The RSM Classic
Well golf fans the past couple of weeks have been electric. To no surprise Phil Mickelson won the final event of the year on the Champions Tour. Phil has played in six Champions Tour events this year and has won four times. His stats right now are actually record breaking. It’s evident that for being over 50, Phil is one of the most physically fit players on the Champions Tour right now. I’d credit his success to that aspect. His physicality allows him to hit much longer drives than the rest of the field and his energy level surpasses the field as well. Another regular in the winners circle on the Champions Tour is Bernhard Langer. Langer won the season long event the Charles Schwab cup. Langer has been and remains to be an absolute legend on the Champions Tour. Langer has won 42 times and has made over $31 million on the Champions Tour. At the young age of 64 Langer continues to impress the golf community. In PGA Tour news Jason Kokrak has notched his third victory on tour in impressive fashion last week at the Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Houston Open. Through all kinds of delays ranging from rain, fog and darkness he outlasted the rest. I’ve Always been a low key fan of Kokrak, he’s charged up tons of leaderboards only to fall short on Sunday afternoon. It’s evident he’s found his game because three wins in a little over a year is pretty impressive.
Before we touch base on this week’s event, we’re heading across the pond to talk about the new name for the European Tour. The European Tour is undergoing a complete and total rebranding process. Now this is a much needed change, the European Tour has been struggling, due to the exponential growth of the PGA Tour it’s unfortunately hurt the European Tour. However this rebranding process aims to mend some wounds. For starters the European Tour will now be called “DP World Tour.” Personally, a fresh new name is going to be great. Another major boost is the purse sizes will be doubled starting in 2022. That’s the big one, because money is a major incentive for these guys to play. You put the money up, the players will come. The other major key to this is the expansion. The tour will now play 47 events spanned across 27 different countries all over the world. This will now provide opportunists from players all over the world. I think this will not only grow golf but will allow players from all over the globe to compete. However none of this will be in place until 2022. The PGA Tour however is moving right along.
This week the tour heads to Sea Island, Georgia for the RSM classic at The Sea Island Resort. Seas Island is always a favorite amongst many of the players. The views are incredible, the food is great, and it’s a phenomenal golf course. For the event they play the Seaside course, playing only to about 7,000 yards which typically is on the shorter end for the tour, however this course is right on the water which proves strong wind, and more often than not unpleasant weather. The fall swing on tour typically doesn’t have the strongest of fields, due to the fact that many of the top ranked players take these first couple months off. However for me it’s just the opposite. The fall gives me the time to watch the Korn Ferry Tour graduates as well and the fresh newcomers on tour. This week tune in to watch Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Smith, Louis Oostuizen, as well as rookies Davis Riley, Harry Higgs, David Skinns and Hayden Buckley. (Mike)
The fellas are huge fans of Tiger and like many other fans around the world it is good to see him putting weight on both of his legs again and walking on his own. It will be interesting to see how involved he is in his event down in the Bahamas next month. I imagine he will be seen plenty, but mostly riding around in a golf cart. Nonetheless, the field for The Hero World Challenge in two weeks time is loaded with top golfers. The tour is off next week for Thanksgiving after play concludes at The RSM Classic this weekend.
Before I get into my picks for this week I would like to talk about my picks from a few weeks ago. This is what I had to say about Lucas Herbert who went on to win the Bermuda Championship. “A guy many people are not familiar with, but should be is Lucas Hebert. He had a hot stretch in the summer that he rode out to obtain his tour card successfully. His start this season on tour has not been great as he has missed his first two cuts, but he has proven that he has some serious game and can play very well in much deeper fields than this week.” (Tyler)
Pick’s of the Week:
Mike: Now this week personally I don’t believe it’s going to be a rookie's first win, I think a veteran player is going to win. This week my winning pick goes to Cameron Smith. This season alone he already has one top 10 through two events. Historically he’s a great putter, and as we’ve seen as of late when his putter get hot he’s unstoppable. He does come in with really great odd at 16-1 only behind Wolfe and Simpson. Either way Smith gets it done this week. (Mike)
Tyler: Knowing how my picks go, I will follow that up with a few weeks of horrendous picks. My pick to win this week is Joaquin Niemann. His game is all there and it baffles me from time to time how he does not have more wins on tour, but he is still very young. I think he will win a lot on tour and against a so-so field this week I think he can rise above to secure another tour victory.
My sleeper pick this week is Dylan Frittelli. The name may sound familiar to golf fans as he routinely finds himself in the mix at big tournaments it seems. He has not been able to put it all together yet and often falls off as the weekend goes on. It is clear he has some serious game, he just needs to avoid the big mistake and his time will come. I would not be surprised to see him win on tour this season and I think this week very well could be the week for Dylan.
My notable to miss the cut is Adam Scott. This is not a big name field and I do not expect any of the top five players in the field this week to miss the cut. Adam has had a resurgence the last few years and has been playing some great golf. However, I just do not think he has what it takes to get it done this week and ends up not making the weekend. (Tyler)