RSM Classic 2021: Form stats for this week's PGA Tour event at Sea Island Resort

The curtain comes down on the FedEx Cup year this weekend, when the PGA Tour tees-up at Sea Island in Georgia for the 12th time.

When the final putt drops this Sunday afternoon at The RSM Classic, the FedEx Cup rollercoaster will take a six-week break before re-emerging in Hawaii in early January.

The tournament will once again be staged over two courses at Sea Island Resort, which was built on low-lying land close to the Atlantic coast.

Between 2010 and 2014, Sea Island's Seaside Course was the sole venue for this event, before the nearby Plantation layout was added to the itinerary six years ago.

During the opening two days, golfers' will play one round at each course, before Seaside takes over for the final 36 holes.

On the tee

Take one glance at the list of competitors, and you'll discover there is a definite end-of-year feel to this week's event.

Just two members of the world's top-15 are taking part, while the list of former champions at Sea Island is hardly the stuff of legends.

This week's field is certainly mediocre, although a handful of players do standout.

World No 37 Kevin Kisner should be among the front-runners in Georgia.

The 37-year-old from South Carolina is a former champion at Seaside, where he has also posted four other top-seven finishes.

He won the Wyndham Championship in August and has an ideal game for courses where accuracy and touch are valued more than sheer power.

Latest betting for The RSM Classic

Russell Henley also belongs in this category, with the 32-year-old from Georgia arriving at Sea Island on the back of a tied-seventh finish in Houston.

Defending RSM Classic champion Robert Streb was also seventh on Sunday, while Webb Simpson will feel confident about ending his mediocre year with a flourish.

The former US Open champion has not stood on any PGA Tour podium for 15 months, but has enjoyed three such finishes at the Seaside Course.

Finally, world No 17 Scottie Scheffler tees-up again after narrowly failing to secure his maiden PGA Tour title at the weekend.

Scheffler is the third highest-ranked golfer in the field behind Louis Oosthuizen and local-resident Harris English.

Course details

Water is a huge threat on both layouts, with the surrounding marshland one of the most prominent features of Sea Island Resort.

The Plantation Course is more parkland than Seaside, with both venues located close to the southern tip of St Simons Island.

Seaside has a links feel, although its fairways are considerably more manicured than a typical British coastal venue.

Coastal breezes are particularly prevalent on Seaside where the greens are slightly larger than average, as well as quick.

Fairways are undulating and those who wish to perform well over Seaside will need to possess precision iron play, strong scrambling skills, as well as have good course management abilities.

Seaside started life as a nine-hole course and has been in existence since 1929, with architect Tom Fazio renovating the venue 22 years ago when it joined forces with the nine holes of nearby Marshside.

The slightly older Plantation layout was also originally nine holes and opened in the late 1920s, before Rees Jones was commissioned to make it 18 in 1998.

There is plenty of danger lurking just off the fairways on both Seaside and Plantation, with the latter offering up many sizeable creeks and lakes.

Just over two years ago, Davis Love was called in to give Plantation a complete overhaul, which included re-positioning some greens and even making a number of changes to its routing.

Over the six years that both courses have been involved in staging this tournament, the average winning total is 262.5, with not a single champion posting higher than 265 for 72 holes.

The city of Savannah is 60 miles to the north, while the Florida state border is around 55 miles to the south.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves