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2020 RSM Classic: Top 10 power rankings at Sea Island

By Mike Randleman

ST SIMONS ISLAND, GA - NOVEMBER 20: A view of the tee flag on the 9th hole of the Plantation Course during the second round of The RSM Classic on November 20, 2015 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)
ST SIMONS ISLAND, GA - NOVEMBER 20: A view of the tee flag on the 9th hole of the Plantation Course during the second round of The RSM Classic on November 20, 2015 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images) /
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Oct 25, 2020; Thousand Oaks, California, USA; Jason Kokrak tees off on the first hole during the Final round of the Zozo Championship golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 25, 2020; Thousand Oaks, California, USA; Jason Kokrak tees off on the first hole during the Final round of the Zozo Championship golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /

Jason Kokrak finally broke through for his first career PGA Tour win last month. In his 233rd start, the 35-year-old American defeated a top-tier field at the CJ Cup. A sensational Sunday 64 lifted him above runner up Xander Schauffele by two.

I thought Kokrak had a good chance to follow up that victory with a strong showing at an Augusta National that was playing long. Instead, he wasn’t able to dial it in and missed the cut.

Fortunately, he’s only missed consecutive cuts twice since the beginning of 2019. The bounceback possibility is good here, especially when you consider Kokrak MC’d before getting it done at Shadow Creek.

Kokrak nearly played his way into the Tour Championship thanks to a T-6th at the BMW Championship. He also picked up T-17ths at the U.S. Open and Zozo Championship.

This is the former Xavier Musketeer’s seventh RSM Classic appearance and first since 2017. He has four made cuts including T-27th (68-70-66-69) in 2012 and T-10th (69-65-69-69) in 2013.

The story over Kokrak’s decade on Tour has been his prodigious length. He ranked ninth last season in strokes gained off the tee (.633) and was seventh in driving distance (312.4).

It wouldn’t be the worst idea to lay back in spots this week considering how he was 18th in proximity from the fairway (29’1”).

The main bugaboo has been the putter. He’s consistently well outside the top 100 in SG putting and sits at 151st (-.282) in 2020-21. Kokrak found a way to lead the field in that category at the CJ Cup, so maybe progress is finally coming for the big hitter.

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