Cameron Champ has raced past early expectations on TOUR

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Cameron Champ just wanted to make the cut in all of his starts this fall.

With a win and three other top-30 finishes, Champ has far exceeded that goal.

It was close in his first event, though.

He made the cut on the number after struggling with his ball-striking at the Safeway Open. Sneaking into the weekend gave him the opportunity to shoot one of those unnoticed rounds that changes a career.

He started the final round at Silverado in 66th place. His Sunday 68 in high winds set the stage for an impressive run that has made him this season’s must-see rookie.

Only two players beat Champ’s final-round score at the Safeway. He jumped 41 spots on the leaderboard and, more importantly, gained the confidence that helped him win in his next start.

“It was blowing 25 (mph), gusting a little more, maybe, and I was flighting the shots right, hitting the shots where I needed to, and then I made a few good putts,” Champ said Tuesday in his pre-tournament interview at The RSM Classic. “Things just kind of progressed from there.”

Yes, they have. Champ led after every round at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He birdied five of the final six holes to beat Corey Conners by four. Champ is ninth in the FedExCup and the early front-runner in the Rookie of the Year race.

In 12 rounds since the Safeway, he’s been inside the top 10 after nine of them. He has a 67.3 scoring average in that span, including four rounds of 65 or lower.

“I’ve just been playing with confidence, really,” Champ said.

His outrageous length helps, as well. His average driving distance of 335.2 yards leads the TOUR. He’s nearly four yards longer than Luke List, who ranks second in that category, and 38 yards longer than the TOUR average.

He also leads in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, a statistic with outsized importance in today’s game. Eight of the top 10 in that metric qualified for last season’s TOUR Championship.

It takes more than long drives to win on the PGA TOUR, though. By being a consistent contender this fall, Champ has shown that he is more than a sideshow.

He had an opportunity to win his first start following his victory, at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, and at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He stumbled with a final-round 73 in Las Vegas after starting the final round just three back.

A second-round 62 last week in Mexico got him into second place. He finished six shots behind Matt Kuchar despite two double bogeys on the final nine. The El Camaleon course is short and tight, making Champ's 10th-place finish that much more impressive. He succeeded on a course that negated his greatest strength.

As a pro, he has added more shots to his arsenal off his tee. When accuracy is demanded, he can hit low drivers to increase his odds of finding the fairway. He finished 26th in driving accuracy last week while leading in driving distance.

"I hit a lot of bunt drivers. I could hit a 3-wood but it could get up in the wind," he said. "I would hit an extremely low driver that would fly 275 but then roll 30 yards. I did that quite a bit last week. It felt like I wasn't even hitting the ball. It would only go about 20 feet off the ground."

The RSM Classic is Champ's fourth consecutive start. He gets to play a Sea Island course that he played during his college days at Texas A&M. The Seaside course is the annual site of the SEC Championship. Champ finished fifth in last year's championship after shooting 66-71-68.

That familiarity should only help him continue this impressive run. An SEC alum has finished first or second in five of the eight previous editions of The RSM Classic. Austin Cook, who was a rookie when he won last year's RSM, said course knowledge helped him win. The Arkansas alum only had for a practice round on the Plantation course, which is used Thursday and Friday, before last year's tournament.

"We just went off of past experiences on (Seaside) and it worked out," Cook said.

Champ can earn money for charity if he continues making birdies at his current pace.

He has made birdie or eagle on one-third of his holes this season. He’s second in birdie average (5.9 per round) and has two eagles. His 96 birdies and eagles are second-most on TOUR, just one fewer than Gary Woodland.

With Woodland sitting out this week, Champ is the prohibitive favorite in the Birdies Fore Love race. That competition awards $300,000 to the player who finishes the fall season with the most birdies and eagles. Champ already has begun his own foundation. He has plans to bring after-school programs to the par-3 course that he grew up playing in Sacramento, California.

“Charity and giving back has always been a thing of mine and my family personally,” Champ said. “We didn't come from much, but we always gave back as much as possible.”

That generosity can continue thanks to his strong start to the season.