How has the RSM Classic thrived for 15 years, in the PGA Tour’s smallest market?
Of course, it has the main attributes of a good golf tournament: historic, scenic courses at the Sea Island Resort Seaside and Plantation; a strong field for the FedEx Cup Fall anchor event; and the cachet of having World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III as the tournament host.
But Love and his brother Mark, the tournament’s executive director, said there’s another key factor: consistency, starting with the only title sponsor the tournament has ever had, and a tournament staff, volunteer force and fan base that rarely changes from year to year.
Davis Love said it starts with RSM, which was named McGladrey when the tournament was first played in 2010. The 15th edition of the Classic will begin on Thursday, with Golf Channel airing play from noon to 3 p.m. in the first two rounds and 1-4 p.m. for the weekend rounds.
“I’ve seen sponsors come and go,” Love said. “It’s usually a five- or 10-year cycle. But here we are at 15 [years] and RSM wants more. They want to help us make it bigger and better for them, for the community and for charity. They’re not just a sponsor. They’re our friends and partners.”
Denny McCarthy tosses a ball to his caddie on the ninth green during the second round of the 2023 RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort on November 17, 2023 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
RSM volunteer base is fiercely loyal
Mark Love credited more than 1,200 volunteers, most from the Golden Isles but many who carve out vacation time to work at the tournament.
“The volunteer [registration] opens up and it gets flooded,” he said. “It’s tough for new people to break in because of the retention of the volunteers we’ve had for years.”
Both also gave props to a small but hard-working tournament staff, led by director of operations Tony Schuster, a veteran golf tournament director who has run Tour stops in Castle Pines, Charlotte, the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and tournament director Todd Thompson.
“We wouldn’t be where we are if it were not for Tony,” Davis Love said. “We stole him from Johnny Harris [the President of the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte] and Johnny stole him from Castle Pines. Todd Thompson is one of the best in the business. Mark and I know what a great tournament looks like but someone has to execute.”
Tournament staff also includes family
The staff also includes the two brothers and Davis Love’s daughter Lexie Whatley, the director of merchandise. You will also find Love’s 10-year-old granddaughter Eloise helping out in the merchandise tent.
“She thinks she’s the boss of the merchandise tent,” Love said. “Mark and I got started when we were kids, helping our parents with the PGA Tour events and the first Players Championship at the Atlanta Country Club and now we’re on our fourth generation involved in running golf tournaments.”
That’s what you call generational.
