The 2025 PGA Tour season draws to a close this week as it visits Sea Island Resort for the 2025 The RSM Classic. The tournament will once again be contested across two courses this week: the Plantation Corse, playing as a Par 72, 7,058 yard layout, and the Seaside Course, playing as a Par 70, 7,055 yard layout. Players will alternate between the two courses over the first two rounds, while the players who make the cut will only play the Seaside Course for the final two rounds. Following this week, players ranked 51-60 in the FedEx Cup Fall Standings qualify for the first two Signature Events of 2026, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational, players ranked inside the top 100 will retain their tour cards for 2026 and players ranked 101-125 will earn conditional status for the 2026 PGA Tour season.
Birdies are an absolute must this week, plain and simple. With the winning score usually coming in in the -15 to -20 range (other than Ludvig Åberg, we see that -29), two dozen birdies, give or take a few, ought to do it. Give the edge to the hot putters for that alone. This is very much a ballstriker’s course, with accuracy from the tee and strong iron play paying dividends over the course of four days. The Seaside Course is very gettable, with a pair of Par 5’s measuring under 570 yards and roughly half of the holes falling in the 400-450 yards range, not to mention being a relatively flat course, much like the links courses across the ponds, as well as other shorter PGA Tour venues (Waialae Country Club, Harbour Town Golf Links, Sedgefield Country Club etc.). The scoring will ultimately be dictated by the wind. If the winds are as fierce as they were last week in Bermuda, then all I can say is Godspeed, soldiers. But, if the winds stay down, expect players to be ripping darts at these greens and scores to go low as a result. The RSM Classic serves as the final event of the PGA Tour schedule yet again, and there are plenty of storylines to follow. For players looking to get a jump start in their young career, cagey veterans looking to regain past form or journeymen looking to put together one magical week to keep their career alive, all of that and more will be determined as the tournament plays out. A life-changing victory is always just 72-holes away.
The RSM Classic was first held in 2010 and despite its place in the schedule, still produces a solid field season after season. Among the favorites this week are Harris English, Brian Harman, Rico Hoey, Chris Kirk, Denny McCarthy and J. T. Poston, while rising stars Pierceson Coody, Johnny Keefer, Chandler Phillips, Alex Smalley, Davis Thompson and Vince Whaley are also looking to make a splash. Robert Streb is the only multi-time winner of this event, taking the victory in both 2014 and 2020. Six of the previous 15 editions of The RSM Classic have needed a playoff to decide a winner, although none since Streb’s victory in 2020.
Last year’s edition was won by Maverick McNealy, who birdied the final to break through for his first career PGA Tour victory, beating Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria and then-amateur Luke Clanton by a single stroke. Lee Hodges, Mackenzie Hughes and J. T. Poston all finished T-5, two strokes off the pace.
2025 has not been the year that Ben Martin was hoping for, who, after posting a season-best T-9 finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the spring, has yet to crack the top 25 in his 10 starts since then, and enters this week off the heels of five straight missed cuts. Martin’s game has been pretty cold across the board this season, losing strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories and ranking 77th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Martin hasn’t hit many fairways or many greens this season, which is not promising in a low-scoring event like this one. Martin has been very hit and miss in this event as well, posting three top 25 finishes against five missed cuts in eight career starts, including missing the cut in three of his last four appearances. Expect Ben Martin’s season to come to a close this week with a missed cut.
One of those cagey tour veterans, Eric Cole continues to make gains on the PGA Tour, posting four top 10’s and eight top 25’s in 31 starts to rank 78th in the FedEx Cup Fall Standings. Cole’s ball striking has been his nemesis this season, ranking 144th in Driving Distance, 133rd in Driving Accuracy Percentage and 161st in Greens in Regulation Percentage. However, Cole makes up for it with his short game, ranking inside the top 50 in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Strokes Gained: Putting. Cole has also fared well in both coastal events and on smaller, flat courses, as evidenced by his consistent success at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the RBC Heritage and the Wyndham Championship. Cole has been absolutely cooking at The RSM Classic of late, finishing in the top 15 in each of the last two editions, including a T-3 finish in 2023. Cole has found some form this fall, posting top 10 finishes in two of his last four starts (T-9 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and 10th at the World Wide Technology Championship). A win would be absolutely storybook, but another top 20 finish is certainly within Cole’s reach.
One of my favorite journeyman players on tour, Vince Whaley is having a career season, posting four top 10’s and nine top 25’s in 29 starts to rank 73rd in the FedEx Cup Fall Standings. Whaley is a pretty well-rounded player, gaining strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories this season, including ranking inside the top 40 in both Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Strokes Gained: Putting. Whaley is the ideal player, one who can both make birdies in bunches (ranked 10th in Total Birdies) and avoid the big number (ranked 4th in Bogey Avoidance) seemingly with ease. Whaley has found his groove in this event, finishing in the top 15 each of the last two years, including a best of T-8 last year. Whaley’s game has been firing on all cylinders during this fall stretch of tournaments, finishing T-3 at both the Bank of Utah Championship last month and last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Whaley’s putter has also been strong of late, gaining 0.90 strokes or more on the greens in four of his last 10 measured starts, which bodes well for a birdie barrage this weekend. With his recent form and past success in this tournament, expect Whaley to be a threat for the win all week long on the way to another top 10 finish.
The pride of Nokia, Finland, Sami Välimäki has put together a solid campaign in his sophomore season on tour, posting three top 10’s and eight top 25’s in 25 starts to rank 74th in the FedEx Cup Fall Standings. Välimäki struggles with the driver, ranking 162nd in Driving Distance on tour this season, but makes up for it with his irons and on the greens, ranking 18th in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and 11th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Välimäki is very much reminiscent of some of the players throughout the years who weren’t overly long off the tee, but excelled in other areas (Think Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Brian Gay and Paul Goydos, just to name a few). Hitting bombs off the tee helps, but it isn’t the end all, be all. Brian Campbell, Nico Echavarria, Brian Harman and Russell Henley have all had great success on tour over the last year or so, and they all hit the ball even shorter than Välimäki. Although he is making his debut in this tournament, Välimäki has been firing on all cylinders of late, finishing T-18 in blustery conditions last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and equaling his career best finish the week before that with a T-2 at the World Wide Technology Championship that saw him open the tournament with a round of 61 and close it with a round of 64. He may not be a betting favorite, but we’re trusting our gut this week. Give me Sami Välimäki to become the first golfer from Finland to win on the PGA Tour with a victory at The RSM Classic!
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