RSM Classic: Hospitality and Sea Island beauty draws major champs
The RSM Classic has the distinction of being the final full-field PGA TOUR event of the calendar year. Its placement just ahead of Thanksgiving and the winter break could easily diminish its attendance, but Sea Island itself keeps bringing the stars back for more every year.
Eleven major champions, including host Davis Love III, made the RSM Classic their last stop on the regular PGA Tour for 2018. What good decisions they made. Sure, it’s easy for Zach Johnson and Love. They live there. But they aren’t alone in that decision.
St. Simons and Sea Island are such pleasant communities that they are home to at least 10 PGA Tour players. Another nine are considered part of the touring pro staff playing out of Sea Island. And another half dozen train at the Sea Island Performance Center on the resort grounds.
With that kind of endorsement, it’s no wonder that there are a significant number of major champions flocking to the RSM Classic. This year the field includes Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson, Webb Simpson, Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner, Lucas Glover and Graeme McDowell. That alone represents a strong contingent from who’s who in professional golf. But there are many more PGA Tour notables in the tournament, like Matt Kuchar, a resident, and Brandt Snedeker, who trains at the Sea Island Performance Center.
“We’re lucky. Our practice facility is on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate,” said Davis Love III about the location. The resort has no plans to turn it into real estate to sell.
According to Love, it’s not just major champs who enjoy the resort. Television executiv
es gushed about the scenery from the first time they saw it.
"“The guys from NBC/Golf Channel came here the first time, and they went out on Seaside and they went, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is gorgeous. This is going to be the best TV other than maybe Pebble Beach.,” Love added."
He noted that very few PGA Tour tournament courses have waterfront, except Pebble Beach, which has 12 water view and waterfront holes and Hilton Head, which has two holes with water and marsh views. In fact, very few courses in the U.S. have waterfront, period.
Usually the land is considered too valuable for recreational use. Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open, and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, which has hosted two PGA Championships, are two that come to mind. The former has views of the Pacific and the latter has many holes with breathtaking views of lake Michigan.
“Hilton Head has 17 and 18 on the marsh,” Love, a five time champ at Hilton Head’s RBC Heritage Classic said. “We have all these holes on the marsh, all these holes on the water. Fabulous.”
He’s not kidding, either. More than half of the holes on the Seaside course have ocean, bay and/or marsh views.
The resort takes care to preserve the views for guests, even if they are not golfers. A new practice putting green sits below the back of the glass-faced clubhouse. Beyond that is a view of Saint Simons Sound, which is the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean, and the coast of Jekyll Island. A path from the back of the clubhouse goes to the practice range which has similar views.
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In addition, there is a choice of five-star accommodations where pros who don’t actually live there can stay. With The Cloister, The Lodge, and The Inn at Sea Island, as well as other more private accommodations, even today’s world-traveled and sometimes world-weary PGA Tour pro can find peace and relaxation after the round of golf is done.
The resort is not a Johnny-come-lately. It was created by the Howard Coffin, founder of the Hudson Motor Car Company, and his cousin, Bill Jones. The resort opened with a flourish in 1928. That Christmas, President Calvin Coolidge visited, and soon, the little island was booked with many visitors.
With Coolidge’s visit a tradition of celebrities and dignitaries planting an oak tree began, and since then, six additional presidents as well as two British prime ministers and a queen have followed suit. The oaks are marked with plaques.
Next. Justin Rose likely leaving TaylorMade, signing with Honma. dark
Between the scenery, the hospitality and the accommodations, it’s a wonder Davis Love III doesn’t have a waiting list to play in the RSM Classic. Right now, he said the biggest question he gets is about more and better parking. In that, he’s no different than any other tournament host anyplace on the PGA Tour. But Love has the luxury of an accommodation and location that is truly one-of-a-kind.