ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — With pure greens and weather so gorgeous that tournament host Davis Love III must have Mother Nature on speed dial, PGA Tour players were naturally going to attack the Sea Island Resort Plantation and Seaside courses like kids in a candy store in the first round of the RSM Classic on Nov. 20.
Doug Ghim, Davis Thompson and Rico Hoey led the charge by posting 10-under scores, a 60 for Ghim on the par-70 Seaside course and 62s for Thompson and Hoey on the par-72 Plantation Course to share a one-shot lead.
Ghim posted the fifth 60 in tournament history and missed a 20-foot birdie putt attempt at the last for a tournament-record 59. He birdied four holes in a row before the 18th, on putts of 13 feet or less.
Thompson, the son of tournament director Todd Thompson, and Hoey, who has been on fire lately, now share the Plantation Course record (which came into play for the tournament in 2017), knocking 10 players out who shot 63.
Andrew Putnam and Andrew Novak (61, Seaside) are tied for fourth at 9-under, five players are 8-under and four more are 7-under.
Novak missed an 8-foot putt at No. 18 for a 60 and a share of the lead.
“With the weather the way that it was and the course being so immaculate this week, you knew, especially on a par-70, if you make a couple of putts, you’re always going to be right there,” said Ghim, who set his personal 18-hole record.
Doug Ghim faced a tricky putt for 59
Ghim said he and caddied Kevin Techakanokboon saw a double-breaking putt that wasn’t nearly as flat as it looked from the spectators’ vantage point.
“It was pretty clear that it was going to move right early,” Ghim said. “It was a downhill putt, so you do have to acknowledge the first part of the putt more so than an uphill one. We were debating on whether or not it would break back to the left at the end. We thought because it was breaking so hard early that it might not get the chance to actually make its way left, but that’s what it did.”
The ball stayed left, but Ghim at least gave himself a chance. It trickled 30 inches past the hole and he tapped in for par.
“Pleased with the putt,” he said. “It’s easy to leave that putt short in that moment.”
Andrew Putnam also flirted with 59
Putnam could have shot 59 with birdies on his last two holes, but missed a 30-footer at No. 17 and had to scramble for a 10-foot par putt at No. 18 when he missed the fairway and green for only the second time each.
Putnam made two birdie rolls of 20 feet or longer at Nos. 3 and 4, which he said boosted some badly-needed confidence in his putting.
“Putter was nice … those first few holes, made some good 20-, 25-footers [at Nos. 3 and 4], which is kind of a bonus. Then, yeah, I didn’t really hit many bad shots, honestly. I really haven’t been playing that bad, just haven’t really putted well, which is my strength. So I haven’t really been able to get a lot of good momentum going when you can’t putt well.”
He did at the Seaside, with six birdie rolls of 10 feet or longer.
Ghim and Putnam will need all the putts they can muster. Ghim is 124th on the FedEx Cup Fall points list and Putnam is 119th. Both need to get inside the top 100 after this week to retain their PGA Tour card for 2026.
Davis Thompson had two hot streaks
Thompson, the son of tournament director Todd Thompson, birdied his last three holes, Nos. 7, 8 and 9. He had an earlier hot streak on the back nine, his front, when he played Nos. 13-18 at 6-under, including a 4-foot eagle putt at the par-5 18th after smacking a 5-iron 240 yards into the green.
“The wind was down, so I felt like I could attack out there,” Thompson said. “Got off to a great start … just kind of rode the wave going in the back nine and was able to make birdies on 8 and 9 coming in to kind of cap it off.”
He admitted that playing at his home base, with his father running the tournament, might bring a bit of added pressure.
“Yeah, I think that’s natural,” he said. “A lot of family and friends come down here and watch this tournament so I think it’s natural for me to put more pressure on myself, but this week I’m really trying to kind of block that out and just go play golf and just enjoy it.”
Thompson, at 82nd on the points list, is safely inside the top 100.
Rico Hoey is having a fine fall
Hoey, a 30-year-old native of the Philippines and former USC Trojan, is on a roll, resting at No. 57 on the FedEx Cup Fall points list after starting the stretch 106th.
Hoey has three top-10 finishes and two more top-25 weeks in six starts and is in a solid position to remain inside the top-60 to make the AON “Next 10,” a path to gaining access to the PGA Tour’s first two Signature Events in 2026, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.
He hit all 18 greens at the Plantation, made seven 3s on the back nine and highlighted his round with a 45-foot eagle putt at the par-5 14th.
“That’s a first for me,” he said about pitching a perfect game tee-to-green.
More low scores to come?
The temperatures will remain in the 70s during the day for the duration of tournament week, with only a hint of clouds.
The field averaged 67.784 at the Seaside Course and 68.484 at the Plantation, with 102 of the 156 players posting rounds in the 60s and 124 breaking par. The Plantation stroke average was the lowest since the course came into use for the RSM Classic in 2017 and the Seaside average was the lowest since the first round in 2022 (66.038).
“It was nice to see some good weather out here and play a course that I’m more used to seeing versus what we usually get at the RSM with the cold and the wind,” said Novak. Who is playing stress-free this week with his status secure for the next two years as a 2025 PGA Tour winner.
But the hard truth is that the leaders will have to keep their foot on the gas to keep up with a field that will continue taking advantage of the balmy conditions and a perfectly manicured course.
“All you can do is hit the best shot that you can and you take the opportunities you can,” Hoey said. “Take care of the par 5s and that’s all you can do.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Doug Ghim, Davis Thompson, Rico Hoey share RSM Classic lead at 10-under
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
