Quick look at The RSM Classic

The bulked-up fall portion (11 events) of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season ends this week at Sea Island Resort in Georgia. The RSM Classic features two courses, along with 156 players, each one determined to go into the holiday break on a high note. Several pros, including tournament host Davis Love III, live in the area, so maybe their local knowledge will pay off this week. RELATED: Tee times |  Power Rankings | Daily fantasy preview THE FLYOVER Instead of focusing on one hole as we usually do, here’s a look at the renovated Plantation course overseen by Davis Love III. “We feel like this is a historic resort and it needs a historic-looking course,â€� Love told our Sean Martin for this story. LANDING ZONE At 368 yards, the eighth hole is the shortest par 4 on the Seaside Course. Not surprising, it’s also the easiest, playing to a stroke average of 3.842 last year. It’s too long for most players to drive the green, although Sam Burns’ tee shot in the first round last year finished on the far side of the green, a 380-yard bomb. Players must decide whether to lay up short or carry the bunkers guarding both sides of the fairway. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “High pressure will continue to dominate the Southeast’s weather over the next few days with a gradual warming trend. Temperatures will return to the low-70s by Friday and mid-70s on Saturday. A fast-moving cold front will likely bring showers towards midnight Saturday night that will linger into early Sunday morning before pushing off. Mostly sunny skies and cooler temperatures will return Sunday into Monday with highs in the low to mid 60s.â€� For the latest weather news from St. Simons Island, Georgia, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK It’s all on you, it’s all on the player. Golf is never about one competitor versus another and it never will be. It’s against the player versus himself and versus the golf course.â€� BY THE NUMBERS 769 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by tournament host Davis Love III. That’s fourth most all-time, behind Mark Brooks (803), Jay Haas (799) and Dave Eichelberger (784). 9 – Starts by Love at his RSM Classic. His best finish is a T4 in 2012. 559 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by defending champ Charles Howell III. He enters this week with 1,916 rounds played on TOUR. 63 –Number of players who have ranked No. 1 in points in the history of the FedExCup. Brandon Todd is the most recent after winning last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic to move into No. 1 in points. Scattershots Sea Island connections: Besides Davis Love III, here are some of the other TOUR pros who live in the area: Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Jonathan Byrd, Harris English, Brian Harman, J.T. Poston, Hudson Swafford, Josh Teater, Keith Mitchell and Michael Thompson. Perfect attendance: Six players have played in each of the first nine RSM Classics – Davis Love III, Charles Howell III, Chris Kirk, Chad Campbell, Zach Johnson and Brendon de Jonge. That number will drop to five after this week, as de Jonge is not in the field. Back-to-back: The last six players to win back-to-back starts on the PGA TOUR – Billy Horschel (2014), Adam Scott (2016), Jason Day (2017), Justin Thomas (2017), Bryson DeChambeau (2018) and now Brendon Todd. Of those six, Todd is the only one to do it in the fall portion of the TOUR’s schedule. Hot Harris: Harris English owns a TOUR-best four top-10s in 2019-20, most recently finishing fifth at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, and sits No. 13 in the FedExCup standings. Harris enters this week having posted all 20 of his rounds this season at par or better.

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