As PGA Tour overhauls schedule, RSM Classic organizers confident in event's staying power

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Changes are coming to the PGA Tour schedule in 2028 as a result of revamped player eligibility and access.

Already, Tour events in Hawaii in Kapalua and Honolulu are gone. And the Tour's event at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, the longest-running non-major tournament to be held at the same venue, has been told it will be a stop on PGA Tour's Championship Series, and is more likely turn toward the senior tour than settle for a Challenger Series designation.

If the Tour can whack Colonial, can any tournament director feel safe?

Davis Love III, for one, said he feels confident that the RSM Classic, the Tour's FedEx Cup Fall series finale that he hosts at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., will be a part of

the Tour's future, even with Commissioner Brian Rolapp's stated goal of putting more tournaments in larger metropolitan areas.

"Sure, Brian and I talked about big cities and big courses and big tournaments and all that," Love said of his conversations with Rolapp. "But they also understand how important a small tournament like this is to the tour and to charity. They understand what this means for our community and for the Tour and for the fall."

Georgia's Golden Isles have an estimated population of just over 85,000. But this tournament has punched above its weight class for two decades in terms of title sponsorship, charity contributions and producing compelling competition on world-class courses at a world-class resort.

But it stays true to its roots and the vibe comes down to two words, according to Love.

"It's about Southern hospitality," he said.

RSM Classic celebrates 17th birthday

The RSM Classic will tee off for the 17th time on Nov. 19, with a $7.4 million purse and daily coverage on Golf Channel. Among the players committed are past champions Ludvig Aberg, Maverick McNealy and defending champion Sami Valimaki; five-time major champion Brooks Koepka; rookie of the year contenders and 2026 winners Blades Brown and Jackson Koivun; and other 2026 winners Bud Cauley, Michael Brennan, Austin Smotherman and Steven Fisk.

The tournament, as usual, can expect most of the players who live on the Golden Isles to turn out and play, such as major champions Zach Johnson and Brian Harman, and veteran Tour winners Matt Kuchar, Harris English, Keith Mitchell, Andrew Novak, J.T. Poston, Davis Thompson and Patton Kizzire.

The RSM Classic has found an important niche on the calendar, coming a week before Thanksgiving and after the Georgia-Florida football game. Since 2023, it has been the final event of the season, with players scrambling to make the top 100 on the FedEx Cup points list to secure their playing privileges for 2027, and also trying to squeeze into a spot between Nos. 51 and 60 to get a berth in the first two Signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera.

It's also at one of the most scenic venues on the PGA Tour, with the field split in the first two rounds between the Seaside and Plantation Courses, then playing at Seaside on the weekend after the cut. Love and his brother Mark recently finished renovation work on the Seaside Course, adding some teeth and perhaps bounce on Tom Fazio's 1999 design.

For those and other key reasons, Love feels confident in the RSM Classic's future, mainly because he and the tournament's operating arm, the Davis Love Foundation, are readily accepting a spot on the Tour's Challenger Series, or as one of the events in the "Last Chance Series."

Tournament benefits from long-standing title sponsor

"Where we are is great," Love said, referring to the late fall spot. "We and RSM want to stay focused on the charity and the impact and what it meant to the community, to their charities and to their brand."

Love hit on the tournament's relationship with RSM, a Chicago-based firm that offers asset management, financial services and tax consulting for middle markets, with offices in 75 locations in the U.S.

The tournament doesn't simply raise charity dollars the week of the tournament through pro-ams, like most Tour events. RSM uses it as a fundraising vehicle in its offices nationwide, with employees participating in campaigns such as "Birdies for Love" and "Power of Love."

Birdies for Love enabled employees to guess the number of birdies made during the tournament and pledge dollar amounts to back their entry. In the Power of Love program, RSM owners and employees volunteer in their communities and raise funds for local charities aligned with the missions of the RSM US Foundation and the Davis Love Foundation.

In 2024, the program raised more than $5 million for more than 100 charities in the communities where RSM employees live and work.

The tournament has generated more than $53 million since 2010 for youth-based organizations such as Special Olympics and Boys and Girls Clubs. For that reason alone, the Tour may think long and hard before yanking that kind of charitable impact off the schedule.

"We like this date, RSM likes this date because it's right for them after the fall tax season and we're the final [event], the big hit," said tournament director Todd Thompson. "RSM is very philanthropic on what they want to do, which mirrors what Davis and Robin [Love's wife] set up their foundation to do.

Mark Love, the executive director of the RSM Classic, said the relationship is so strong between the tournament and title sponsor that RSM's leadership "are like family with us."

"From day one, we've had a great relationship with RSM," Love said. "Even the ones who have moved on stay in touch with us."

RSM Classic is a family affair

Family. It's a word that comes up frequently when it comes to the RSM Classic.

Davis Love III is the tournament host and founder. Mark Love is the executive director of the tournament and the President of Love Golf Design. Davis Love's daughter Lexie Whatley is the merchandise director. His son Dru is the Project Manager of Love Golf Design. Robin Love is the director of the Davis Love Foundation.

But in the run-up to the tournament and during the week, titles mean nothing. Everyone pitches in. Nothing is below anyone's pay grade.

Dru Love is often seen helping golf course maintenance workers clearing brush. Robin Love is a whirlwind, organizing entertainment, dinners and luncheons for RSM execs, players and their families. Whatley doesn't just run the merchandise shop … she has been spotted vacuuming the carpet after a day of fans leaving tracks of sand.

The third generation is now being put to work. Eloise Whatley, Love's 12-year-old granddaughter, helps her mother in the merchandise center.

"She's been working in the merch tent since she was 5 years old," Love said with pride. "She gets stuff out of the boxes, scans the barcodes, checks customers out … she is legitimately helpful."

Love said he took a cue from two PGA Tour events in which he played, The Memorial, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.

"We learned from some great tournament directors," Love said. "I started playing the Memorial in 1986 and Barbara [Nicklaus] was working at registration, and [the Nicklaus sons] Jackie and Steve were hanging around helping. Bay Hill was a big tournament but the Palmers and Saunders made sure it was welcoming and friendly. The Old Southern Open was like that. Hilton Head still is. And the families of players and sponsors want to be there because they're welcomed like family."

The timing was right for RSM Classic

There were multiple entities in 2009 that needed each other.

The Sea Island Club was in dire financial straits with tourism dipping after the recession of 2008.

The PGA Tour came through the recession in reasonably good shape but lost fall events in Palm Coast and New York and Disney was on the way out.

RSM (then known as McGladrey) sponsored individual Tour players such as Johnson, a long-time St. Simons Island, Ga., resident, but was eager to become a tournament title sponsor to expand its brand.

Everything merged into the McGladrey Classic (which became the RSM Classic in 2015 when the company changed its name).

"Tourism was in a bad spot at the time," Mark Love said. "The Tour needed a place to play in the fall. RSM was looking for a spot to get into the Tour space. It was great timing and it allowed us to bring attention to our community and raise charity dollars."

The fortunes of the Sea Island Club have improved with the longevity of the tournament. The running joke is that the PGA Tour couldn't put the RSM Classic in the spring, since the Club is booked during that time period for years.

After experimenting with early, mid and late fall dates, the event fell into its current sweet spot. And it has benefited from an amazing run of good weather, with only the occasional chilly day and brisk wind off the St. Simons Sound to force fans and players to bring out sweaters and jackets. — a relief to most after hot summers.

Only one RSM Classic finish went to a Monday, in 2016, but it was not weather-related. Five players tied for the lead and the playoff had to go to the next day because of darkness.

Low scores, tight finishes have marked Classic

Two characteristics have emerged over the history of the RSM Classic: birdies and drama late on Sunday afternoon.

Six of the first seven RSM Classics ended in playoffs or with the winner decided by one shot. Overall, there have been six playoffs and five tournaments decided by one shot, including the last two.

Aberg set tournament and PGA Tour records by posting a 29-under winning score in 2023 en route to his first Tour title. Valimaki won at 23-under last year, the fifth time the winner has shot 21 under or lower.

Oddly enough, only one player has won the tournament twice, Robert Streb in 2014 and 2020.

Renovation lengthened Seaside

Love wanted to give players more of a test for the Seaside Course but with limited room to build new tees, he settled on restoring sand dunes built by Fazio when he took the original nine holes designed by Colt and Alison and designed the 18-hole Seaside Course (Love completed a re-design of the Plantation Course several years ago).

"All I wanted to do was put Tom Fazio's sand dunes back," Love said. "That was my main focus. The dunes had shrunk and we were trying to get them back. We added some sand on the marsh side, the front nine and added about 200 yards for the pros. For members and resort guests, it's only about 25 yards longer."

Players will still attack both courses if the wind isn't howling off the Sound. The greens will be firmer, as renovated greens often are for a year or two, so some balls may hit in the middle and bounce over, presenting short-game challenges.

"When Ludvig Åberg won and there was no wind, he was bombing it right down the middle of every fairway, hit every green and shot 18-under on the weekend [61-61]," Love said. "That's what we're defending. If it gets calm and it gets soft, you can't stop these guys from making birdies."

But that's also part of the RSM Classic's identity: Good players posting good numbers, watched by fans who come out to enjoy the walk along the marshes and dunes, with the salt air made crisper by fall weather.

Thompson called it the tournament's "Wow Factor."

"It's great entertainment with a great vibe," he said. "We know we've got changes coming [to the PGA Tour]. We're not sure what the changes are going to be. But we like it because we're last … the final hit."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: As PGA Tour overhauls schedule, RSM Classic organizers confident in event's staying power