Tony Finau will try to continue his recent dominance when he tees off Thursday in the 2022 RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort in Georgia. Finau comes into St. Simons Island fresh off a four-stroke victory at last week’s Houston Open, his third win in his past seven events. Finau will be trying to win consecutive tournaments for the second time in four months and will face a slightly subpar field that features six of the world’s top 40 players. Seven players made it to last year’s Tour Championship – Finau, Sepp Straka, Tom Hoge, Brian Harman, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala and Scott Stallings. Four of the past six RSM Classics have gone to a playoff, though Talor Gooch won last year by three strokes, going 22 under par. This is the final official PGA Tour event of the calendar year, with the Sentry Tournament of Champions next up Jan. 5-8.
The latest 2022 RSM Classic odds list Finau as the 9-1 favorite, followed by Harman (18-1), Hoge (20-1) and Jason Day (22-1) . Power (25-1), Taylor Montgomery (25-1), Keith Mitchell (30-1) and Matthew NeSmith (30-1) also are expected to be RSM Classic top contenders. Before you make any 2022 RSM Classic picks or bets, you really need to see the PGA Tour predictions, best bets and sleepers from SportsLine golf insider Patrick McDonald.
After spending time at FanSided and NBC Sports EDGE, McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in the spring of 2022. Now covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour.
He takes a measured approach to his outright selections and finished the 2021-22 season up 42 units on those plays, having hit Cameron Smith (22-1) at the Tournament of Champions, Hudson Swafford (250-1) at The American Express, Joaquin Niemann (70-1) at the Genesis Invitational and Justin Thomas (66-1) live at the PGA Championship.
McDonald also nailed last week’s Houston Open. backing Finau at 25-1. “I was surprised to see Finau’s name below the likes of (Aaron) Wise and (Maverick) McNealy given his recent form,” the expert said, “but we will take it and ask questions later.” The 33-year-old simply went out and shot 65-62 in the first two rounds and ran away with his fifth tour victory.
McDonald also has been on the money on his matchup plays, hitting eight of his past 15, and he is up more than 13 units on those picks this season. McDonald also hit a first-round leader at the Zozo Championship, backing 80-1 Brendan Steele. Anyone who followed McDonald’s advice cashed in huge.
Now, McDonald has studied the 2022 RSM Classic field and is locking in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. You can head to SportsLine now to see all his PGA picks and predictions.
Top 2022 RSM Classic expert picks
One shocking pick from McDonald this week: The expert is fading Montgomery even though the 27-year-old has finished in the top 10 in three of his six events this season. The problem is, the Sea Island layouts are short by tour standards, and Montgomery’s advantage is off the tee. He also was red-hot with the putter and ranks 11th in strokes gained putting, but he tied for 57th in Houston last week as the flat stick cooled off. Montgomery is 144th in strokes gained approach and 103rd tee to green, so McDonald says “Sea Island is a less-than-stellar statistical fit.”
On the other hand, the expert knows Finau should continue to roll after he backed him last week despite him coming in off a missed cut. The 33-year-old is in the top five in every strokes gained category except around the green (55th) and is firing on all cylinders. Finau was top-15 off the tee, on approach and tee-to–green last season, when he was in the top 15 in six of his final nine events (including his back-to-back victories). He led the field in driving accuracy and greens in regulation in Houston and “has ascended into one of the best players in the world,” McDonald says. See who else to pick at The RSM Classic here.
How to make 2022 RSM Classic golf picks
Before this week’s PGA Tour event at Sea Island, McDonald has locked in his best bets for the 2022 RSM Classic. He has several outright plays, including a huge longshot who would bring a monster payout of 150-1. You can only find out who it is, and see the rest of McDonald’s picks and PGA Tour analysis, at SportsLine.
So which 2022 RSM Classic picks should you target? Which golfer priced at a massive 150-1 could pull off a stunning victory this week at RSM Classic 2022? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald’s top picks for RSM Classic 2022, all from the expert who nailed last week’s Houston Open, and find out.
2022 RSM Classic odds, field, top contenders
See full RSM Classic 2022 picks, best bets, and predictions here.
Tony Finau +900
Brian Harman +1800
Tom Hoge +2000
Jason Day +2200
Taylor Montgomery +2500
Seamus Power +2500
Keith Mitchell +3000
Matthew NeSmith +3000
Sahith Theegala +3000
J.J. Spaun +3500
Denny McCarthy +3500
Joel Dahmen +4000
Andrew Putnam +4000
Taylor Moore +4500
Patrick Rodgers +4500
Taylor Pendrith +4500
Matt Kuchar +4500
Kevin Kisner +4500
Justin Rose +4500
Webb Simpson +5000
Wyndham Clark +5000
Scott Stallings +5000
Mackenzie Hughes +5000
Davis Riley +5000
Will Gordon +6000
Nick Hardy +6000
Brendon Todd +6000
Alex Smalley +6000
Aaron Rai +6000
Harris English +6500
Chris Kirk +6500
Trey Mullinax +8000
Troy Merritt +8000
Stephan Jaeger +8000
Justin Lower +8000
Hayden Buckley +8000
J.T. Poston +8000
Greyson Sigg +8000
Dean Burmester +8000
David Lipsky +8000
Robby Shelton +10000
S.H. Kim +10000
Russell Knox +10000
Sepp Straka +10000
Lee Hodges +10000
Francesco Molinari +10000
Davis Thompson +10000
Brandon Wu +10000
Ben Griffin +10000
Beau Hossler +10000
Adam Svensson +10000
Mark Hubbard +13000
Scott Piercy +13000
John Huh +13000
Luke List +13000
Justin Suh +13000
Danny Willett +13000
Cameron Percy +13000
Cameron Champ +13000
Ben Taylor +13000
Adam Long +13000
Zach Johnson +15000
Sam Ryder +15000
Patton Kizzire +15000
Kevin Streelman +15000
Kevin Yu +15000
Carl Yuan +15000
Austin Smotherman +15000
Austin Cook +15000
Adam Schenk +15000
Ryan Armour +18000
Matthew Wallace +18000
Ryan Moore +18000
Michael Thompson +18000
Christopher Gotterup +18000
Chesson Hadley +18000
Callum Tarren +18000
Zecheng Dou +20000
Robert Streb +20000
Matthias Schwab +20000
Stewart Cink +20000
Henrik Norlander +20000
Harry Hall +20000
Dylan Frittelli +20000
David Lingmerth +20000
Byeong Hun An +20000
Tyson Alexander +25000
Tyler Duncan +25000
MJ Daffue +25000
Rory Sabbatini +25000
Sean O’Hair +25000
Nate Lashley +25000
Michael Gligic +25000
Kelly Kraft +25000
Joseph Bramlett +25000
Garrick Higgo +25000
Eric Cole +25000
Charley Hoffman +25000
Andrew Novak +25000
Trevor Cone +30000
Vaughn Taylor +30000
Vincent Norrman +30000
Philip Knowles +30000
Peter Malnati +30000
Nick Watney +30000
Max McGreevy +30000
Paul Haley +30000
Sam Stevens +30000
Matti Schmid +30000
Harry Higgs +30000
Harrison Endycott +30000
Hank Lebioda +30000
Brice Garnett +30000
Brian Stuard +30000
Zac Blair +40000
Richy Werenski +40000
Spencer Ralston +40000
Michael Kim +40000
Kyle Westmoreland +40000
Kevin Roy +40000
Kevin Tway +40000
Nico Echavarria +40000
Jonathan Byrd +40000
Dylan Wu +40000
Erik Barnes +40000
Doc Redman +40000
Cole Hammer +40000
Chad Ramey +40000
Carson Young +40000
Camilo Villegas +40000
Brian Gay +40000
Ben Martin +40000
Augusto Nunez +40000
Andrew Landry +40000
Anders Albertson +40000
Aaron Baddeley +40000
Trevor Werbylo +50000
Tano Goya +50000
Scott Harrington +50000
Palmer Jackson +50000
Tim Weinhart +50000
Ryan Brehm +50000
Martin Trainer +50000
Jason Dufner +50000
Jacob Bridgeman +50000
Jim Herman +50000
Davis Love III +50000
Danny Lee +50000
Chris Stroud +50000
Brent Grant +50000
Bill Haas +50000
Brandon Matthews +50000