RSM Classic 2021
Overview
Dates: November 18, 2021 to November 21, 2021
Location: Sea Island, Georgia, USA
Course: Sea Island Golf Club
Course Par: 72
Course Length: 7,093 yards
Prize Purse: $7200000
The RSM Classic is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the autumn in Georgia. It debuted in October 2010 on St. Simons Island, Georgia at the Sea Island Golf Club. The tournament was known as the McGladrey Classic until 2015, when the title sponsor’s name changed from McGladrey to RSM US.
Resident tour pros Davis Love III and Zach Johnson kicked off the event in March 2010, where they helped to unveil the tournament’s new logo, which was painted by Rock Demarco.[3] The inaugural event in 2010 was won by Heath Slocum, one stroke ahead of runner-up Bill Haas.
Since 2015, the event has been played over both the Seaside and Plantation courses at Sea Island, with the field expanded to 156 players. Between 2015 and 2019 it was the final official PGA Tour event of the calendar year, with only a few unofficial tournaments being held until the season resumed in January.
Results
It’s been a fascinating weekend of golf – Tiger Woods spotted on the range, Rory McIlroy shredding his shirt like the Incredible Sulk and Form Golfer enjoying our best returns to date.
Talor Gooch stormed to the RSM Classic title with a three-stroke victory over nearest rival Mackenzie Hughes, but the big news was world number 124 Tom Hoge finishing tied fourth.
Hoge, a 100-1 shot, was one of Form Golfer’s picks this week and the American’s 15-under-par finish at the Sea Island Seaside Course helped drive a 66% return on investment in Georgia.
That would have been even more spectacular had Luke List managed to claw back just one shot and creep inside the places – the American carded four rounds in the 60s but two bogeys during a final-day 68 meant the 80-1 punt fell a stroke short of bringing in a return.
Also knocking on the door was Jhonattan Vegas at 66-1, staining what would have been a blemish-free Sunday with a bogey at the last to leave the Venezuelan two shots off the places.
All three of the above were backed each way, while our comprehensive data also suggested 25-1 shots Russell Henley and Corey Conners, 55-1 Joel Dahmen and 80-1 Robert Streb were worth keeping an eye on.
Henley and Conners finished tied for 22nd place at 10 under par, four strokes off a place, while Dahmen made it six out of seven top-30 finishes for our selections this week by ending the tournament in 29th.
Luckily, we backed the American to do so – also enjoying returns in that market for Hoge and Vegas, though Andrew Landry and Streb failed to make what proved a competitive cut, the latter missing out at three under par after day two.
Someone who all at Form Golfer were pleased to see make the weekend was Michael Gligic, with the Canadian finishing tied 29th after we backed him to make the cut.
The real fun for our number crunchers has been in the match bet market and this is where we have found real value and enjoyed great success in the last fortnight, picking 11 of 12 winners from the past two tournaments.
All seven came in at the RSM Classic and most were comprehensive victories, with Gooch blazing a trail at the top of the leaderboard – we had the Oklahoman to beat both Kevin Kisner and Joaquin Niemann, who both missed the cut.
Elsewhere, Dahmen convincingly beat Emiliano Grillo and Brian Harman, while we also had Vegas to finish above Harman, who finished tied 61st at two over par.
Meanwhile, Danny Lee missed the cut but his two-under-par finish was good enough to comfortably see off Kisner, who had a tournament to forget at five over, while Adam Long came in tied 16th at 11 under par to beat Chile’s Mito Pereira at eight under.
Here’s to a very satisfying week.
RSM Classic Preview
After last week’s strange goings on in Houston, with some very surprising names featuring during the week (find me one person that identified Martin Trainer or Kevin Tway as likely contenders!), it’s good to see the tour returning to a venue where there is some solid history. Even better, Sea Island Resort is a place where course form counts for plenty, with some strong trends to focus our attention. Where the trends are stronger, we’ll usually increase the staking plan.
Accuracy, particularly on approach, is the key metric we’re looking to this week, ideally coupled with strong showings in previous years in this tournament.
Outrights
| Player | Points | Type | UK Odds | Places | Outright US Odds |
| Russ Henley | 3 | EW | 25/1 | 8 | |
| Corey Conners | 2.5 | EW | 25/1 | 8 | |
| Robert Streb | 1.5 | EW | 66/1 | 8 | |
| Joel Dahmen | 1.5 | EW | 55/1 | 8 | |
| Luke List | 1 | EW | 80/1 | 8 | |
| Jonny Vegas | 1 | EW | 66/1 | 8 | |
| Tom Hoge | 1.5 | EW | 100/1 | 8 |
This week’s headline tip is Russ Henley (3pts each way at 25/1, 8 places). Well tipped up in other previews, Henley more or less picks himself, with exactly the attributes we are looking for, solid recent form and three top 10s to his name in this event going back to the mid-2010s.
Corey Conners (2.5pts each way at 25/1, 8 places) is someone who has been playing well for ages but is not a regular enough winner for me to feel that he tends to justify his usual position near the front of the market. He’s someone I’d generally be wary of and would only add to the staking plan in weeks where everything looks right for him. This might just be one of those weeks.
I was hoping for a slightly bigger price about Robert Streb (1.5pts each way at 66/1, 8 places), but as a previous winner (twice) of the RSM and someone who seems to be hitting form at just the right time for what must be one of his favourite events, he readily gets a pick as it’s so easy to imagine a big week for him.
Joel Dahmen (1.5pts each way, 55/1, 8 places), Luke List (1pt each way, 80/1, 8 places), and Jonny Vegas (1pt each way, 66/1, 8 places) all fit a similar profile of being in solid form, good fits for this week’s course, and perhaps slightly under-rated in the market.
Tom Hoge (1.5pts each way, 100/1, 8 places) is a more speculative pick, but I like the way he’s been trending recently. He has a few decent finishes to his name at the RSM (including one top 10, although admittedly with a few missed cuts in there), but approach play is his strength and he has a couple of top 20s to his name recently.
Of the others towards the top of the market, Scottie Scheffler would be an obvious pick, but he again managed to find a way not to win from a promising position last week. Surely he will get over the line for his first tour victory soon enough, but I can’t make a case for him at the price. Webb Simpson is a nice fit for the course, but hasn’t done enough recently to make him of interest. Louis doesn’t look to be in the same form as he was earlier in the year. So perhaps Cam Smith is the most solid of those, although again his price doesn’t get me excited.
Match Ups
| Bet | Points | UK Odds | Outright US Odds |
| Talor Gooch to beat Kevin Kisner | 8 | 10/11 | |
| Joel Dahmen to beat Brian Harman | 7 | 10/11 | |
| Joel Dahmen to beat Emiliano Grillo (TNB) | 6 | 8/11 | |
| Danny Lee to beat Kevin Kisner (TNB) | 6 | 10/11 | |
| Talor Gooch to beat Joaquin Niemann (TNB) | 6 | Evens | |
| Adam Long to beat Mito Pereira (TNB) | 4 | Evens | |
| Jhonattan Vegas to beat Brian Harman (TNB) | 4.9 | 4/5 |
A great start to our match up predictions last week, with 4 out of 5 selections winning for a tidy profit (67% ROI) and going some way towards making up for some disappointments in our outright picks. In the hope that this could be a good source of profit in the long run, we’ll play a few more of those this week and see how we get on. A bit of risk involved in opposing a proper course specialist in Kisner, but on recent form he may be one to avoid.
Other Recommendations
| Player | Bet Type | Points | UK Odds | Outright US Odds |
| Luke Donald | Top GB&I | 2 | 14/1 | |
| Michael Gligic | Make The Cut | 4 | 7/4 | |
| Andrew Landry | Top 30 | 2 | 7/2 | |
| Tom Hoge | Top 30 | 4 | 7/2 | |
| Jhonattan Vegas | Top 30 | 5 | 9/5 | |
| Joel Dahmen | Top 30 | 5 | 2/1 | |
| Robert Streb | Top 30 | 4 | 10/3 |
Luke Donald looks interesting in the top GB&I market, with only 8 runners giving us decent each way terms. Unlikely to seriously contend in tournaments at this stage in his career, this relatively short layout would play to his strengths more than most and he’s been in reasonable form lately.
Michael Gligic wouldn’t be the first name on anyone’s lips when it comes to likely winners, but on our numbers there’s no way he should be a 7/4 shot just to make the weekend.
And we’ll supplement these with a few of our usual top 20/30 selections who may not quite contend for the victory but could easily get into the top half of the leaderboard come Sunday evening.
It’s been a fascinating weekend of golf – Tiger Woods spotted on the range, Rory McIlroy shredding his shirt like the Incredible Sulk and Form Golfer enjoying our best returns to date.
Talor Gooch stormed to the RSM Classic title with a three-stroke victory over nearest rival Mackenzie Hughes, but the big news was world number 124 Tom Hoge finishing tied fourth.
Hoge, a 100-1 shot, was one of Form Golfer’s picks this week and the American’s 15-under-par finish at the Sea Island Seaside Course helped drive a 66% return on investment in Georgia.
That would have been even more spectacular had Luke List managed to claw back just one shot and creep inside the places – the American carded four rounds in the 60s but two bogeys during a final-day 68 meant the 80-1 punt fell a stroke short of bringing in a return.
Also knocking on the door was Jhonattan Vegas at 66-1, staining what would have been a blemish-free Sunday with a bogey at the last to leave the Venezuelan two shots off the places.
All three of the above were backed each way, while our comprehensive data also suggested 25-1 shots Russell Henley and Corey Conners, 55-1 Joel Dahmen and 80-1 Robert Streb were worth keeping an eye on.
Henley and Conners finished tied for 22nd place at 10 under par, four strokes off a place, while Dahmen made it six out of seven top-30 finishes for our selections this week by ending the tournament in 29th.
Luckily, we backed the American to do so – also enjoying returns in that market for Hoge and Vegas, though Andrew Landry and Streb failed to make what proved a competitive cut, the latter missing out at three under par after day two.
Someone who all at Form Golfer were pleased to see make the weekend was Michael Gligic, with the Canadian finishing tied 29th after we backed him to make the cut.
The real fun for our number crunchers has been in the match bet market and this is where we have found real value and enjoyed great success in the last fortnight, picking 11 of 12 winners from the past two tournaments.
All seven came in at the RSM Classic and most were comprehensive victories, with Gooch blazing a trail at the top of the leaderboard – we had the Oklahoman to beat both Kevin Kisner and Joaquin Niemann, who both missed the cut.
Elsewhere, Dahmen convincingly beat Emiliano Grillo and Brian Harman, while we also had Vegas to finish above Harman, who finished tied 61st at two over par.
Meanwhile, Danny Lee missed the cut but his two-under-par finish was good enough to comfortably see off Kisner, who had a tournament to forget at five over, while Adam Long came in tied 16th at 11 under par to beat Chile’s Mito Pereira at eight under.
Here’s to a very satisfying week.