Golf
RSM Classic preview: Hometown victory won’t do any Harm
This week we turn our attentions back to the PGA Tour, with our sights set on St. Simons Island, Georgia for this year’s RSM Classic.
The Race to Dubai came to a close last week and it was another fruitful tournament for us on the DP World Tour, as Rasmus Højgaard (22/1) was second only to an inspired Rory McIlroy at the Earth Course.
That brings us back to the PGA Tour for its season-closing event, which sees just two players inside the OWGR top 35 head to Georgia, one of which finds himself among our selections, alongside a former runner-up at massive odds!
Brian Harman 25/1
World number 24 Brian Harman is the second-highest ranking player in this week’s field, behind only last year’s winner Ludvig Åberg, who sits sixth in the world and heads the 149-strong field here at 9/1.
Despite his ranking, Harman is fourth in the betting at 25/1 to secure victory on St. Simons Island, the place he currently calls home. Playing on his doorstep will no doubt be a welcome factor for Harman and how he’d love to take the trophy home, although he won’t have to take it very far!
Harman put on an impressive showing here back in 2022, just missing out on victory as he finished T2, two shots back from Adam Svensson. Having fallen back to T44 in last year’s edition, he’ll be hoping to bounce back this week.
Of the two courses on show here, the Plantation certainly looks the easier with its wide-open fairways and large greens, while the Seaside course poses a more links-esque challenge. The majority of play will be on the Seaside course, which could suit the former Open champion nicely.
Approach play and putting will be at the forefront of any success here and Harman has combined both of those factors to finish in the 8 places available with William Hill twice this season. Ranking inside the top 40 for strokes gained approaching the green, and with the putter, he should have more than enough to put himself in the mix come Sunday afternoon.
Kevin Kisner 200/1
Now we take a look much further down the market, where we find our second selection in the form of 200/1-shot Kevin Kisner. The 2016 champion is among the outsiders for this year’s tournament following a disappointing year, but we think there are still signs of life in the four-time PGA Tour victor.
It’s fair to say Kisner hasn’t been at his vintage best and six made cuts from 22 starts isn’t a record that a one-time Open runner-up will be proud of. However, this tournament has brought the best out of him over the years, none more so than in 2016 when he won it. He also lost a play-off here back in 2021, with two other T4 finishes to his name since 2015.
Whilst it has been far from a good year on the PGA Tour for Kisner, some of his stats suggest he could be gearing up for a big performance to close out the season here, notably the fact that he continues to gain strokes on the rest of the Tour on the greens. He’s especially lethal from 10 feet, ranking first in the world at holing putts from that distance.
He broke a streak of four consecutive missed cuts with an impressive showing at last week’s Bermuda Championship, which saw him end up T29 despite a lacklustre weekend. If he can keep that kind of performance up for all four rounds this week then a finish in the 8 places available with William Hill isn’t out of the question, and what a return that would be from one of this week’s rank outsiders.
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