Golf Glance: PGA grinders chase cards; LPGA stars chase record money

PGA TOUR

LAST TOURNAMENT: Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Rafael Campos)

THIS WEEK: The RSM Classic, St. Simons Island, Ga., Nov. 21-24

Course: Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside: Par 70, 7,005 Yards; Plantation: Par 72, 7,060 Yards)

Purse: $7.6M (Winner: $1.368M)

Defending Champion: Ludvig Aberg

FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 12-3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. ET

X: @TheRSMClassic

NOTES: This is the 47th and final event of the 2024 PGA Tour season. It is also the final of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players retaining exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status.

–Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5. All 19 players from Nos. 122-140 in the FedExCup Fall standings entering the week are in the field:

No. 122 Sam Ryder

No. 123 Zac Blair

No. 124 Joel Dahmen

No. 125 Wesley Bryan

No. 126 Henrik Norlander

No. 127 Daniel Berger

No. 128 Hayden Springer

No. 129 Pierceson Coody

No. 120 S.H. Kim

No. 131 Dylan Wu

No. 132 Kevin Tway

No. 133 Matt Wallace

No. 124 Carl Yuan

No. 135 Garrick Higgo

No. 136 Alejandro Tosti

No. 137 Taylor Montgomery

No. 138 Michael Thorbjornsen

No. 139 Gary Woodland

No. 140 Kevin Streelman

AON NEXT 10: The top 10 players in the AON Next 10 following The RSM Classic receive spots in the first two designated events of 2025. Seven of the 10 players currently in position for one of the spots are in the field:

No. 51: Mackenzie Hughes

No. 52: Maverick McNealy

No. 53: Patrick Rodgers

No. 54: Harris English

No. 55: Seamus Power

No. 56: Ben Griffin

No. 57: Tom Kim

No. 58: Nick Taylor

No. 59: Nico Echavarria

No. 60: Justin Rose

BEST BETS: Aberg (+900 at DraftKings) is making his first start since finishing 16th at the Tour Championship as he defends his lone tour win to date following knee surgery earlier this fall. His winning score of 253 last year tied Justin Thomas from the 2017 Sony Open for the record low in a 72-hole event. … St. Simons resident Brian Harman (+2200) competes for the first time since playing for the winning United States team at the Presidents Cup. … Sea Island resident Davis Thompson (+2200) won earlier this year (John Deere Classic). … Fellow Sea Island resident Chris Kirk (+3500) began the year with a win at the Sentry, and has competed in The RSM Classic every year since its inception in 2010. … Luke Clanton (+4000) will make his eighth start on tour this year, and has three top-10s.

NEXT TOURNAMENT: Hero World Challenge, Albany, Bahamas, Dec. 5-8

LPGA TOUR

LAST TOURNAMENT: The Annika driven by Gainbridge (Nelly Korda)

THIS WEEK: CME Group Tour Championship, Naples, Fla., Nov. 21-24

Course: Pelican Golf Club (Par 72, 6,700 Yards)

Purse: $11M (Winner: $4M)

Defending Champion: Amy Yang

Race to the CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 3-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Sunday: 1-4 p.m. (NBC), 4-5 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Streaming: Thursday-Friday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (ESPN+ Featured Groups), 2-3 p.m. (NBCSports.com); Saturday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. (ESPN+ Featured Groups), 2-5 p.m. (NBCSports.com); Sunday: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (ESPN+ Featured Groups)

X: @CMEGroupLPGA

NOTES: The top 60 in The Race to the CME Globe qualified for the season-ending, no-cut event. The $4 million winner’s prize is the largest in the history of women’s golf, and every player in the field will be awarded at least $55,000. … Korda, who leads the points race and has won seven titles this year, has already clinched Player of the Year honors. Mao Saigo (934 points) and Jin Hee Im (868) are battling for Rookie of the Year. … Yang set the tournament scoring record of 27-under 261 in beating Alison Lee and Nasa Hataoka by three strokes last year. … There are two multiple-time event winners in the field: Lydia Ko (2014, 2022) and Jin Young Ko (2020-21). … This will mark Lexi Thompson’s final event as a full-time LPGA Tour member. … Four of 26 rookies qualified for the event: Nataliya Guseva, Jin Hee Im, Gabriela Ruffels and Mao Saigo.

RACE TO THE CME GLOBE POINTS

1. Nelly Korda, 4,235.819

2. Haeran Ryu, 2,870.392

3. Lydia Ko, 2,614.758

4. Ayaka Furue, 2,450.777

5. Ruoning Yin, 2,357.983

NEXT TOURNAMENT: Grant Thornton Invitational, Naples, Fla., Dec. 13-15

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

THIS WEEK: Season Complete

Charles Schwab Cup champion: Steven Alker

NEXT TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii, Jan. 16-19

LIV GOLF LEAGUE

THIS WEEK: Season Complete

2024 Champions: Individual: Jon Rahm; Team: Ripper GC

NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Promotions, Abu Dhabi, Dec. 8-10

Blogs