The weather took a turn for the colder and windier on Thursday at the Sea Island Golf Club.
The field for the RSM Classic scarcely noticed.
Eight of the top-12 players on the leaderboard played bogey-free golf as a pair of former Stanford stars, Maverick McNealy (62 at the par-70 Seaside Course) and Michael Thorbjornsen (64 at the par-72 Plantation) shared the lead at 8-under in the PGA Tour’s anchor event of FedEx Cup Fall and the 2024 season.
Andrew Novak (65, Plantation), a St. Simons Island, Ga., resident, is 7-under and Adrien Dumont de Chassart (64, Seaside), a Ponte Vedra Beach resident by way of Belgium, and Chandler Phillips (66, Plantation) are tied for fourth at 6-under.
Two other St. Simons Island residents, Keith Mitchell and Harris English, are among seven players tied at 5-under. Both shot 67 at the Plantation.
McNealy, a seventh-year pro who won the Haskins Award in 2015 as the nation’s top college golf, and Thorbjorsen, a rookie who earned a Tour card for finishing atop the PGA Tour University standings in June, are both seeking their first Tour victories.
Both birdied three of the four par-3 holes on their respective courses, and McNealy added a chip-in eagle at the Seaside’s par-5 15th. They brushed off winds that gusted as high as 30 mph to attack the putting surfaces, with McNealy hitting 15 greens and Thorbjornsen 16.
McNealy has finished among the top 17 in five of his last eight starts, and is coming off a tie for sixth and a tie for 17th in his last two, with six of eight rounds in the 60s.
“I feel like we kind of did everything really well,” said the No 67 player in the world. “I drove it awesome, iron play was about as good as it’s been all year. The last three tournaments it’s really been great and that’s the part of my game I’ve wanted to improve the most. I chipped in today, got everything up and down and putted awesome. There’s really nothing weak out there today.”
Thorbjornsen tied for eighth on Oct. 6 in the Sanderson Farms Championship but had to withdraw in Utah before the second round when he sprained his ACL and LCL while doing a stretch before hitting balls. He hasn’t played since.
Fortunately, the injury did not require surgery and Thorbjornsen has one more chance to push his way into the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list and retain his card for the 2025 season.
Thorbjornsen, who is wearing a knee brace, said he’s still been able to get in some good practice sessions (incorporating some swing changes) and spent a considerable amount of time on his putting. He needed only 25 putts in the first round on the 16 greens he hit.
“I feel like I’ve been putting in some really good work these past couple days, or these past couple weeks, making some new swing changes,” he said. “I’ve been working really hard on my putting, too, with my putting coach. We’ve been seeing some good results and I’m a lot more confident over the ball and it kind of shows today. Definitely made some putts.”
Mitchell was lights out for his first 12 holes, standing on the fourth tee at Plantation at 7-under. He bogeyed three of his last six holes.
“A lot of ups and downs,” said the former University of Georgia player. “Felt like I was putting unbelievable on the front and then played terrible on the back. Didn’t hit it great on the front, hit it great on the back. So my game kind of flipped, which is golf really. Just nine holes of twocompletely different people.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: RSM Classic leaderboard topped by Maverick McNealy, Michael Thorbjornsen
