DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: The RSM Classic Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

THE RSM CLASSIC

Purse: $7.6M 
Winner's Share: $1.368M 
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner 
Location: St. Simons Island, Ga. 
Courses: Seaside (primary) and Plantation at Sea Island Golf Club
Yardage: 7,005 Seaside/7,060 Plantation
Par: 70/72
2023 champion: Ludvig Aberg

Tournament Preview

Amid the ever-changing landscape of the PGA Tour -- they just announced seismic changes for the 2026 season and are rumored to finally be nearing a deal with LIV golf -- another remarkable and tumultuous season comes to a close this week.

To recap 2024 ever so briefly, there was Scottie Scheffler's mind-boggling arrest in Louisville, Bryson DeChambeau's remarkable win at the U.S. Open (and Rory McIlroy's remarkable collapse), Xander Schauffele's major breakthrough (twice!), amateur Nick Dunlap's stunning win at the Amex, Robert MacIntyre's heart-tugging win at the Scottish Open, the Olympics, the Presidents Cup, Keegan Bradley's out-of-nowhere ascension to Ryder Cup captaincy and, agonizingly, Grayson Murray's tragic passing.

All that and neither Tiger Woods or the Masters was even mentioned.

This week's RSM Classic completes the Tour's first foray back to a calendar schedule after a decade with the wrap-around format. From that standpoint, after a little getting used to, the season has to be considered a success. The fall tournaments with their weaker fields and lesser purses might disagree, but The RSM will boast one of the best fields of the past three months before the Tour takes its extended winter break.

Ludvig Aberg is back to defend his title, two months after knee surgery, which is quite a boost for tournament host Davis Love III and company. Georgia-connected golfers annually appear en masse for this tournament, and this year is no exception: Brian Harman, Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka, Davis Thompson, Harris English, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Kisner and Stewart Cink are just a sampling, not to mention the 60-year-old Love himself. 

Non-Georgians of note include Lucas Glover, Denny McCarthy, Si Woo Kim, Maverick McNealy and even Matt Wallace, who jetted his way over from Dubai after a T11 showing at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

Of course, of paramount importance to many in the maxed-out field of 156 is the FedEx Cup point standings. The top-125 after this week will have full playing privileges for 2025, while those from 126th to 150th will have conditional status. Every golfer but one from No. 118 to 154 is in the field. Also to be finalized is the so-called Next 10, golfers finishing 51st to 60th who thereby will get into cash-cow signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera. Understandably, many guys from either side of 60th position are playing this week.

Golfers will play the Seaside and Plantation courses once each over the first two days before sticking to Seaside for the final two rounds. Both courses are incredibly short, especially Plantation considering it's a par-72.

Seaside dates to 1929 with a Tom Fazio renovation in 1999. It is a links-style, oceanfront par-70 with wide fairways -- averaging 47 feet in the landing areas -- and big Bermudagrass greens, averaging 7,200 square feet. There are only two par-5s. Of the 12 par-4s, nine of them are under 430 yards. Driver will not be needed much. There is water on 13 holes. The golfers will often be hitting irons off the tee and wedges to the green. Really, the key to success this week will be from the fairway on in. Wind is the course's biggest defense.

Plantation is more of a parkland-style track more protected from the elements than Seaside with lots of trees. Five years ago it reopened after a complete yearlong overhaul by Love and his design company. We won't focus heavily on Plantation, since the course is used for just one round. The greens also are Bermudagrass though smaller than Seaside, averaging only 6,100 square feet. There is water on 10 holes. The fairways are still very wide, averaging 43 yards in the landing areas, according to the official Golf Course Superintendents fact sheet.

As for the weather, it will be on the chilly side, with temperatures not reaching 70 all week and barely breaking 60 on Friday and Saturday. The first two days are forecast to be very windy, especially Thursday. On the plus side, there won't be any rain. 

Key Stats to Winning at Seaside

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation 
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green 
• Strokes Gained: Putting 
• Par-4 Efficiency 400-450 yards 
• Approaches from 125-150 yards 
• Birdie or Better Percentage

Past Champions

2023 - Ludvig Aberg
2022 - Adam Svensson
2021 - Talor Gooch 
2020 - Robert Streb
2019 - Tyler Duncan 
2018 - Charles Howell III 
2017 - Austin Cook 
2016 - Mackenzie Hughes
2015 - Kevin Kisner 
2014 - Robert Streb

Champion's Profile

We've already established you don't have to use driver and bomb it off the tee, but that didn't stop Aberg, who ranked second in the field in driving distance at an average of more than 309 yards. He ranked fifth in greens in regulation, first in SG: Tee-to-Green and an impressive fourth in SG: Putting to reach 29-under and run away by four shots over Hughes and at least seven better than everyone else.

Until last year, there was a conga line of mostly shorter hitters winning here. Two years ago, Svensson averaged only 277 off the tee. Gooch was under 300 the year before.

This tournament, even when pounding the ball off the tee, is about SG: Approach and SG: Tee-to-Green. Those two stats tend to dominate here.

In looking at what golfers have said about the tournament in past years, quite a few of them say that experience matters, that the greens are tricky and fast (13 on the Stimpmeter on Seaside). Maybe so, but six of the 13 champions here won the tournament in their first visit -- Aberg, Cook, Hughes, Streb, Ben Crane in 2011 and Heath Slocum in 2010 (obviously Slocum, because that was the maiden RSM).

Before Aberg, the previous five winners had played the tournament before.

The over/under on the winning score at golfodds.com is 258.5 -- 23.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Ludvig Aberg - $11,200 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +900)
Aberg returns to golf two months after undergoing knee surgery. He hasn't played since the Tour Championship and easily could've skipped this week. But as last year's winner, he honorably wanted to defend his title. We've seen players win during the fall with layoffs almost as long as Aberg's, and he clearly is the class of the field. 

Davis Thompson - $10,300 (+2200)
The Georgia native has played The RSM five times and never finished better than 23rd. But he's also never been as good of a golfer as he has been this year. Davis has teed it up just once in the fall; it was a tie for fifth at the Shriners.

$9,000-$9,900

Brian Harman - $9,800 (+2200)
Harman has played only once since the BMW Championship back in August. Curiously, it was in something called the Macao Open on the Asian Tour in October, in which he tied for 13th. This is a tournament that Harman seemingly should excel at every year. But he's had only three top-10s in 12 starts. One of them came two years ago when he finished runner-up.

Ben Griffin - $9,300 (+3000) 
Griffin is one of the better players on Tour from the second shot on in, which is exactly what The RSM is all about. That explains his tie for eighth here a year ago. Griffin's fantastic fall season peaked with a solo eighth last week in Bermuda, moving him up to 56th in the point standings to ensure he'll finish in the coveted Next 10.

$8,000-$8,900

Mackenzie Hughes - $8,800 (+3500)
Hughes is bound to be a popular pick. He's been runner-up here two of the past three years and won the trophy back in 2016. He had a pair of top-10s during the fall before finishing far back last week in Bermuda. Hughes is ranked third on Tour in SG: Putting this season.

J.J. Spaun - $8,400 (+3500) 
Spaun has finished top-20 here the past three years and was runner-up back in 2017. And he's finished top-10 in three of his past eight starts, including at a course not too far from here in Sedgefield for the Wyndham. Spaun is ranked 17th on Tour in SG: Approach.

Patrick Rodgers - $8,000 (+4500) 
We're back on Rodgers for a second straight week after last week's top-10 in Bermuda. He also had top-25s in two of his three prior starts. Rodgers didn't play The RSM last year but the year before notched his third top-10 in the event. One of them was runner-up in 2018.

$7,000-$7,900

Adam Svensson - $7,800 (+5000)
Svensson is a good example of how course experience matters this week. He missed the cut in his first three visits, then won in his fourth and tied for fifth two years ago. Svensson is ranked top-20 in this field over his past 24 rounds in SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green, as well as in par-4 400-450. We were surprised to see his price this low.

Jacob Bridgeman - $7,600 (+6000) 
We were on the 24-year-old Clemson alum last week and he delivered his third top-15 result in his past five starts. That put to rest any question of whether he would keep his card as he's now in 109th place. Bridgeman played The RSM once before, making the cut two years ago.

Greyson Sigg - $7,300 (+6000)
The Georgia native certainly plays The RSM as if it's a home game. He tied for eighth here last year and for 15th the year before. Sigg has had a great fall season with two top-10s, one of them last week, plus a tie for 11th and another top-25.

Wesley Bryan - $7,200 (+11000)
Bryan's late-season surge has finally put him in position to get his Tour card for next season. But he has zero room for error, entering the week 125th in the point standings. Bryan tied for 17th last week, his third straight top-25, one of which doubled as a top-10. He also made the cut here last year.

Brendon Todd - $7,100 (+11000) 
With just one tournament left in the season, we of course had to turn to one of our favorite low-priced short-course specialists. Todd has made the cut here in seven of his 10 starts, with a best of solo 4th in 2019.

$6,000-$6,900

Zac Blair - $6,600 (+25000)
Blair has been dropping steadily in the point standings throughout the fall, to the point that he's now in the precarious position of No. 123. He's made five of seven cuts in the fall, but only one resulted in a top-40. So what's to like about Blair? He's ranked first in this field in the short pars of 400-450 yards over this past 24 rounds, and he's one of the better approach players overall in the field. Blair has made the cut here four times in seven tries.

Taylor Montgomery - $6,400 (+30000) 
We turned to Montgomery two weeks ago and he made the cut. We were prepared to do it again last week, but he pulled out of Bermuda before the start. Now he's back, one of the best putters on Tour this season who has found The RSM to his liking -- Montgomery tied for eighth last year and for 15th the year before.

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