Featured groups: Valspar Championship

It’s time for gamers and pros to unwind as the TOUR returns to Sea Island, part of the Golden Isles off the coast of Georgia, for The RSM Classic. After grinding out two majors in the last 10 weeks the pros can see the finish line for the 2020 portion of the 2021 season and Sea Island Resort will provide the chance to exhale. This will be the 11th consecutive year the Seaside Course will determine the champion. In calendar 2016 Sea Island Resort added the Plantation Course to the Seaside Course to accommodate the full field of 156 players. Each player tees it up one time on each track to establish the top 65 and ties before returning to Seaside on the weekend to determine the champion. This is the last of four multi-course events of the season. The RSM Classic joins The American Express, Farmers Insurance and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as the others. The Plantation course renovation occurred before last year’s event so it has had a year to settle in. The Love brothers, Davis and Mark, should have things in perfect running order at 7,060 yards and Par-72. With that par and distance, scores should be had. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Sleeper Picks The host Par-70 Seaside course was put together by Tom Fazio and will be the only track using ShotLink this week and annually. With plenty of room to move it off the tee and big targets (read: wind) for approach, it’s hardly a wonder why the average winning score here is pressing 20-under annually. Both tracks use TifEagle Bermuda on the greens and there isn’t much rough that’s going to bother these resort “guests” this week. The RSM Classic has never in 10 tries had a champion post a round OVER par so it’s a wide-open, scoring affair. The host Seaside courses barely tips at 7,000 yards so the door is open for all comers. Signs of a shootout appear everywhere as first-time winners are prevalent and defending or multiple champions don’t exist. In the previous 10 events all but two were decided by a playoff or one stroke so 72 holes of concentration is also expected. Recent Event Winners Stats Recent Winners and Notables 2019: Tyler Duncan (-19, 263) Defeated Webb Simpson on second playoff hole to win for the first time on TOUR. … First winner to have three bogey-free rounds. … Closed with 65, best round of Sunday, to force playoff. … 36 hole leader by two after 61. … Made 18 pars in Round 3 to drop to T5. … Won in his third appearance. … Entered the week with one top 25 in six starts in the new season. Notables: Webb Simpson (P2) was defeated for the second time in a playoff (2011, Ben Crane) here. Led after Round 1 and led the field in birdies with 25. … Sebastian Munoz (3rd) added to his win at Houston and T7 at Greenbrier and was T2 in birdies with 22. … Brendon Todd (4th) set the 54-hole record after 62 in Round but could not win for the third consecutive week on TOUR. … K.H. Lee (T5) made 21 birdies on debut. … Henrik Norlander (T5), vanquished in the five-man playoff of 2017, picked up his second top five in five starts here; made 23 birdies in 2018. … Denny McCarthy (T8) is 24-under in his last seven rounds at this event including 62 in Round 2. … D.J. Trahan (T8) picked up his second top 10 in four tries career and also circled 21 birdies. … T10 was shared by Alex Noren, Brian Stuard, Vaughn Taylor and Will Gordon. … Top 29 players were 10-under or better. 2018: Charles Howell, III (-19, 263) Defeated Patrick Rodgers in a playoff. … Led after 18, 36 and 54 holes. … Not considered “wire-to-wire” because of playoff. … Second in the field with 25 birdies. … Broke the streak of four consecutive first-time winners. … Oldest winner at 39. … First time converting 54-hole lead on TOUR. … Sea Island resident won in his ninth attempt. Notables: Patrick Rodgers (P2) set at TOUR record closing 61-62, the two lowest rounds of the week and led the field in birdies with 26. … Webb Simpson (3rd) closed 63-65 to miss the playoff by a shot. … Luke List (T4) also closed 63-65. … The first champion on two courses, Kevin Kisner (T7) picked up his fourth top 10 in five years. … Resident Zach Johnson (T7) backed up his T8 from 2017, his only two top 10 finishes. … Top 45 players were 10-under or better. 2017: Austin Cook (-21, 261) Won by four on debut for his first TOUR victory in his 14th attempt. … Tied low round of the week with 62 in Round 2. … Led the field in birdies with 23. … Tied 36-hole record and set 54-hole record (-18). … Missed tying Kisner’s tournament record by a shot. … Fourth consecutive first-time winner in the event. … Only squared two bogeys for the week. … T11 in his defense and is 39-under the last three years. Notables: J.J. Spaun (2nd) shot 62 in Round 3 and circled 21 birdies on the week. … Past champions Kevin Kisner (2015) and Chris Kirk (2013) shared T4 with resident Brian Harman and Andrew Landry. … Kirk set the Plantation record with 63 to lead after Round 1. … Zach Johnson and Vaughn Taylor rounded out the top 10 on T8. … Kevin Streelman (T17) only made one bogey on the week but just 12 birdies. … Top 24 players 10-under or better. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2016 Rounds in the 60s 1 Sungjae Im 1 Mark Hubbard 3 Harris English 6 *Brian Harman 9 *Brendon Todd 12 Adam Long 16 Talor Gooch 16 Doc Redman 20 *Kevin Kisner 20 Joel Dahmen 23 Harry Higgs 23 *Patrick Rodgers 23 *Webb Simpson 23 *Henrik Norlander 23 *Sebastian Munoz Ball-Striking 1 Corey Conners 4 Martin Laird 4 Doc Redman 6 Jhonattan Vegas 7 *Webb Simpson 9 Harold Varner III 10 Emiliano Grillo 11 Chesson Hadley 13 Harris English 15 Adam Schenk 15 *Will Gordon 17 *Lucas Glover (T9, 2016) 17 *Henrik Norlander 20 Aaron Wise 22 Tyrrell Hatton 24 Cameron Davis 26 Kyle Stanley 26 *D.J. Trahan Birdie-or-Better Percentage 2 *Webb Simpson 8 Justin Rose 10 Tyrrell Hatton 11 Kristoffer Ventura 14 *Denny McCarthy 15 Charley Hoffman 17 Wyndham Clark 19 Chesson Hadley 20 Bronson Burgoon 23 Ian Poulter 28 Sungjae Im Horses for Courses

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Leaderboard: Can Feng fend off challengers?

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Scottie Scheffler won't soon forget where he was when he was named the Arnold Palmer Award winner as PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year for the 2019-20 season. Quarantine. It wasn't exactly the celebration the 24-year-old had in mind, just prior to getting word of the win he tested positive for COVID-19 and had to withdraw from the U.S. Open and go into lockdown. Instead of competing at Winged Foot as one of the form players - Scheffler played in the final group at the PGA Championship before finishing T4, he had the same result at THE NORTHERN TRUST while shooting a 59 and was also fifth at the TOUR Championship - he was at home in a small bubble riding out the disease. His season included seven top-10s (six of which were top-5s) and 13 top-25s from 23 events. Now the Texan is ready to return this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship to kick off his encore performance. "I had plenty of time at home to digest and plenty of time to reflect on the year. I felt like I had a really solid rookie season," Scheffler said of his Palmer Award winning efforts as he sets up for a return at the Country Club of Jackson. "If you had told me that was going to be my results going in, I would have been pleased. I would have liked to have had a win last year, but I feel like that’s coming on the horizon, and game feels like it’s in a good spot for sure. I had a lot of solid finishes, gave myself a lot of chances to win, and I feel like I’m getting close to breaking through." Scheffler is trying to see the bright side of the enforced time off that gave his body a chance to rest up a little. He was lucky enough to not feel the heavy brunt of any symptoms despite his positive test. "I feel like I got a little break. Not a break I necessarily wanted, but I felt all right, so it’s good to be back out here feeling healthy again," he said. "It obviously stunk, catching COVID. But I felt all right, and only one person I knew was also infected, and so we kept our circle pretty small, and it paid off for us. "It definitely stunk sitting at home all week watching the U.S. Open, especially the way I was playing leading into it. I felt like I had a good chance of winning. It stunk, but it’s the world we live in. I felt okay, so very blessed to have felt good through all of it and came out on the other side recovered." Now he's ready to get back into his groove on a course where he has finished T45 and T16 over the last two seasons. "I feel my game is still in a good spot. I think there’s still a few areas that are a little rusty just from having not played tournament golf in the last three weeks ... but hopefully I’ll pick back up soon," he said. "A good finish this week would be nice. Not really going to look too far into it. Obviously I’m here to win and that’s the goal, but really just trying to go out in the first round and do as best I can."

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