The PGA and LPGA tours conclude their seasons this week with the final two official tournaments of 2023 among major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Camilo Villegas)
THIS WEEK: The RSM Classic, St. Simons Island, Ga., Nov. 16-19
Course: Sea Island Golf Club, Seaside Course (Par 70, 7,005 yards)
Purse: $8.4M (Winner: $1.512M)
Defending Champion: Adam Svensson
FedEx Cup Champion: Viktor Hovland
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 12-3 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (Golf Channel)
Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
X: @TheRSMClassic
SEASON FINALE: This is the final event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season and the final event of the seven-tournament FedEx Cup Fall. Players who finish No. 51-60 in the standings (the “Next 10”) will earn entry into two designated events next year. Those finishing in the Top 125 will retain full-field status and spots in the Players Championship. Nos. 126-150 will earn conditional status and invites to join the DP World Tour.
NEXT 10 STANDINGS (*In Field)
No. 56 Nick Hardy*
No. 57 Alex Smalley*
No. 58 Luke List*
No. 59 J.J. Spaun*
No. 60 Sam Ryder*
No. 61 Mark Hubbard*
No. 62 Stephan Jaeger*
No. 63 Thomas Detry*
No. 64 Alex Noren*
No. 65 Erik van Rooyen
No. 66 Davis Riley
No. 67 Brandon Wu*
No. 68 S.H. Kim
No. 69 Keith Mitchell*
No. 70 Hayden Buckley*
TOP 125 BUBBLE STANDINGS (All in Field)
No. 121 Doug Ghim
No. 122 Nico Echavarria
No. 123 Troy Merritt
No. 124 Andrew Novak
No. 125 Carl Yuan
No. 126 Henrik Norlander
No. 127 Maverick McNealy
No. 128 Ryan Moore
No. 129 C.T. Pan
No. 130 Patton Kizzire
NOTES: The top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking on Jan. 1, 2024 will secure invitations to the 2024 Masters. … Svensson is defending his maiden PGA Tour victory. … Curtis Thompson, the older brother of LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson, secured the final spot in the field with a birdie on the fifth playoff hole of the Monday Qualifier. … Mark Hubbard will make his 39th start of the 54-event season, a single-season record since data started being kept in 1983. He is one of six players to compete in all six Fall events thus far. The others are: Tyson Alexander, Akshay Bhatia, Nick Hardy, Justin Lower and Kevin Yu. … The Open champion Brian Harman makes his first start on tour since the Tour Championship. … Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk are the only players to compete in the event every year since its debut in 2010. … Twin brothers David and Maxwell Ford are in the field on sponsor exemptions. David won the 2023 Jones Cup. … Tournament host Davis Love III will make his 790th start on tour.
BEST BETS: Ludvig Aberg (+1400 at BetMGM) already has secured his status among the top 125, and the standout Swedish rookie has his sights set on getting inside the top 50 in the world. He’s currently No. 53. … Russell Henley (+1600) is the second highest-ranked player in the field at No. 25 and is another Georgia resident (Columbus) in the field. … Brian Harman (+2000) is a St. Simons Island resident and will make his 12th event start after tying for second last year. … Corey Conners (+2200) tees it up for the first time since the Tour Championship and won Valero Texas Open earlier this year. … Eric Cole (+3000) leads the rookie of the year race and is 48th in the world as he seeks his maiden tour win. Cole has three top-4 finishes in his past four starts. … Kirk (+4500) won the event in 2013 and finished T4 in 2014 and ’18. He sits 49th in the world rankings. … Camilo Villegas (+5500) followed his runner-up two weeks ago with his first win in nine years in Bermuda.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Sentry Tournament of Champions, Kapalua, Hawaii, Jan. 4-7
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican (Lilia Vu)
THIS WEEK: CME Group Tour Championship, Naples, Fla., Nov. 16-19
Course: Pelican Golf Club (Par 72, 6,556 yards)
Purse: $7M (Winner: $2M)
Defending Champion: Lydia Ko
Race to the CME Globe leader: Celine Boutier
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 4-7 p.m. (GC-Tape Delay); Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming: Thursday-Saturday, 2-5 p.m. ET; Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (Peacock)
X: @cmegrouptourchamp
NOTES: The Top 60 players in the Race to the CME Globe standings qualified for the season-ending event, which features the highest winning payout in women’s golf. … Ko, who finished 100th in the standings, is the first champion to fail to qualify to defend her title. Other notable names who did not qualify this year include three-time major champion In Gee Chun (No. 75), 2018 champion Lexi Thompson (79) and U.S. Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis. … Vu leads Boutier by 27 points in the Player of the Year standings. They are the only two players mathematically eligible to win the award. … Jin Young Ko holds the tournament scoring record of 23-under 265 set in 2021, when she claimed her second consecutive title. … Six rookies are in the field: Grace Kim, Yuna Nishimura, Alexa Pano, Hae Ran Ryu, Chanettee Wannasaen and Rose Zhang. Three others making their event debuts are Stephanie Kyriacou, Linn Grant and Ruoning Yin.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: TBA
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Steven Alker)
THIS WEEK: Season Complete
Charles Schwab Cup champion: Steve Stricker
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Maui, Hawaii
LIV Golf League
THIS WEEK: Season Complete
Series Winners: Talor Gooch (Individual), Crushers GC (Team)
NEXT TOURNAMENT: TBA
–Field Level Media