ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Cameron Champ just wanted to make the cut in all of his starts this fall.   With a win and three other top-30 finishes, Champ has far exceeded that goal.   It was close in his first event, though.   He made the cut on the number after struggling with his ball-striking at the Safeway Open. Sneaking into the weekend gave him the opportunity to shoot one of those unnoticed rounds that changes a career.   He started the final round at Silverado in 66th place. His Sunday 68 in high winds set the stage for an impressive run that has made him this season’s must-see rookie.   Only two players beat Champ’s final-round score at the Safeway. He jumped 41 spots on the leaderboard and, more importantly, gained the confidence that helped him win in his next start.   “It was blowing 25 (mph), gusting a little more, maybe, and I was flighting the shots right, hitting the shots where I needed to, and then I made a few good putts,â€� Champ said Tuesday in his pre-tournament interview at The RSM Classic. “Things just kind of progressed from there.â€�   Yes, they have. Champ led after every round at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He birdied five of the final six holes to beat Corey Conners by four. Champ is ninth in the FedExCup and the early front-runner in the Rookie of the Year race.   In 12 rounds since the Safeway, he’s been inside the top 10 after nine of them. He has a 67.3 scoring average in that span, including four rounds of 65 or lower.   “I’ve just been playing with confidence, really,â€� Champ said. His outrageous length helps, as well. His average driving distance of 335.2 yards leads the TOUR. He’s nearly four yards longer than Luke List, who ranks second in that category, and 38 yards longer than the TOUR average.   He also leads in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, a statistic with outsized importance in today’s game. Eight of the top 10 in that metric qualified for last season’s TOUR Championship.   It takes more than long drives to win on the PGA TOUR, though. By being a consistent contender this fall, Champ has shown that he is more than a sideshow.   He had an opportunity to win his first start following his victory, at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, and at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He stumbled with a final-round 73 in Las Vegas after starting the final round just three back.   A second-round 62 last week in Mexico got him into second place. He finished six shots behind Matt Kuchar despite two double bogeys on the final nine.   The RSM Classic is his fourth consecutive start. He’s trying to continue this impressive run and earn money for charity.   Champ has made birdie or eagle on one-third of his holes this season. He’s second in birdie average (5.9 per round) and has two eagles. His 96 birdies and eagles are second-most on TOUR, just one fewer than Gary Woodland.   With Woodland sitting out this week, Champ is the prohibitive favorite in the Birdies Fore Love race. That competition awards $300,000 to the player who finishes the fall season with the most birdies and eagles. Champ already has begun his own foundation. He has plans to bring after-school programs to the par-3 course that he grew up playing in Sacramento, California.   “Charity and giving back has always been a thing of mine and my family personally,â€� Champ said. “We didn’t come from much, but we always gave back as much as possible.â€�   That generosity can continue thanks to his strong start to the season.

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The golden road to the TOUR Championship ends the 2018 portion of the 2018-19 season schedule on the Golden Isles of Georgia this week at The RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort on St. Simons Island. Resort life is the calling again this week as the first full-field event of the season will have 156 players trying to capture the eighth trophy of the new season. This is last call before the holidays and the final attempt to book a place at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui to kick off the new calendar year in early January. The Seaside course will serve as host on the weekend, but everyone will get one chance at Plantation before the field is paired down to the top 70 and ties after Round 2. Austin Cook picked up his first win on TOUR at this event last year and is back to defend his title. The Seaside course has had a hand in all previous eight Classics but it was joined by the 18 holes of Plantation for the 2016 edition. This allowed the field to expand to the maximum of 156 and give the Web.com graduates another crack before the reshuffle after this week. The Seaside track is, relatively speaking, the more difficult of the two while Plantation checks in as one of the least-difficult challenges annually on TOUR. The winning total averages 20-under-par since Plantation was added so there’s no mystery in what will be required AGAIN this week. The lowest of the low will rack up $1.152 million of the $6.4 million prize pool, collect 500 FedExCup points and will book the final place in the field (if not already qualified) at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. TALE OF THE TAPE Last year Cook used just his 14th TOUR start to claim a comfortable four-shot victory in his first attempt at The RSM Classic. That sounds impressive but 2017 champion Mackenzie Hughes won a five-man playoff in just his ninth start in the big leagues! Cook ended up blistering Seaside the first time he saw it to the tune of 62 to tie the 36-hole record. He went one better in Round 3 as he established the new 54-hole mark on 18-under plus matching the largest lead (three shots) after three rounds. The former Monday qualifier du jour for gamers stuck a cherry on top as he cruised home to win by four shots in a blustery final round. He missed tying Kevin Kisner’s tournament record by a shot but his 23 birdies against just two bogeys provided a comfortable maiden victory. Look at those splits above! Hughes needed a playoff plus a Monday finish to vanquish his FOUR opponents who joined him on 17-under after 72 holes. Daylight, not the weather, caused the chilly Monday morning to determine a winner and the Canadian didn’t seem too bothered by the conditions. The first round he played on the Seaside course he popped it for 61 to lead after 18 holes, stressing that previous experience here is a bonus rather than a requirement. As the wind barely blew thru Round 2, 37 bogey-free rounds were accumulated and the cut came in at a whopping 5-under-par. Hughes, and the addition of the breeze, made the proceedings interesting in Round 3 as he took a triple that allowed the field to hang around. Only Henrik Norlander from that group of four returns this year for another crack at the title. The 2016 edition introduced the Plantation course (36 holes) and thereby a full-field event as 156 players would be able to complete play before sunset. South Carolina native Kisner wasted no time blasting the Par-72 Plantation course for 65, a “record” that still stands today. It’s not official because Rounds 1 and 2 both used lift, clean and replace due to wet conditions. The wind blew the first two days but the cut was still 140 (-2) so this isn’t the week to scratch out multiple pars. The gusting winds continued throughout the weekend but Kisner wasn’t fazed. He closed 64-64 to romp to a six-shot victory and picked up his first TOUR victory. He circled 22 birdies and one eagle against only two bogeys as his margin of victory remains the largest in tournament history. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 30-ish in each category last season. * – Finished inside the top 10 since 2010. Scrambling Rank  Golfer  1  *Webb Simpson  5  *Brian Gay  7  *Jim Furyk 13 *Alex Cejka 16 Seamus Power 18 *Chris Kirk 20 Joel Dahmen 23 *Ben Crane 30 *Zach Johnson 32 *Austin Cook 33 *Charles Howell III Par-4 Scoring Rank  Golfer  4  *Webb Simpson 10 *Kevin Streelman 10 *Zach Johnson 15 Joel Dahmen 15 *Chris Kirk 15 Hunter Mahan 27 Aaron Wise 27 *Stewart Cink 27 *C.T. Pan 27 *J.J. Spaun Greens in Regulation Rank  Golfer  2  Sam Ryder  5  *Kevin Streelman  6  *C.T. Pan 16 J.J. Henry 22 Corey Conners 23 *Michael Thompson 27 Tyler Duncan 27 *Charles Howell III 34 *J.J. Spaun 35 Keith Mitchell Birdie-or-Better Percentage Rank  Golfer  8  Ricky Barnes 12 Ollie Schniederjans 13 Brandon Harkins 16 Sam Saunders 22 *Brian Gay 24 Aaron Wise 25 *Rickie Fowler 26 *Tom Hoge 27 Peter Malnati 30 Chesson Hadley Seaside will host three of the four rounds but barely cracks 7,000 yards at 7,005 (Par-70) so the bombers won’t have much of an advantage this week. The wind is always in play here and that’s why the fairways and greens have some girth to them. The Tifdwarf Bermuda greens are the third different putting surface in three weeks but birdies will fly in here just like they did in Las Vegas (Bentgrass) and Mayakoba (Paspalum) as the speeds won’t be anything out of the ordinary. The rough isn’t a factor so scrambling will be required and so will a hot putter. The bunkers and rough off the tee and into the greens will be reserved for the exceptions, not the rules, this week. Seaside resides in the top half of easiest courses on TOUR annually. Plantation has the same grasses and green speeds but adds a pair of Par-5 holes on its 6,907-yard layout. It has ranked inside the top-10 easiest courses on TOUR in the three events it has been used for The RSM Classic. The one chance players will get should see them take advantage of their loop. As we’ve seen at TPC Summerlin and El Camaleon, when scoring is the key, the field opens up greatly. The lack of length on these two tracks won’t decrease that openness this week, either! The cut has been under-par in every event that has required one this fall and that shouldn’t change this week. The last three editions at Sea Island Resort have seen 2-under or BETTER chop the field at the halfway point. Par is about as useful as a belt after Thanksgiving dinner so imagine what bogeys or worse will do to a scorecard! The wind blows on these seaside courses but the scoring the last three years suggests it does not have any major influence on the outcome over the four rounds. Odds and Ends • In the previous eight editions, five winners have picked up their first TOUR victory. • Of the previous four winners, all secured their first TOUR victory. • Five winners had never played the event previously including three of the last four. • There has never been a repeat champion or a multiple winner. • The course record 60 at Seaside was posted by Tommy Gainey in the final round of his victory in 2012. • No current resident has ever finished on top. Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings has added course details and historical values. It’s also who I trust with the weather each week so pay attention!  NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. These results range from 2010 thru last season.  

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