Spieth nearly ended his lengthy winless streak last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Can he do it this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am?
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The golden road to the TOUR Championship ends the 2018 portion of the 2018-19 season schedule on the Golden Isles of Georgia this week at The RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort on St. Simons Island. Resort life is the calling again this week as the first full-field event of the season will have 156 players trying to capture the eighth trophy of the new season. This is last call before the holidays and the final attempt to book a place at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui to kick off the new calendar year in early January. The Seaside course will serve as host on the weekend, but everyone will get one chance at Plantation before the field is paired down to the top 70 and ties after Round 2. Austin Cook picked up his first win on TOUR at this event last year and is back to defend his title. The Seaside course has had a hand in all previous eight Classics but it was joined by the 18 holes of Plantation for the 2016 edition. This allowed the field to expand to the maximum of 156 and give the Web.com graduates another crack before the reshuffle after this week. The Seaside track is, relatively speaking, the more difficult of the two while Plantation checks in as one of the least-difficult challenges annually on TOUR. The winning total averages 20-under-par since Plantation was added so there’s no mystery in what will be required AGAIN this week. The lowest of the low will rack up $1.152 million of the $6.4 million prize pool, collect 500 FedExCup points and will book the final place in the field (if not already qualified) at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. TALE OF THE TAPE Last year Cook used just his 14th TOUR start to claim a comfortable four-shot victory in his first attempt at The RSM Classic. That sounds impressive but 2017 champion Mackenzie Hughes won a five-man playoff in just his ninth start in the big leagues! Cook ended up blistering Seaside the first time he saw it to the tune of 62 to tie the 36-hole record. He went one better in Round 3 as he established the new 54-hole mark on 18-under plus matching the largest lead (three shots) after three rounds. The former Monday qualifier du jour for gamers stuck a cherry on top as he cruised home to win by four shots in a blustery final round. He missed tying Kevin Kisner’s tournament record by a shot but his 23 birdies against just two bogeys provided a comfortable maiden victory. Look at those splits above! Hughes needed a playoff plus a Monday finish to vanquish his FOUR opponents who joined him on 17-under after 72 holes. Daylight, not the weather, caused the chilly Monday morning to determine a winner and the Canadian didn’t seem too bothered by the conditions. The first round he played on the Seaside course he popped it for 61 to lead after 18 holes, stressing that previous experience here is a bonus rather than a requirement. As the wind barely blew thru Round 2, 37 bogey-free rounds were accumulated and the cut came in at a whopping 5-under-par. Hughes, and the addition of the breeze, made the proceedings interesting in Round 3 as he took a triple that allowed the field to hang around. Only Henrik Norlander from that group of four returns this year for another crack at the title. The 2016 edition introduced the Plantation course (36 holes) and thereby a full-field event as 156 players would be able to complete play before sunset. South Carolina native Kisner wasted no time blasting the Par-72 Plantation course for 65, a “record” that still stands today. It’s not official because Rounds 1 and 2 both used lift, clean and replace due to wet conditions. The wind blew the first two days but the cut was still 140 (-2) so this isn’t the week to scratch out multiple pars. The gusting winds continued throughout the weekend but Kisner wasn’t fazed. He closed 64-64 to romp to a six-shot victory and picked up his first TOUR victory. He circled 22 birdies and one eagle against only two bogeys as his margin of victory remains the largest in tournament history. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 30-ish in each category last season. * – Finished inside the top 10 since 2010. Scrambling Rank Golfer  1 *Webb Simpson  5 *Brian Gay  7 *Jim Furyk 13 *Alex Cejka 16 Seamus Power 18 *Chris Kirk 20 Joel Dahmen 23 *Ben Crane 30 *Zach Johnson 32 *Austin Cook 33 *Charles Howell III Par-4 Scoring Rank Golfer  4 *Webb Simpson 10 *Kevin Streelman 10 *Zach Johnson 15 Joel Dahmen 15 *Chris Kirk 15 Hunter Mahan 27 Aaron Wise 27 *Stewart Cink 27 *C.T. Pan 27 *J.J. Spaun Greens in Regulation Rank Golfer  2 Sam Ryder  5 *Kevin Streelman  6 *C.T. Pan 16 J.J. Henry 22 Corey Conners 23 *Michael Thompson 27 Tyler Duncan 27 *Charles Howell III 34 *J.J. Spaun 35 Keith Mitchell Birdie-or-Better Percentage Rank Golfer  8 Ricky Barnes 12 Ollie Schniederjans 13 Brandon Harkins 16 Sam Saunders 22 *Brian Gay 24 Aaron Wise 25 *Rickie Fowler 26 *Tom Hoge 27 Peter Malnati 30 Chesson Hadley Seaside will host three of the four rounds but barely cracks 7,000 yards at 7,005 (Par-70) so the bombers won’t have much of an advantage this week. The wind is always in play here and that’s why the fairways and greens have some girth to them. The Tifdwarf Bermuda greens are the third different putting surface in three weeks but birdies will fly in here just like they did in Las Vegas (Bentgrass) and Mayakoba (Paspalum) as the speeds won’t be anything out of the ordinary. The rough isn’t a factor so scrambling will be required and so will a hot putter. The bunkers and rough off the tee and into the greens will be reserved for the exceptions, not the rules, this week. Seaside resides in the top half of easiest courses on TOUR annually. Plantation has the same grasses and green speeds but adds a pair of Par-5 holes on its 6,907-yard layout. It has ranked inside the top-10 easiest courses on TOUR in the three events it has been used for The RSM Classic. The one chance players will get should see them take advantage of their loop. As we’ve seen at TPC Summerlin and El Camaleon, when scoring is the key, the field opens up greatly. The lack of length on these two tracks won’t decrease that openness this week, either! The cut has been under-par in every event that has required one this fall and that shouldn’t change this week. The last three editions at Sea Island Resort have seen 2-under or BETTER chop the field at the halfway point. Par is about as useful as a belt after Thanksgiving dinner so imagine what bogeys or worse will do to a scorecard! The wind blows on these seaside courses but the scoring the last three years suggests it does not have any major influence on the outcome over the four rounds. Odds and Ends • In the previous eight editions, five winners have picked up their first TOUR victory. • Of the previous four winners, all secured their first TOUR victory. • Five winners had never played the event previously including three of the last four. • There has never been a repeat champion or a multiple winner. • The course record 60 at Seaside was posted by Tommy Gainey in the final round of his victory in 2012. • No current resident has ever finished on top. Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings has added course details and historical values. It’s also who I trust with the weather each week so pay attention! NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. These results range from 2010 thru last season. Â
Justin Rose was one of the few players to break par in a tough first day at the Masters. He takes a commanding four-stroke lead into Friday.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – His father gave him the golf part. Cameron Smith would go out with dad, Des, on weekends at Wantima Golf Club, first beating the old man when he was 12. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Smith’s bag? How he came by the toughness part, though, is harder to pinpoint. “I think both sides of my family, my mum and my dad’s side,” Smith said after making 10 birdies and staving off disaster on 18 to shoot 66 and win THE PLAYERS Championship on Monday. “Both have – just both mentally strong. They’re working-class people who have had to work their whole life to live basically, and yeah, I guess that’s just kind of what I grew up in. Which means? Sharon Smith, Cameron’s mother, smiled from under her beige broad brim hat. “My father rode bulls,” she said as she walked the soggy back nine at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. “My mum made him choose, and he was smart. He picked her.” Strict constructionists will tell you it was Smith who grabbed this PLAYERS by the collar with five birdies in his first six holes and limited the damage of a wayward driver late on the back nine. But he brought a lot of people, those who came before him, along for the ride en route to his fifth PGA TOUR win. And it’s only when you get to know one of them, his maternal grandfather, that his seemingly preternatural toughness starts to make sense. Working class? John Hilliar, who will turn 83 next month, was the second-to-last of 13 kids growing up in Kempsey, New South Wales. The area is known for its national parks and farmland, and the Hilliar family made their living off the latter, milking cows and running cattle. “It was not a big house,” Sharon said. “They would fight for a bed after dinner.” Although Hilliar picked up golf recreationally, and Sharon expected her dad was almost certainly watching Smith from Brisbane on Monday, glued to the TV set, the sport that would make his grandson famous would have meant nothing to him then. The prospect of whether you used an interlocking or overlapping grip was immaterial next to whether you’d fixed the fence. “He has hard-working hands,” his daughter said. “They’ve done just about everything.” Sharon Smith stepped carefully around the soft areas on the course, careful to take the high ground. She said more than once that Cameron was a product of his father’s side, too. Cameron has settled in Ponte Vedra Beach, and he hadn’t seen Sharon or his little sister, Mel, in over two years. Late last month they made the long journey from Brisbane to Jacksonville. They were to meet him in baggage claim, but Cameron came as far toward the gate as security would allow. “Mel started crying first,” Sharon said. “Then I started crying.” And Cameron? “He had a bit of a giggle. He’s like me. He likes to keep things light.” It wasn’t until after Smith had salted away the tournament, the result becoming official only when Lahiri failed to birdie the 18th hole, that Smith blinked back tears, his voice breaking. “It’s just really nice to have them here,” he said. “It’s nice to give Mom a hug, and – yeah.” The three have been palling around, making up for lost time. Along with Smith’s agent, Bud Martin, they flew to Tampa last week to catch a hockey game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins. They sailed around on Smith’s boat, ordering takeout from a popular restaurant just up the Intracoastal. They ventured as far south as St. Augustine. Cameron gets a kick out of the stories about his grandfather, but his toughness is a product of more than that. Generations he never even knew. The ethos of being a Queenslander. Also, he’s not always so tough. It’s not an accident that his first two individual victories on TOUR, at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Sentry Tournament Champions, both came in Hawaii, Sharon said. “He likes Hawaii because it’s closest to home,” she said. “It’s only 10 hours.” At the start of his TOUR career, Smith suffered from acute homesickness. He tried to base himself in Australia, then, upon moving to Northeast Florida, kept flying home. He finally had to accept that it was just too far, and set about making a life for himself here, leaning on friends like Aron Price, himself an Aussie touring professional before turning to real estate. But Smith held fast to his working-class roots. He’s so tough, in part, because it’s his connection to home. “I think it’s probably just never give up,” he said. “I grew up watching rugby league and watching the Queenslanders come from behind, and even when it got gritty they’d somehow manage to win. I think that’s kind of instilled in all of us.” Said his pal Price, “He thinks head-to-head he’s got the wood on everyone.” That could mean world No. 1 Jon Rahm, whom Smith held off with a record-breaking performance at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. Or it could mean Justin Thomas, whom Smith beat in singles at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. “He thinks back to a time when he beat them,” Price said. “His self-belief is everything. I play a lot of golf with him. Even if he’s playing s— he’ll birdie the last three holes and take all your money. I don’t know where he gets it. His dad? Queenslanders are tough.” Sharon and Mel Smith will head back home on Friday. They wiped away tears, indulged the TV cameras. Cameron held them close, along with his girlfriend, Shanel Naoum. Cameron was bear-hugged by his friend and right-hand man, Jack Wilkosz, who was in tears. They shared the moment with Jack’s mom, also named Sharon, and her fiancé, and Cameron’s agent. It was Tuesday morning in Brisbane, where, one might imagine, an old man with working hands pointed the remote and clicked off the TV. His golfing grandson, rawhide-tough, had fought hard and prevailed. Cameron Smith would sleep well Monday night, in a bed of his own.
