SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia -- After another tumultuous season in men's professional golf, the PGA Tour's last wrap-around schedule for the foreseeable future wraps up this week at the RSM Classic.
It's also the LPGA Tour's season finale, where the CME Group Tour Championship winner will collect a $2 million check, the largest in women's professional golf.
There's more than that at stake at the LPGA's Tour Championship. Only 27 points separate Lilia Vu and Celine Boutier in the season-long points race. Vu moved past Boutier with her fourth victory of the season at The Annika last week.
We'll have to wait another seven weeks for the next PGA Tour event, The Sentry, which kicks off the 2024 season at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii. Next year's schedule will run from January through the first day of September.
Here's what to watch in professional golf this week:
What's next on the PGA Tour
RSM Classic
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: Sea Island Resort, Saint Simons Island, Georgia
Defending champion: Adam Svensson
Purse: $8.4 million
The last chance
There's plenty at stake in the last tournament of the season for those players trying to get into the fields in elevated events in 2024 -- and those just trying to hang onto their PGA Tour cards.
"The buzz now is kind of that guys are playing for their card," said RSM Classic host Davis Love III. "I was just on the range with [swing coach] Justin Parsons, and he's going to help some of his guys get to certain levels, whatever that is, and playing for the Next 10, playing to keep your job. It's an exciting week, great storylines and I'm excited to get out there and mix it up with them."
The players who are ranked Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup Fall points standings after the RSM Classic will qualify for the fields at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational in 2024.
Here are the players on the right side of the bubble: Beau Hossler (1,243 points), Matt Kuchar (1,041), Mackenzie Hughes (1,014), Ben Griffin (983), Taylor Montgomery (980), Nick Hardy (980), Alex Smalley (954), Luke List (935), J.J. Spaun (935) and Sam Ryder (925). All but Hossler is in this week's field.
Those players just outside the bubble to qualify for the first two elevated events include Mark Hubbard (914), Stephan Jaeger (912), Thomas Detry (891), Alex Noren (890) and Erik van Rooyen (876), who was a winner at the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico two weeks ago. van Rooyen is not in the RSM Classic field.
The top 125 players in the fall points standings after the RSM Classic will earn their PGA Tour cards and be eligible for full-field events next season.
The players on the right side of the Top 125 bubble include: Matti Schmid (444 points), Doug Ghim (443), Nico Echavarria (442), Troy Merritt (441), Andrew Novak (440) and Carl Yuan (437).
The players who need to play well this week -- or have others above them in the standings not play well -- include Henrik Norlander (431), Maverick McNealy (414), Ryan Moore (385), C.T. Pan (383) and Patton Kizzire (381). McNealy battled injuries for much of this season and is eligible for a medical exemption.