From November 16th to 19th, the RSM Classic presents a thrilling mix of PGA Tour talent. With a lineup boasting past champions and rising stars, this year’s event promises an exciting showcase of golfing prowess.
Today, we look into our top betting picks for the tournament as we analyze the contenders, from seasoned winners like Austin Cook returning to his triumphant grounds to the seasoned Kevin Kisner seeking redemption.
Picks Summary
- Austin Cook to Finish in Top 20 (+800)
- Golf Pick: Kevin Kisner to Finish Top 10 (+2000)
*All odds from Bet365 (check our Bet365 Review)
The RSM Classic
November 16-19, 2023 at Sea Island Golf Club
About This Year’s Event
This year, the 2023 RSM Classic sees quite an eclectic strong mix of players for the fall series event of the PGA Tour. Open Champion Brian Harman will be looking to go one better than last year when he was runner-up, while Ryder Cup sensation Ludvig Aberg was the winner of the esteemed Jones Invitational here as an amateur in 2020, and Akshay Bhatia won the same event in 2019.
Courses and Rotation
The RSM Classic is an interesting quirky event on many levels for the PGA Tour. Firstly, the 156-player field is split for the opening two days at the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course. Post cut after 36 holes, the Seaside Course takes over, which is a Harry Colt original and in these later years revamped by the esteemed course designer Tom Fazio. The course has water in-play on over 70% of the holes with Bermuda Grass fairways and Paspalum rough. The greens are Tifeagle Bermudagrass and measure 12.5 on stimpmeter ,with a blustery weather forecast Thursday and Friday
Is Austin About to Cook Something Good?
Here at OddsTrader, we get the distinct feeling that Austin Cook is about to come up with a tried and tested recipe to win this week’s RSM Classic.
It is a proven trend that previous champions come back and play well at the RSM Classic in its brief thirteen-year history. In fact, Robert Streb has won it twice in that small time frame.
Austin Cook was the champion here on course debut in 2017 and arrives in Sea Island in superb form, with back-to-back top-13 finishes these last two weeks at the WWT and Bermuda Championships.
It’s fair to state that the last four seasons have been difficult for the thirty-two-year-old from Arkansas and he is on the brink of losing his PGA Tour card despite the last two weeks.
As you can imagine, there is much to play for this week for Austin Cook, so arriving back at Sea Island, the scene of his only PGA Tour win, must be a huge positive. Just traveling back to the scene of your greatest triumph, can release the endorphins required for a peak effort. If you combine that with Austin Cook’s best form of the year, there is a need to wager him on the place markets strongly this week at the top 20 price of (+800) with Bet365.
Given what happened with Streb the other year, let’s add a smaller stake on his chances of a second RSM Classic at the attractive price of (+27500).
Golf Pick: Austin Cook to Finish in Top 20 (+800) at Bet365
Golf Pick: Austin Cook to Win Outright (+20000) at Bet365
Is Kevin Kisner Worth the Risk?
I remember backing Kevin Kisner in the RSM Classic of 2015 when he won his first PGA Tour title by six shots and set the record-winning score at –22 (equaled by Talor Gooch in 2021). Fast forward eight years and Kisner has won a further three times in the big league, and that is a strangely low number given he has the unwanted sudden-death play-off record of 1-5. That’s quite amazing in the context that matchplay is his best format of golf, having won the Dell Technologies in 2019 and being runner-up in 2018 and 2022.
The problem currently for the thirty-nine-year-old from Aiken in South Carolina is that 2023 has been his worst on the PGA Tour, with ten missed cuts and a best performance of 34th at the Pebble Beach Pro-am. When the regular season finished, he took to social media pledging to rededicate himself to his career and there was a little promise in his two events since, the Sanderson Farms and Shriners.
This week, Kevin Kisner is worth the risk and makes a sneaky appeal as a long shot. Here at OddsTrader, we know he loves the conditions given his historical course form shows four top-7 finishes apart from the year he set the record score.
Golf Pick: Kevin Kisner to Win Outright (+22500) at Bet365
Golf Pick: Kevin Kisner to Finish Top 10 (+2000) at Bet365
*The line and/or odds referenced in this article might have changed since the content was published. For the latest information on line movements, visit OddsTrader’s free betting odds tool.
