What's the RSM Classic's secret? Tournament host Davis Love III has some ideas

What's the RSM Classic's secret? Tournament host Davis Love III has some ideas

What's the RSM Classic's secret? Tournament host Davis Love III has some ideas

How has the RSM Classic thrived for 15 years, in the PGA Tour’s smallest market?

Of course, it has the main attributes of a good golf tournament: historic, scenic courses at the Sea Island Resort Seaside and Plantation; a strong field for the FedEx Cup Fall anchor event; and the cachet of having World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III as the tournament host.

But Love and his brother Mark, the tournament’s executive director, said there’s another key factor: consistency, starting with the only title sponsor the tournament has ever had, and a tournament staff, volunteer force and fan base that rarely changes from year to year.

Davis Love said it starts with RSM, which was named McGladrey when the tournament was first played in 2010. The 15th edition of the Classic will begin on Thursday, with Golf Channel airing play from noon to 3 p.m. in the first two rounds and 1-4 p.m. for the weekend rounds.

“I’ve seen sponsors come and go,” Love said. “It’s usually a five- or 10-year cycle. But here we are at 15 [years] and RSM wants more. They want to help us make it bigger and better for them, for the community and for charity. They’re not just a sponsor. They’re our friends and partners.”

2023 RSM Classic

Denny McCarthy tosses a ball to his caddie on the ninth green during the second round of the 2023 RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort on November 17, 2023 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

RSM volunteer base is fiercely loyal

Mark Love credited more than 1,200 volunteers, most from the Golden Isles but many who carve out vacation time to work at the tournament.

“The volunteer [registration] opens up and it gets flooded,” he said. “It’s tough for new people to break in because of the retention of the volunteers we’ve had for years.”

Both also gave props to a small but hard-working tournament staff, led by director of operations Tony Schuster, a veteran golf tournament director who has run Tour stops in Castle Pines, Charlotte, the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and tournament director Todd Thompson.

“We wouldn’t be where we are if it were not for Tony,” Davis Love said. “We stole him from Johnny Harris [the President of the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte] and Johnny stole him from Castle Pines. Todd Thompson is one of the best in the business. Mark and I know what a great tournament looks like but someone has to execute.”

Tournament staff also includes family

The staff also includes the two brothers and Davis Love’s daughter Lexie Whatley, the director of merchandise. You will also find Love’s 10-year-old granddaughter Eloise helping out in the merchandise tent.

“She thinks she’s the boss of the merchandise tent,” Love said. “Mark and I got started when we were kids, helping our parents with the PGA Tour events and the first Players Championship at the Atlanta Country Club and now we’re on our fourth generation involved in running golf tournaments.”

That’s what you call generational.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/kce751A
Photos: Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and more LPGA stars walk green carpet at Rolex Awards

Photos: Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and more LPGA stars walk green carpet at Rolex Awards

Photos: Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and more LPGA stars walk green carpet at Rolex Awards

NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda took to the stage at the Rolex LPGA Awards to celebrate her historic seven-win season. The World No. 1 received the Rolex Player of the Year award as well as the Rolex Annika Major Award.

The event, which was streamed live on Peacock for the first time, was held at the Ritz-Carlton Naples on the eve of the CME Group Tour Championship.

Other winners of the evening include Lydia Ko, who received the Heather Farr Perseverance Award and Ally Ewing, winner of the 2024 Founders Award. Both awards were voted on by players.

Other honorees included Rolex First-Time Winners Lauren Coughlin, Linnea Strom and Bailey Tardy.

Here are photos from the glamorous 2024 event:

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/kce751A
Watch: Lexi Thompson on green carpet at 2024 LPGA Rolex Awards: 'Nights like this I'll definitely miss'

Watch: Lexi Thompson on green carpet at 2024 LPGA Rolex Awards: 'Nights like this I'll definitely miss'

Watch: Lexi Thompson on green carpet at 2024 LPGA Rolex Awards: 'Nights like this I'll definitely miss'

It’s a big night for the LPGA.

And for the first time, it’s being live-streamed for fans around the world to watch.

The 2024 Rolex LPGA Awards Show is going to be shown live on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, on Wednesday night starting 7 p.m. ET.

Photos: LPGA stars go glam at Rolex Awards through the years, from Mar-a-Lago to the Ritz

There is a big “green carpet” gala to preview the event and then during the show, there will be three season-long awards handed out:

  • Rolex Player of the Year
  • Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year
  • Rolex ANNIKA Major Award

You can also watch a stream of the green carpet that preceded the awards show below. Lexi Thompson was stopped and asked what she’ll miss about not playing on the LPGA next season.

“Nights like this, I’ll definitely miss,” Thompson said. “A lot.”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/kce751A
Martin Trainer tee times, live stream, TV coverage | The RSM Classic, November 21-24

Martin Trainer tee times, live stream, TV coverage | The RSM Classic, November 21-24

Martin Trainer tee times, live stream, TV coverage | The RSM Classic, November 21-24

Martin Trainer is among the entrants who will be competing at Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) in Sea Island, GA from November 21-24 to play at the 2024 The RSM Classic.

In his 19 events during the past year, Trainer has a best finish of 19th and an average finish of 42nd, with no top rounds of the day.

Keep reading for all the information you need to know about Trainer before the the 2024 The RSM Classic, including how to catch the action live on TV or via live stream.

The RSM Classic TV channel and live stream info

  • Date: November 21-24, 2024
  • Thursday Coverage: Golf Channel
  • Friday Coverage: Golf Channel
  • Saturday Coverage: Golf Channel
  • Sunday Coverage: Golf Channel
  • Location: Sea Island, GA
  • Course: Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course)
  • Live Stream on Fubo: Start your free trial today!

Martin Trainer Tee Times

  • Round 1: 9:01 AM ET
  • Round 2: 10:07 AM ET

The RSM Classic coverage on Fubo and ESPN+

Want to watch the PGA Tour all season long, including featured groups of the biggest names in golf, live feeds of the most famous holes on Tour, plus tons of awesome golf films from the history of the sport? Sign up for ESPN+ to access PGA Tour Live! You can also sign up for a free trial of Fubo and catch all the nationally televised Tour action, plus plenty of other live sports, shows and news from your favorite cable channels.

Martin Trainer stats and recent trends

  • He has not made the cut recently, missing the weekend in his last five tournaments.
  • Trainer has not finished within five strokes of the winner or recorded a better-than-average score in any of his last five appearances.

Martin Trainer at The RSM Classic

  • This week will take place on a par 72 that clocks in at 7,060 yards, compared to the average 7,037 yards for Tour stops over the past year.
  • Over the last year, Tour stops have seen an average score of -5, while Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) has a recent scoring average of +15.
  • Trainer will take to the 7,060-yard course this week at Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) after having played courses with an average length of 7,340 yards over the past year.
  • Events he’s played over the past year have seen players average a score of -9 relative to par. That’s lower than this course, which has a scoring average of +15.
  • Trainer wound up 54th at this event the one time he finished the tournament.
  • In his last five attempts at this tournament, he’s made the cut once.
  • Trainer missed the cut when he last played this event in 2023.

Want to make sure you don’t miss Trainer in action at the 2024 The RSM Classic? Sign up for Fubo and get live sports and shows, without cable!

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/TFpxZ2H
These are the 20 winners on the LPGA during the 2024 season

These are the 20 winners on the LPGA during the 2024 season

These are the 20 winners on the LPGA during the 2024 season

Nelly Korda is having a season for the ages.

With seven wins – and a chance for an eighth in the season finale – Korda is the first LPGA golfer to have seven wins in a season since Yani Tseng in 2011. She’s the first American to win seven events since Beth Daniel in 1990. Korda’s previous best single-season win total was four victories in 2021. She has 15 career wins.

There are three other golfers with three wins. There are five golfers in all with more than one win in 2024. In all, 20 different golfers won an LPGA tournament this year.

Pos. Golfer Wins Events
1 Nelly Korda 7 15
T2 Lydia Ko 3 19
T2 Hannah Green 3 19
T2 Ruoning Yin 3 19
5 Lauren Coughlin 2 24
T6 Amy Yang 1 21
T6 Jasmine Suwannapura 1 29
T6 Bailey Tardy 1 22
T6 Moriya Jutanugarn 1 26
T6 Lilia Vu 1 17
T6 Patty Tavatanakit 1 17
T6 Linnea Strom 1 26
T6 Haeran Ryu 1 25
T6 Jeeno Thitikul 1 16
T6 Rose Zhang 1 19
T6 A Lim Kim 1 27
T6 Yuka Saso 1 21
T6 Ayaka Furue 1 23
T6 Chanettee Wannasaen 1 28
T6 Rio Takeda 1 5
Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/TFpxZ2H
Check the yardage book: Sea Island's Seaside Course for the 2024 RSM Classic

Check the yardage book: Sea Island's Seaside Course for the 2024 RSM Classic

Check the yardage book: Sea Island's Seaside Course for the 2024 RSM Classic

Sea Island’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia – the main layout of the two in play this week for the PGA Tour’s 2024 RSM Classic – originally opened in 1929 and was extensively renovated in 1999.

The original design was by Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison, and it underwent several modifications over the decades. It was most recently redone by Tom Fazio in 1999.

The Seaside will be one of two courses in play for this week’s RSM Classic. The first two rounds also include the popular resort’s Plantation course – each player completes one round on each course – before all weekend play moves solely to the Seaside Course.

The Seaside will play to 7,005 yards with a par of 70 for the RSM Classic. The Plantation Course – renovated by Davis Love III and his brother, Mark, in 2019 – will play to 7,060 yards with a par of 72.

The Seaside Course ranks No. 1 in Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses in Georgia, and it also ties for No. 71 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in the U.S. – the renovation by Fazio was extensive enough for the layout to qualify as a modern course. The Plantation Course ranks No. 6 on the list of top public-access courses in the state.

Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week on the Seaside Course. Check out the maps of each hole below.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/TFpxZ2H
Lynch: The PGA Tour’s board meeting will bring changes, but not yet to player entitlement or fans being shortchanged

Lynch: The PGA Tour’s board meeting will bring changes, but not yet to player entitlement or fans being shortchanged

Lynch: The PGA Tour’s board meeting will bring changes, but not yet to player entitlement or fans being shortchanged

Just days after the birth of his first child and on the brink of losing his status, career journeyman Rafael Campos came up with a ‘Hail Mary’ moment on Sunday, winning the Butterfield Bermuda Championship to safeguard his job and punch his ticket to the Masters. Meanwhile, a yacht spin away at a boardroom in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, decisions were made Monday that ensure people like him will have fewer pathways to the Tour, less opportunity to use any card they earn, and dim prospects of keeping it.

The past 24 hours could hardly have produced a more jarring juxtaposition between the marketing romanticism of the PGA Tour and its modern, miserly reality.

Changes in the administration of the Tour — the addition of private investors and the rise of players who fancy themselves such — mean the boardroom is now more likely to revere Warren Buffett than, say, Arnie or Jack. Buffett has often said that price is what you pay and value is what you get, and much of what was being deliberated today focused on whether there’s sufficient value in what they’re paying for. Even if not every constituency is being subjected to the same metrics.

Rank-and-file members didn’t emerge well from this meeting. Beginning in 2026, field sizes will be reduced, the ranks of exempt players will be cut, and the number of Korn Ferry Tour grads and Monday qualifiers will be slashed. The dominant (and wholly defensible) sentiment is that too many guys are paid too much for too scant a contribution to the business, so the herd must be culled. And to be fair, some of the player-directors who made these calls are almost certainly going to find themselves on the wrong side of the cull soon enough.

2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Rafael Campos of Puerto Rico reacts after putting in to win on the 18th green during the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2024 at Port Royal Golf Course on November 17, 2024, in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Also on the agenda was tens of millions of dollars of budget cuts, what private equity likes to call “efficiencies.” Addressing bloat and waste is a long overdue exercise in this organization, but many of those who work at the GloHo deserve more defenders than they’ll see when the axe starts swinging. The operations and culture of the Tour — a mix of competence, complacency and conceit, depending on who you’re dealing with — is overdue a shake-up, but people who’ve done a good job will still be hurt. Cuts ought to be with a scalpel to safeguard talent, growth and revenue, but those decisions are now heavily influenced by folks accustomed to using chainsaws, and who have a great deal of experience in sports but none in golf.

Another cost-versus-value analysis will focus on the Tour’s potential deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Are player-directors willing to accept things like team golf and no reparations from LIV defectors in return for a smoother pathway to reunifying the game? They must surely grasp that an opportunity now presents itself in the form of a stubby Cheeto thumb eager to tilt the scales of the Department of Justice in favor of whoever is most flattering, though it’s a pity the Tour lacked PIF’s foresight to lob a couple billion bucks into Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners hedge fund.

Other reckonings will come in due course. For tournaments, which exist now in a caste system that elevates some and diminishes others, and with a risk to the entire Fall series if new global priorities emerge as part of a deal. Sponsors, too, will make their own value calculations. How many will pay in excess of $20 million to players who won’t actually guarantee their appearances? And for sluggish ratings within a niche audience? The Tour’s board will be dealing with troublesome fallout long after Greg Norman and his LIV folly have been dislodged from the Saudi teat.

More: Lucas Glover slams changes being voted on by PGA Tour Policy Board: ‘They think we’re stupid’

As of today, the Tour’s investment partners at Strategic Sports Group are a loud, powerful and impatient presence in the boardroom. That’s a positive. Outsiders with an eye on returns are incentivized to dispense with outdated practices and attitudes and push a more forward-thinking, less protectionist vision. But SSG’s can’t be the only voice that matters. Who will advocate for what can’t be represented on a balance sheet? Like the charitable impact tournaments have at a community level, the legacy and tradition around particular cities and sponsors, or the essential meritocracy of having pathways for less privileged players. That should not be lost in the accounting.

For all the changes approved today, this final Tour board meeting of 2024 won’t address two painful necessities. At some point, the board needs to face down the entitlement of top players, whose compensation seems only to rise even while the stock of their enterprise craters. And they’ll have to get real about serving the constituency that actually gives (fans) rather than just the one that takes.

If they’re confident that their decisions will produce an enhanced product for long-suffering fans, then it’s about time one of them peeked around the boardroom door and began explaining how.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/TFpxZ2H