PGA fans this article is bitter-sweet as we find ourselves in the last tournament of the year for the fall group! The next tournament after this is the Hero Challenge on December 5th, which will host 20 of the top golfers. This is the last ride in 2024 for practically the entire field and then we have the start of the 2025 season in January.
In our last article, we crushed again, cashing 4 of 6 tickets, and we are looking to finish 2024 strong! In PGA 2024, my subscribers are up +15.2 units, 51-33 (61% Hit Rate), and a whopping +27.6% ROI! Let's finish 2024 strong!!
The RSM Classic, annually held at St. Simons Island, on the coast side of Southeast Georgia, is played on 2 different courses, which is unique. Over Thursday and Friday, the players will play on 2 courses, Seaside and Plantation. After the cut, the players will play on Seaside for the weekend. This can throw a wrinkle in projections as a player will need to perform well on both courses the first 2 days.
The Seaside course brings a little more danger due to the explosion of the elements such as 14-15 MPH Winds. While the Plantation course offers more tree lines and gives the players more distance with 4 par 5s to attack.
As always, we find key stats that correlate to success here, and the three that stick out the most, are #1 Driving Accuracy, #2 Strokes-gained Approach, and #3 Distance from the edge of the fairway.
Over the L36 rounds between the PGA/Korn Ferry Tour (KFT), Spaun ranks #5 in strokes gained on the field at 1.33 strokes/round. With driving accuracy as the #1 correlated stat to success here, Spaun ranks 75th. He also ranks 71st in distance from the edge of the fairway.
Other rankings that fit him well to this course, he ranks 17th in strokes-gained approach, 12th in GIR, 13th in proximity to the hole, and 56th in strokes-gained total.
He has been in great form over his last 11 tournaments. He has 1 withdrawal, and his worst finish was T44, with 9 Top 30 finishes. He has 3 straight top 20 finishes here, T15, T13, T16.
Bridgeman has 6 top 40 finishes over his last 8 tournaments. Over the L20 rounds, he is the #6 ranked player in this field, gaining 1.38 strokes/round.
Over the L36 rounds, he is the #14 ranked player with PGA/KFT rounds. He ranks 42nd in strokes-gained total, 6th in putting, 59th in GIR, and 49th in proximity to the hole.
If he can keep his driver straight and find the fairway, he has a good chance to place strong.
There is not much data for rankings on McCarty, as most of the rounds are on the Korn Ferry Tour. In his last 16 events between PGA/KFT, he has won 4 tournaments, with 7 top 10 finishes.
In 3 PGA Tour events, he has 1 win, and in his prior 13 events, he finished top 40 in all of them. T35 was his worst finishing position.
Yes, competition is up, but over the last 36 rounds between PGA/KFT, he is ranked #1 in strokes gained on the field 1.91 and has done it with solid metrics across the bag.
Bryan is playing the best span of his career. 5 straight top 40s finished, and his worst position is T37, the other 4 were T21 or better. He finished T44 last year here and he is in better form, so I expect a few shots better this time around.
He ranks 25th in GIR, 12th in proximity to the hole, and 10th on approach>200 yards. He also ranks 31st in scoring average, 11th in birdie average, and 14th in putting average.
If he can keep it in the fairway, and score well on the par 5s Friday, he has a good shot to put the ball closer to the pin than others. Over the L20 rounds, he ranks #5 in strokes gained on the field with 1.47 strokes/round.
My Best Bets (4):
J.J. Spaun Top 30 (+110) Bet365
Jacob Bridgeman Top 40 (+100) Bet365
Matt McCarty Top 40 (+105) Bet365
Wesley Bryan Top 40 (+140) DraftKings
Bonus Bets (2):
Joe Highsmith Top 40 (+100) Bet365
Greyson Sigg Top 40 (+100) Bet365