THE RSM CLASSIC
Purse: $7M
Winner's Share: $1.26M
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
2024 champion: Maverick McNealy
Tournament Preview
Eleven months after it all began, the 2025 PGA Tour season is about to end. And what a wild ride it's been.
Just think, Rory McIlroy at long last won a Masters. Tommy Fleetwood at long last won a PGA Tour event. Two guys named Brian Campbell and Ryan Fox each won twice. Soon-to-be 50-year-old Tiger Woods didn't hit a single shot. There was no LIV deal -- again. And Scottie Scheffler won only six times a year after winning eight -- but at least he wasn't arrested.
This week's RSM Classic is the Tour's traditional season-ender. It is a rather subdued way for a professional sports league to go out -- no playoffs, no championship, just a regular ol' tournament. However, it annually does get one of the better fields of the fall season. That's because a big Georgia contingent turns out, partly to get the last competitive rounds in before the long winter break, but more so as an homage to tournament host Davis Love III. Now 61, Love is planning to tee it up yet again. He did so last year, but withdrew after shooting an opening 82.
The main focus for many of the golfers this week is finishing inside the top 100 of the FedExCup Standings. That ensures full playing privileges for 2026. As a reminder, this is the first year that the Tour has set the number of full exemptions at 100, down from the longstanding 125. To give the most golfers an opportunity, The RSM Classic field is a maxed-out 156, which is doable during these shorter autumn days by using two courses.
The top ranked guys in the field, No. 13-ranked Harris English and No. 32 Brian Harman, are both Georgia boys. No. 33 Andrew Novak is a nearby North Carolinian. Other golfers of note in the field, none of whom has played much since August, are Daniel Berger, Denny McCarthy, Si Woo Kim, Sahith Theegala and Webb Simpson.
Most golfers positioned from 86th in the standings to 150th are in the field, and there are many others beyond 150. The field gets very weak very fast.
A few of our favorite places 💭📍@SeaIslandResort pic.twitter.com/4OdQ2MORZB
— The RSM Classic (@TheRSMClassic) September 30, 2025
Everyone will play the Seaside and Plantation courses once each over the first two days before sticking to Seaside for the final two rounds after the 36-hole cut. 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, according to the official Golf Course Superintendents fact sheet. 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 rough will be set at two inches. 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 a parkland-style track more protected from the elements than Seaside with lots of trees. Six years ago it reopened after a complete yearlong overhaul by Love and his design company. 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. We won't focus heavily on Plantation, since the course is used for just one round.
As for the weather, let's get ready to birdie. Optimum conditions are forecast -- high temperatures in the mid to upper 70s all week, with almost no chance of rain and rather light winds. Get ready for a track meet here like there was two years ago when Ludvig Aberg won at 29-under par.
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
2024 - Maverick McNealy
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
Champion's Profile
The last four winners all finished top-15 in Strokes Gained: Approach, top-4 in SG: Tee-to-Green and top-12 in SG: Putting. That was true whether the winning score was 16-under, as it was for McNealy last year, or 29-under, as it was for Aberg two years ago.
That creates a very strong blueprint.
McNealy finished sixth in Approach, 12th in Putting and second in greens in regulation. He finished a shot better than the trio of Luke Clanton, Nico Echavarria and Berger. Clanton impressively ranked third in both driving distance and accuracy, but only 55th in Approach. Echavarria ranked second in the field in SG: Putting. Berger was balanced across all stats.
Until Aberg won, there was a conga line of mostly shorter hitters winning here. Three years ago, Svensson averaged only 277 off the tee.
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 15 champions here won the tournament in their first visit -- Aberg, Cook, Hughes, Streb in 2014, Ben Crane in 2011 and Heath Slocum in 2010 (obviously Slocum, because that was the maiden RSM).
McNealy had played the tournament three times prior to winning. Before Aberg, the previous five winners had played the tournament before.
The over/under on the winning score at golfodds.com is 260.5 -- 21.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$9,000-$9,900
J.T. Poston - $9,400 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +3000)
This will Poston's 10th straight trip to The RSM Classic. Last year, he turned in his best showing, a tie for fifth. Poston has had a good year but not great. He finished top-50 in points but had only one top-10. It happened to be a T5 at the PGA Championship, which is a pretty good place to have your lone top-10. Poston is one of the shorter hitters around. The fact that distance doesn't matter this week will help him.
Denny McCarthy - $9,300 (+3000)
If golfers were choosing up sides for a putting contest, McCarthy might be the first pick. He's fifth on Tour in SG: Putting in 2025. That helps explain why he's finished in the top-10 three times in his eight RSM starts. He's another golfer woefully short off the tee who will benefit from the two short courses. McCarthy has not played since the BMW Championship in mid-August, so he will either be very rusty, well-rested, or both.
$8,000-$8,900
Vince Whaley - $8,700 (+3500)
Whaley offers a very nice 1-2 punch: He's playing well coming in and has played well at The RSM. He has two T3s during the fall season, including last week in Bermuda. He finished T8 at The RSM last year and T13 the year before. Whaley is top-35 on Tour in SG: Putting and top-70 in birdie average. That may not sound like much. But in this field, it is.
Nico Echavarria - $8,100 (+4500)
Echavarria was runner-up here last year. He finished second in the field in SG: Putting. He's currently eighth on Tour in SG: Putting. He's another guy we like who is very short off the tee and who won't be adversely impacted by that this week. Echavarria has had a good fall season, with a top-10 in Japan and a top-15 in Mexico.
$7,000-$7,900
Mackenzie Hughes - $7,900 (+7000)
Hughes won here in 2016, was runner-up twice since then and tied for fifth last year. So this is the perfect spot for him to move from 69th in points into the top 60 at the last possible moment. The carrot is large: berths in the first two 2026 Signature Events. It has not been the best year for Hughes, and he doesn't have the best stats, but that course history is too strong to overlook.
Patrick Rodgers - $7,800 (+7000)
Rodgers has had a very nice season despite a horrid stretch over the summer when he missed six straight cuts. He's currently 63rd in points, very close to the important top-60 cutoff point. He tied for 17th here last year and has three earlier RSM top-10s, including runner-up in 2018.
Victor Perez - $7,700 (+6500)
This is the last chance this year -- and maybe longer -- that Perez will be able to burn us. We've liked him so much, his stats scream out that he's a good player playing well. But the leaderboards have the final say, and they largely have said otherwise. Perez does have eight top-25s, but only one top-10, and thus sits 108th in points with one final chance to crack the top 100. It's inconceivable that someone ranked top-25 on Tour in SG: Approach and top-45 in SG: Putting won't keep his card. Perez may go down swinging, but we'll be there with him.
Sami Valimaki - $7,500 (+6000)
Valimaki has had a very nice rookie season on Tour. A runner-up in Mexico two weeks ago ensured he will be back. He also tied for 18th last week in Bermuda. If you thought Perez's Approach/Putting stats were good, get this: Valimaki is top-20 in both. The only thing that could slow him down this week is course unfamiliarity.
$6,000-$6,900
Zach Johnson - $6,700 (+20000)
This will be one of Johnson's final PGA Tour starts before turning 50 in late February. He lives in Georgia and he's played this tournament 15 times. There's no reason he can't play it after turning to the Champions Tour. But we suspect this week will have special important to Johnson. He hasn't played a lot this season, though he did finish T29 at the Sanderson Farms last month and also would be ranked top-15 on Tour in SG: Putting if he had enough rounds to qualify. No yips for this elder.
Paul Peterson - $6,300 (+30000)
Peterson is 144th in the standings. He needs to win this week to get into the top-100. He'll have to putt out of his mind. Good things he's a good putter (ranked 28th). Peterson is ranked 176th in driving distance on Tour, longer than only two others. That matters a lot most weeks. But not this one. The short courses level the playing field for short hitters. It did last year, when Peterson tied for 25th.
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