, but it looks like Tiger Woods will not be playing again this year.  There was very little news, but last month, Tiger underwent disc replacement surgery due to pain, so we may not see him for a while.  In addition to the absence of Tiger, the field for the PNC Championship has been announced (father/son), and there is no Tiger/Charley match-up.

Otherwise, we are entering a quiet period in the game, and there will be very little interest until the Sony Open in Hawaii.  As we know, last month the PGA Tour canceled the Sentry Championship, so the first event of the year is the Sony, in the second week of January. The European Tour wrapped up its 2025 season in Dubai last week, with Matt Fitzpatrick winning and Rory McIlroy winning the Race to Dubai standings for the seventh time.

It was a special week for 10 players competing in the DP World, as they earned PGA Tour cards for 2026.  Englishman Marco Penge topped the list and, by doing so, qualifies for The Players Championship and two early Signature Events in the 2026 season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. Penge is 29th in the Official World Golf Rankings and will be exempt from PGA Tour reshuffles in 2026, with the remaining nine players joining Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Q-School graduates in a category of the PGA Tour Priority Ranking that is subject to periodic reshuffles.  The 2nd qualifier is Laurie Canter, who will be the first LIV Golf player to join the PGA Tour.  Canter played in the first year of LIV and has played on the DP World Tour since 2023.  Canter ranks 71st in the Official World Golf Rankings. The other eight qualifiers are Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Haotong Li, Keita Nakajima, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and Jordan Smith.

As for last year’s crop of DP World Tour players, it was a bit shaky, as Rasmus Hojgaard is the only one right now to make it to 2026.  As for Jesper Svensson, he is 111th in the fall rankings and needs a great finish at RSM to keep his card.  Also on the bubble is Thorbjorn Olesen, who is 96th in the rankings, so he needs to make the cut at RSM.

Now, the DP World Tour is set to unify a semi-wraparound schedule as it heads straight into the 2026 season with the Australian PGA Championship next week. The event has been part of the European Tour since 2015 and has a field that includes Cameron Smith and Geoff Ogilvy. The week after that, DP World has the Australian Open and then three African events, all part of the 2026 season but played in December.

The end of the year

As for us, I am taking the next week off and returning for a preview of the Hero Challenge. We will also prepare for the 2026 season at The Sony Open.

This is your chance to share ideas for what you want to see in the future. Remember, you can get me at Golfersal@aol.com or Sal@Golfstats.com.  If you wish, you can also write to Jason at Jason@Golfstats.com.

The RSM Classic

The RSM Classic is an event in a small resort town, or, should we say, an island in Georgia, which has been well-received since it started in 2010. Davis Love III got behind it, and his charities are the beneficiaries of this event. Love gets behind the tournament to get his friends and fellow players to attend. The event also has a great sponsor in RSM, a tax and consulting firm. The good thing is that folks like Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Harris English, Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner, and Brian Harman, who live in Sea Island, are playing. This event has been held at different times during the fall swing, but this year will be the last fall event of the season. Eight years ago, the field was increased from 132 players to 156, as another course (the Plantation) was used in the first two rounds, leaving players on the Seaside Course for three rounds.

• Seaside Course information:
• Sea Island, Ga.
• 7,005 yards     Par 35-35–70

The Seaside course is part of the three courses at Sea Island Golf Club. The Seaside course, which is the venue for the McGladreys, is a classic Harry Colt and Charles Alison design dating back to 1929. Tom Fazio completed a renovation in 1999. It’s another of those hidden gems that few people know about. It’s a proper Scottish links course near the Atlantic, with ocean views, that plays fast and firm.

The main challenges could be in the greens, which are nearly impossible to read. The layout features other notable challenges, like the bunkering, which is old-fashioned and genuinely memorable. They offer various sizes and shapes, but they are strategically placed to deliver a formidable test for even the most experienced players.

The first nine goes out and back counterclockwise, while the second one follows a clockwise direction. Each of the four par-3s faces its unique direction, which is unique for any course, so players get a different feel on each par-3 when it’s windy. That is always the case at Sea Island.

The course meanders through marshlands and lakes, with water or marshes coming into play on most holes. There are only 40 sand bunkers on the course, but they are all in strategic spots to catch drives and wayward shots to the greens that are an average size of 7,000 square feet. The course has bermudagrass, with a 72.3 rating and a slope of 137.

It’s been the venue for some significant amateur competitions, including the US Senior Amateur and the US Senior Women’s Amateur.

• Plantation Course informational
• Sea Island, Ga.
• 7,060 yards     Par 36-36–72

The Plantation is the first course at Sea Island, it was a nine-hole course that opened in 1928. Built by Walter Travis, it opened when a ferry service was first introduced to bring people over to Sea Island. A year later, the Seaside course was built. The land on which the course was built was a working plantation. Some of the oak trees on the course were planted over 200 years ago. In 1998, Sea Island’s ownership brought Rees Jones to upgrade the original course. The course was turned into a “parkland by the sea” course as it has views of the Atlantic but is parkland in nature. It’s different than the Seaside Course, which links nature. The Plantation course will play at 7,060, with a 74.8 rating, a slope rating of 138, and a par of 72. It has wide-open fairways, but lakes come into play on 10 of the 18 holes, making it a different challenge for players.