RSM Classic: Round One Recap and Reactions at Sea Island

Time to take a look at what happened during the opening round at the RSM Classic.

Round one is in the books at Sea Island, and the RSM Classic is well underway. It doesn’t matter what day it is, but I always enjoy perusing through the leaderboard to see where people have ended up to start the tournament.

Starting off at the top, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone that the favorite to win the RSM Classic, Webb Simpson, is the one who sits alone atop the leaderboard. He put together seven birdies, and then offset his two bogeys with an eagle on 16. Coming into the event at +800, according to the Action Network, Simpson is the only golfer to shoot -7, although he wasn’t the best round of the day.

Wait… that doesn’t make sense. How could that happen?

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That is because they are playing at two different courses to start off the RSM Classic. Webb Simpson is one of the players who started off on the Plantation Course, which is a par 72. The other half of the golfers who teed off today went to the Seaside Course, which is only a par 70.

So, even though Simpson shot a -7 65, there were a couple of golfers who shot a -6 64 on the Seaside Course. Those two golfers would be Cameron Tringale and Kyoung-Hoon Lee. Both players had solid rounds, although Lee is the one who was able to do it cleanly. Tringale had one bogey and seven birdies, while Lee had six birdies.

Rhein Gibson was the lone golfer on the Plantation Course to shoot -6, finishing with a round that was similar to Simpson, albeit with one fewer birdie. Two bogeys, an eagle, and six birdies.

There are a massive amount of players only a few shots behind. The RSM Classic has nine golfers at -5, 17 golfers at -4, and 12 golfers at -3.

Some of the favorites really struggled today. Billy Horschel, who had the second-best odds this week, shot a +2 74 and sits T-127th. Matt Kuchar, next on the favorite list, shot even and is currently T-91st. Kevin Kisner, who won this event back in 2015, had one of the worst rounds of the day and sits T-139th after shooting +3.

Akshay Bhatia is a guy to keep an eye on, as the youngster is trying to find his way in the world of golf. Still only 17, he shot -1 in today’s round, finishing with three bogeys, two birdies, and an eagle on the par-5 16th hole, putting him in a T-66th, and on the cut watch for day two.

Bhatia was one of the many golfers who took advantage of the easiest hole on either course. At -0.731, the 16th was .415 shots easier than the next hole, where six players made eagle, and 48 more made birdie. Only four players on the day made bogey here.

Only one player will not be showing up for day two. Michael Kim withdrew after the eighth hole when he was sitting at +6. He withdrew due to a wrist injury, and will need to turn his recent performance around if he wants to continue playing on the PGA Tour with the 2020 season is the final one on his exemption from winning the 2018 John Deere Classic.

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Round two gets underway tomorrow morning at 9:15 Eastern. There will be 12 golfers total going off, with a threesome at the 1st and 10th hole on each course. Former tournament winners Chris Kirk and Robert Streb are in those groups and will get round two started at the RSM Classic.

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