tips for pga tour this week

Sleeper Picks: Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Sleeper Picks

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Patrick Rodgers (+2500) … It’s time. It’s also a reminder that Sleeper is a relative term. Indeed, at tied for sixth among the shortest odds on the board, the veteran objectively is not according to the algorithm at BetMGM. However, as he preps for his fifth appearance at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, he’s paid off this bet precisely zero times in 279 PGA TOUR starts. So, why now? Well, in his last two appearances at Port Royal, he finished fourth (2021) and T3 (2022) with a scoring average of 67.25 across those starts. He also paced the field in putting and co-led in par-5 scoring in his last visit. With two top 25s contributing to a 4-for-5 in the FedExCup Fall, the 32-year-old is 55th in points, so he’s not as pressured to perform to retain position inside the Aon Next 10. That frees him to continue to chase his primary goal with his balanced bag.

Andrew Putnam (+600) … He hasn’t connected for a top-five in just over a year, and that doesn’t make sense when you stare at the stats on the back of his trading card. But this has been his hangup – struggling often in putting four rounds together despite the profile. But there are murmurs of an uptick. He arrives having signed for eight consecutive red numbers, the last six of which in the 60s. He’s made one appearance in Bermuda, finishing T21 in 2020, so the test isn’t unfamiliar. And yeah, it’s still worth the factual support that he’s among the most accurate from tee to green all the while the putter is the best weapon.

Jacob Bridgeman (+300) … At 115th in the FedExCup, the rookie can define his foray as successful. It also has been wild. Consider that only two in his class of 31 – Max Greyserman and Mac Meissner – have more top 25s than his nine, but Bridgeman is one of just eight without a top 10. He had six top 10s in his only full season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 during which he showcased an elite short game that’s translated to the next level. No concerns about his form upon arrival, either, as he cashed in each of his last four starts with two -- what else – top 25s contributing.

Ryan McCormick (+450) … I had him positioned for this bet before the market opened. The 33-year-old is in the same lane as fellow rookie Joe Highsmith; that is, both endured a challenging regular season with only one top 20 before finding a groove in the FedExCup Fall. To be certain, Highsmith’s post-Playoffs series has been a boon, so much so that he was an early withdrawal from the Butterfield Bermuda having risen to 112th in points. In contrast, McCormick has climbed to just 159th, but the preferred direction is as a result of a T16 at the Shriners Children’s Open and a T24 at the World Wide Technology Championship. Arguably his best while gripping an iron, he finished a respective T5 and T6 in greens in regulation in those tournaments. That strength will play up in the breezes this week.

Rafael Campos (+250) … It’s not Puerto Rico, but if the best player from the U.S. territory squints and takes a deep breath, it just might feel like it. That’s a unique bonus in a diluted market. The 36-year-old has cashed seven times this season, all going for a top 40. The set includes top 20s at the PGA TOUR stop in his homeland and at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic where he also spends quite a bit of time. He placed T18 in his debut at Port Royal in 2019 as well. Given that he learned how to play golf in the wind on an island, it makes sense that his strongest skill is on approach, so simply making the cut is expected. Then, and although the sample size consists of just six rounds in individual competition, it’s glossy that he leads the PGA TOUR with a final-round scoring average of 67.67.

Odds were sourced at BetMGM.

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Rob Bolton is a Golfbet columnist for the PGA TOUR. The Chicagoland native has been playing fantasy golf since 1994, so he was just waiting for the Internet to catch up with him. Follow Rob Bolton on Twitter .

The rsm classic 2024 odds, course history and picks to win, share this article.

The final official PGA Tour event of 2024 has arrived, as Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course is once again set to host The RSM Classic. Defending champion Ludvig Aberg makes his return to golf’s biggest stage this week after a two-month recovery from knee surgery. The Swede hasn’t played since a 16th-place finish at the Tour Championship.

Some of the other players teeing it up in St. Simons Island, Georgia, this week include Brian Harman, Harris English, Lucas Glover, J.T. Poston and Denny McCarthy.

More: Lucas Glover slams changes being voted on by PGA Tour Policy Board: ‘They think we’re stupid’

The champion on Sunday afternoon will receive $1.368 million of the $7.6 million purse and 500 FedEx Cup points.

This is the final week for players to solidify their spot in the FedEx Cup top 125 and earn cards for next season. There are several notable players on the bubble in the RSM field, including Joel Dahmen and Daniel Berger.

Golf course

Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course | Par 70 | 7,005 yards

Ludvig Aberg of Sweden plays a shot from a bunker on the 13th hole during the final round of The RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort on November 19, 2023 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Course history

Course history at Sea Island Resort for the RSM Classic Includes average finish position and SG average since 2015 pic.twitter.com/AL1le9kyNa — Ron Klos (@PGASplits101) November 18, 2024

RSM Classic odds

Picks to win the rsm classic, ben griffin.

Ben Griffin walks down the fairway on the 18th hole on the first day of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, August 15, 2024.

Odds: 30/1

Analysis: We had Griffin on the card last week for the Bermuda Championship and he finished solo eighth. So, we’re riding with him again, hoping he can earn his first Tour victory at the RSM.

He has four top-25 finishes in his last five starts and has played well at Sea Island in the past: T-8 in 2023 and T-29 in 2022.

J.J. Spaun of the United States plays his shot from the 15th tee during the second round of the Procore Championship 2024 at Silverado Resort on September 13, 2024 in Napa, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Odds: 35/1

Analysis: Spaun has loved this tournament over the last few years: T-13 in 2023, T-15 in 2022 and T-16 in 2021. Before a T-30 finish at the World Wide Technology Championship a few weeks ago, Spaun tied for sixth at the Zozo Championship.

Greyson Sigg

Greyson Sigg of the United States prepares to play his shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 at Port Royal Golf Course on November 14, 2024 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Odds: 60/1

Analysis: Since missing the cut at the Sanderson Farms, Sigg has played some high-level golf. He tied for 11th at the Black Desert, for 23rd at the Shriners and for ninth last week in Bermuda. The Augusta, Georgia, native tied for eighth at the RSM last year and finished in a share of 15th in 2022.

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RSM Classic betting guide: 5 picks our gambling expert loves this week

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Seamus Power of Ireland hits his tee shot on the 5th hole during the second round of the Zozo Championship 2024 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 25, 2024 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan.

Our expert like Seamus Power's chances this week.

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Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling-tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network devoted to sports and sport betting. You can follow on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer , and you can read his picks below for the RSM Classic, which gets underway Thursday in St. Simons Island. Along with Kannon’s recommended plays, you’ll also see data from Chirp Golf, a mobile app that features both Free-To-Play and Daily Fantasy golf contests where you can win cash and prizes with each round and tournament.

The fall is finished, and so might be your PGA Tour card.

Yes, it is the RSM Classic this week in St. Simons Island, Georgia at the Sea Island Resort, and it is the final event of the FedEx Cup Fall season. Players finding themselves outside of the top 125 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings at the conclusion of this week’s tournament, will not receive fully exempt status on Tour in 2025.

Here are the players, in order of current ranking, on either side of bubble. Sami Valimaki is not in the field this week at the RSM Classic.

120 – David Skinns 121 – Sami Valimaki 122 – Sam Ryder 123 – Zac Blair 124 – Joel Dahmen 125 – Wesley Bryan 126 – Henrik Norlander 127 – Daniel Berger 128 – Hayden Springer 129 – Pierceson Coody 130 – S.H. Kim

From a handicapping perspective, it is interesting to note that two weeks ago, Austin Eckroat was your winner at the World Wide Technology Championship — and he was already fully exempt for 2025 going into the tournament, sitting inside the top-50 in the standings. He had no added pressure to perform. Last week in Bermuda, Rafael Campos entered the week ranked 147th in the standings. He was definitely playing with some added incentive and necessity. The point is, we can do our best to play sideline psychologist but it’s hard to handicap motivation, mindset, pressure, etc. Sure, there are situations that often appear somewhat obvious and have stood the test of time historically in handicapping, but here specifically, trying to predict a golfers performance in a particular week, based solely upon where they sit in the FedEx Cup rankings, is unreliable.

PGA Tour pro Jacob Bridgeman walks from the third tee during the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 at Port Royal Golf Course.

2024 RSM Classic odds: This up-and-coming pro is our long-shot pick

This is not to say that I don’t take it into consideration when we reach these points in a golf season. No, I do not ignore it, but it is like a “must-win” game in NFL Football. Just because a team must win, doesn’t mean they will. I often say, if you “must win” you must not be that good. One wouldn’t be in such a situation if they were really good. So, banking on a player that sits 128th in this week’s standings to suddenly flip a switch and play that much better in order to get themselves into the top 125 is not where I want to place the foundation of my handicap.

The foundation of my handicap is going to begin with the golf course and what skill sets will likely be most important for success. Here at Sea Island, we have two courses, the Plantation Course and the Seaside Course . Each player will play the Plantation Course once, on either Thursday or Friday, and the Seaside Course will host three of the four rounds. They are both short, par-70 courses, just slightly over 7,000 yards. The Plantation Course typically plays about a shot-and-a-half easier than the Seaside Course. I have actually played the Seaside Course and without any wind, the course plays relatively easy. The fairways are wide by Tour standards but placement and Driving Accuracy has shown to be a key ingredient here in St. Simons. I also looked at Strokes Gained: Approach, Greens in Regulation Gained, Birdies or Better Gained, the Par 4s measuring between 400-450 yards, hole proximity from 100-175 yards and Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermudagrass).

For corollary courses, it is very similar to last week at Port Royal: a shorter, coastal track, Bermudagrass, etc. Last week we used Pebble Beach , Colonial CC , and Waialae CC. I used those courses again, Port Royal, and also TPC Southwind , El Cardonal at Diamante , and Harbour Town , home to the RBC Heritage.

It is also worth mentioning that a significant number of players in the field this week either live in the Sea Island area, practice here on a regular basis or went to school nearby. Bottom line, there are a number of players this week that are extremely familiar with this property.

If you have come here looking for who is going to finish second this week, you’re in the right place as we’ve had the runner-up now two weeks in a row in Carson Young and Andrew Novak. Let’s see if we can close out the season with one better.

At the time of writing, I have not yet seen the pairings for the tournament. I do recommend taking a look when they are released as it could matter in terms of the wind and a possible draw bias. Right now, it looks like the wind is going to blow all day on Thursday in the neighborhood of 20 mph. It is supposed to die down on Friday but possibly more so in the afternoon than the morning. Just a guess, but an early start time Thursday on the easier Plantation Course might be the ideal draw.

Seamus Power (34-1)

It has been a very good fall swing for Power, who has two 11th-place finishes, a 13th, and was 23rd last week in Bermuda, a tournament he won back in 2022. His last event over the summer was the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, one of our correlated courses, where he finished 10th. Here at the RSM Classic, he’s gone 5-4 in his last two visits. He’s also finished as high as third at Waialae (Sony Open) and sixth at Harbour Town. The shorter, coastal, more accuracy-based courses seem to be in his wheelhouse. Over the last 36 rounds, Power is really solid, ranking inside the top 40 or better across all of the stats I considered this week.

Justin Lower (50-1)

We spoke earlier about handicapping motivation and mindset. Lower was emotional a few weeks ago at the podium and spoke about how it is very difficult for a journeyman PGA Tour player and that the new rules are making it even more difficult. It looks as if that has inspired him as he went on to finish runner-up that week in Los Cabos and followed it up with a fifth-place finish last week in Bermuda. I am going to continue to ride the hot hand here. He is an excellent wedge player, one of the best in this field from 100-150 yards, makes a ton of birdies, and is No. 1 over the last 36 rounds on the 400-450 yard Par 4s. He also ranks 29th on Tour in SG: Putting.

Matt Kuchar plays his shot from the 16th tee during the third round of the 2024 Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.

Matt Kuchar (60-1)

Kuchar is kind of like the original Seamus Power-slash-Justin-Lower-type player. Doesn’t hit it far, hits it straight, magical short game, great putter, etc. He’s won at Harbour Town, he’s won at Waialae, multiple top-10 finishes at Colonial. He’s exactly the type of player we would expect to have success at this type of golf course. And oh, by the way, he calls the St. Simons area home too, so he is plenty familiar with this golf course. The current form looks good too as Kuchar has grabbed four top-15 finishes in his last seven starts.

Daniel Berger (70-1)

We’re going to give him one more shot and it could be the last shot for a minute as he currently sits on the outside looking in at 127th in the FedEx Cup Fall standings. Again, we have spoken about this and I am not basing my entire handicap on Berger’s need to play well in order to get to 125th or better, but I do like the fact that he is a proven veteran with pressure-cooker experience like major championships, Ryder Cups and Tour wins. That doesn’t hurt. But everything else makes sense too. He’s won at Colonial, he’s won at Pebble Beach, he has won twice at TPC Southwind, and between Harbour Town and Waialae, he has three top-15 finishes and two top-10s. If the putter cooperates this week, he should fare well, and Bermudagrass has always been his best surface.

Michael Kim (75-1)

Kim’s only Tour victory came at the 2018 John Deere Classic — another shorter-type course with a watered-down field — somewhat similar to what we have here. And I love his last three starts, finishing fifth, 30th, and 12th last week at Port Royal. Over the last 36 rounds, Kim is 18th in this field for Greens in Regulation Gained, 16th for SG: Approach, and is 23rd in Birdies or Better Gained. He’s been as high as sixth at Colonial, 20th at Waialae, and 11th at Pebble Beach.

Who Chirp Golf players are picking this week

Top 3 Chirp Golf player picks for the RSM Classic

To make your own Chirp picks and win amazing prizes, download the app here .

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