Who’s feeling confident at The RSM Classic?

The first anniversary of the Return to Golf is not without the irony that it’s also a reminder that not every tournament is all the way back. This position on the 2020-21 PGA TOUR schedule originally was occupied by the RBC Canadian Open, but it’s been tabled yet another season until it can be determined that all things associated with the tournament can be completed safely during and hopefully after the pandemic. In its place is the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. Situated in South Carolina’s Lowcountry near the small town of Ridgeland, Congaree will host 156 golfers for a traditional four-round competition. For details on the course, what’s at stake and more, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | How the field qualified POWER RANKINGS: PALMETTO CHAMPIONSHIP AT CONGAREE Sungjae Im, Kevin Kisner, Tommy Fleetwood and Pat Perez will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. For the third consecutive month, the PGA TOUR finds itself in The Palmetto State. Its last visit crowned Phil Mickelson as the oldest champion in a major at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. The first yielded then-47-year-old Stewart Cink’s second victory of the season and third career at the RBC Heritage. As the seabird flies, Congaree is about 35 miles north-northwest of Hilton Head Island. Like Harbour Town, Congaree is a par 71 that shot-shapers will find to their liking what with swerving fairways crisscrossing mature oaks. Unlike Harbour Town, which tips at just 7,121 yards, Congaree can stretch to 7,655 yards. The 645-yard, par-5 fourth is the second-longest hole on the PGA TOUR behind the 677-yard, par-5 18th at Kapalua, except it’s essentially at sea level as compared to the downhill finisher of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Golf Digest declared Congaree the best new private course in the United States in 2018. Tom Fazio designed and built it to resemble what can be found across the Sandbelt region of Melbourne, Australia. There is no rough, which means that there is no transitional area between fairways, green and sand. Ah, yes, the sand. It’s everywhere. The hole-by-hole description of Congaree at PGATOUR.COM presents dazzling overhead images. Of course, the game is played on the ground, or at least that’s where the eyes are and on which many an attempt to escape from trouble around green complexes will be preferred, but golfers who manage distance and control from tee to green will factor, so the aerial attack will play. Bermudagrass greens have matured and they’ll be TOUR-quality speed, but because they’re unknown to most of the competitors, putting is a secondary weapon to irons and short game. Winds are forecast to be light and rain cannot be ruled out during any round – it’ll be hot and muggy throughout – so hole locations will serve as a primary defense against scoring. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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Jon Rahm took a share of the lead at the Hero World Challenge with a 9-under 63. He was tied with Henrik Stenson, who ran off three straight birdies late in his round for a 66. They were both at 10-under 134.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Resilience has ensured Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will head to the weekend at TPC Sawgrass with plenty of opportunity to collect a maiden title at THE PLAYERS Championship. DeChambeau rebounded from a terrible opening-hole double bogey by carding five birdies for a second consecutive 3-under 69. It left him 6 under through 36 holes, good enough to be sitting just a shot off the clubhouse lead set by Chris Kirk after the morning wave. Rahm continued to recover from his inauspicious start on Thursday. The Spaniard has now played his last 26 holes in 7-under par and sits 4 under for the championship after a Friday 68. DeChambeau evoked memories of Rory McIlroy's opening hole on Day One when he butchered the par-4 10th in the early hours of Friday's second round. But unlike the 2019 PLAYERS champion, DeChambeau shook it off and set about rectifying things. "You don’t expect to do that the first hole out. Especially I was hitting it pretty good this morning, and then you go out there, you hit one and you squeeze one right, and it goes pretty far right," DeChambeau said. "(Then) you don’t hit your second shot where you need it to be and mess up. So you just aren’t feeling comfortable. I wasn’t feeling as comfortable as I should have been feeling, and unfortunately, that’s the way my day started. But I was able to make a nice up-and-down on the next hole to settle it down." Birdies on Nos. 11, 16 and 17 came before the turn before he added two more on the front side leaving last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard champion extremely well poised for the weekend. True to character, the FedExCup leader said he would be heading to the range to work on his game after feeling like he was far from his best. He hit just six of 14 fairways in both opening rounds. "I’m happy with the fact that I’ve still been able to keep myself in it and score well." he said. "I’ve been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don’t think that’ll happen this weekend. I’ve got to make sure that my game is good off the tee, so I don’t have those issues occurring and I don’t have to rely on luck for the most part. I have to get it in the fairway." The end of the day was a welcome relief for Rahm who knocked in a final hole birdie on the par-5 ninth to shoot 4-under 32 on that side of the course. He managed to hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation despite missing half his fairways. "It was a pretty stressful round. I was barely in the fairway, fought all day," said Rahm, who held the 54-hole lead here in 2019 before fading. "It’s hard to be defensive with a wedge in your hand but you have to be a lot of times. Pars aren’t bad on any hole, so you’ve just got to manage that and take advantage of the times you can. You have to be pretty smart with where you’re putting the golf ball pretty much all day."

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