The PGA Tour will stop at the Seaside Course this week for the RSM Classic. The last event of the calendar year misses out on some big names. Aside from Ludvig Aberg, none of the world’s top 20, including bigwigs like Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy will enter the field. The first two rounds will alternate between the Seaside Course and the Plantation course. The action returns to the Seaside course for the weekend. 

The par-70 7,005-yard layout is notorious for its strategic bunkering and narrow fairways. The ocean wind also plays a role forcing players to lean more on accuracy than distance. Moreover, putting becomes a key factor here as four in the top five from last year, also ranked inside the top five in Strokes Gained (SG): Putting. Moreover, performance on the Bermuda grass also becomes a deciding factor. Given all that, here are our five picks for the $7.6M purse tournament.

Eric Cole

Eric Cole had to settle for a T3 here last year. The late bloomer is coming off a T6 at the Zozo Championship in Japan. Cole’s form in the Bermuda greens will be a plus at the RSM Classic. Traditionally, players who have a positive track record on Bermuda grass have excelled in the course such as Camilo Villegas, Chris Kirk, and Mackenzie Hughes as noted in Oddschecker. 

Notably, Cole has netted a top-20 finish in each of these three tournaments: Wyndham Championship, Sanderson Farms, and FedEx St. Jude Championship, all played on a similar turf of Bermuda grass. The 36-year-old has to bank on putting for a breakthrough victory at the RSM Classic. 

Seamus Power

There are reasons to back the Irishman at the RSM Classic. Power has two top-fives in his last two trips to this Georgia stop. In his last eight starts, Seamus Power has missed only one cut and has finished no worse than T28. The two-time PGA Tour winner ranks 45th in driving accuracy. If Power’s putter turns hot at the right moment, expect a top-ten finish from the Irishman. Additionally, the 37-year-old has a T10 and T11 at the FedEx St.Jude and Sanderson Farms.

Denny McCarthy

McCarthy will return to the greens after two months. His FedEx Cup status is already secured as his next year’s tour card. So, the stakes are a little less for the 31-year-old PGA Tour pro from Rockville. Nonetheless, McCarthy will land at Georgia to net his first PGA Tour title. 

He has three top-10s in the par-70 layout from his seven appearances. McCarthy also has a solo 9th in the FedEx St. Jude Championship this year. The University of Virginia alum is one the best with a flat stick in the Tour. Denny McCarthy ranks 4th in SG: Putting, gaining 0.686 strokes compared to the field. The only concern is McCarthy’s lack of game time in the past two months. 

Ben Griffin 

The 28-year-old has flown under the radar for most of the season. Yet, the North Carolina-born PGA tour pro has quietly netted five top-tens this year. Last time, Griffin walked away with a T8 from the RSM Classic, despite being the third-best putter on the field. Griffin’s erratic approach play nullified his gains with the putter. But this year, the University of North Carolina alum ranked 35th in SG: approach to green and 45th in GIR%. Griffin is also coming off a solo eighth in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Ludvig Aberg

Yes, the defending champion has been sidelined by injury since the Tour Championship. This will be his first comeback since undergoing a minor knee surgery. Last year, Ludvig Aberg captured his first PGA Tour title at the RSM Classic in a dramatic fashion. He definitely needs to shake off the rust this time around but that doesn’t look like too much of a problem for the 25-year-old. 

Aberg has five top-fives this season including three runner-ups. There is little doubt that he is by far the best player in the field. Aberg also ranks 22nd in SG: approach to green and 12th in SG: off the tee. Despite averaging over 310 yards, the Swede has been fairly accurate with the largest club as well (62.68%), a quality highly valued at the RSM Classic. 

Other than these five, track Si Woo Kim (T6 at his last event), and Austin Eckroat too. The latter is coming off a victory at the World Wide Technology Championship and is hungry for more. The RSM Classic will tee off on November 21.