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DFS Dish: The RSM Classic

NBC Sports
·3 min read
Ben Griffin
Ben Griffin

The PGA Tour continues their trend of playing by the coast as they head to Sea Island Golf Club for this week's RSM Classic.

This will be the final event of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season so there is plenty on the line for golfers trying to jockey for their 2024 playing privileges.

Cruising by the Coast

The PGA TOUR traveled from Mexico to Bermuda and now to St. Simons Island to check out a third straight coastal venue.

Some golfers prefer tree-lined layouts but others are comfortable being exposed to the coastal elements. Webb Simpson chimed in last year, "I think being right by the coast. I learned the game in Wilmington, North Carolina, by the coast and I've always loved going to Hilton Head and I've always loved going to Sea Island for those reasons."

In a perfect world, we might have surveys completed by all Tour members to rate their comfort level on particular course types. We don't have that luxury but we can look at past performance in similar courses to see what golfers outperform their baseline by the coast.

Here are the top performers in adjusted strokes gained per round when playing on coastal courses, over the last two years:

  • Cameron Young

  • Brian Harman

  • Russell Henley

  • Matt Kuchar

  • Corey Conners

  • Akshay Bhatia

  • Thomas Detry

  • Denny Mccarthy

  • Alex Noren

  • Si Woo Kim

  • Ben Griffin

  • J.J. Spaun

  • Brendon Todd

  • Maverick McNealy

  • Keith Mitchell

We can also look at performance versus baseline to see who shows the largest increase in performance compared to their typical scores:

  • Akshay Bhatia

  • Hayden Buckley

  • Thomas Detry

  • Will Gordon

  • Troy Merritt

  • Satoshi Kodaira

  • Patton Kizzire

  • Ben Griffin

  • Kevin Yu

  • Josh Teater

  • Ryan Palmer

  • Matt Kuchar

  • Brandon Wu

  • Ben Martin

  • Greyson Sigg

Overlap List: Names that show up on both lists include Matt Kuchar, Akshay Bhatia, Thomas Detry, and Ben Griffin.

Bhatia has quickly carved out a role as coastal king with his stellar performances on the Korn Ferry Tour and continued success by the sea in his short time on the big stage. That includes back-to-back top 20s in the lead-up to this week's event.

Lean on home comfort with Ben Griffin

The PGA Tour rookie calls Sea Island home and he showed us what home cooking can do last year when he twirled a T-29 finish despite an ice-cold putter. Just four months before that finish he was posting about a '59' that he fired at the Plantation Course during one of his weeks off. It's safe to say Eric Cole is the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year honors this season but Griffin could at least make things interesting if he were to walk off with a win. At 54th in the FedExCup, his spot in The Next 10 is secure so he's got his full attention on the winner's circle as takes on his home courses this week.

Crush by the coast with Kuchar

Kuchar has a long track record of contending on coastal courses. His last three Tour wins have come at Waialae, El Camaleon, and Harbour Town. He even popped into contention two weeks ago at another coastal venue. He has just one top 10 in 11 tries at Sea Island but could make that 2-for-12 given the current state of his game. With a handful of bigger names joining the party this week it could be easy for the DFS field to overlook Kuchar.